Library – Anna Centenary Library – Kotturpuram

Hi All,

sharing our experience on a recent visit to Anna Centenary Library in Kotturpuram. The complete address is:

Anna Centenary Library
Kotturpuram
Chennai – 600025
Phone Number : 044 22201011
Email : acl.librarians@gmail.com
Their website is http://www.annacentenarylibrary.org

This is one of the very few accomplishments that the Tamil Nadu government can be proud off, it had its ups and downs in the past due to change in ruling party. It was temporarily closed down at one point of time due to change in regime as well, after continued protests it was re-reopened to benefit the public at large. The library is located just behind Anna university, easily approachable, spacious parking facilities, has a quite atmosphere. The building consists of 8 floors, they have lift facility and also escalators. Found a tea/coffee refreshment stall in the ground floor as well.

The children’s section is located in the First Floor, B-Wing (thoughtfully located). It is very spacious, contains unlimited number of books from publishers all around the globe. The room is air-conditioned, the tables and chairs are nicely designed for the children to sit comfortably and read for a longer period of time. The places provides a vibe and atmosphere that would motivate one to pick a book and read. There is a tree in middle of the children’s section, where you can sit under it and read, if chairs are not your comfortable posture for reading. The place is very clean as well.

Since it is government ran library, the entire experience is FREE. This library does not lend books, you are allowed to pick a book and read, for which membership is not required. However you can take membership if you wanted to.

We went on a sunday afternoon, you have to make an entry in the register at the Entrance, simply write your name and sign. Then proceed to the first floor, Children section. Here there will be another register similar to the one at the entrance, again simply write your name and sign it. You need not remove your slippers. Water bottles and snacks are not allowed inside, at the entrance of the children section, there is a shelf in which we should place our water bottles. It was more promising to see parents teaching stories to few children, correcting the pronunciations of the child etc.. the habit of reading will continue to the next generation. However it was disappointing to see few parents chit chatting personal stories in a volume that would clearly disturb others.

The book collection ranges from what you see in the local shops from what you can never find in Indian shops. They have books for all kids ages and wide varieties, etc. My son is extremely fond of animals in any form, found good collection of it , he enjoyed those books. However the stacking system is something i cannot understand, it was difficult to find a particular section, had to go through the entire collection to find the one you were looking for.

It seems they have a weekly children program on sunday’s which i was not aware of. The program happens on Every Sunday 11.am to 12.30 pm. For updates on the children related programs please refer to the below link:
https://childrensection.annacentenarylibrary.org
My suggestions,

1) Don’t carry too much luggage’s, as they are not allowed inside.

2) Carry only water bottle and snacks for your child, even that is not allowed inside the reading area.

3) Please make your child to wear warm clothes or fully covered outfits, as the air-conditioners makes us chill in a shorter time. I wore a sleeveless shirt and shorts for my son, he felt the chillness in less than 30 mins, he felt uncomfortable after that.

4) Most importantly, teach your child what a library is, and focus on two important aspects. First is not to be loud and second is that we cannot buy or take books what we see to home.

5) If you are travelling in groups, i sincerely request parents to spend their time in reading books or pay attention to how their kids are reading and enjoying the experience. Please avoid chit chatting, there are plenty of other places where it can be done. When you observe silence, children will look at you and follow it

6) You cannot be buying all the books that your kids needs, it will be a good practice for them make use of things and enjoy without a need to own it. Kids love possessions, we can slowly break that habit.

Taking pictures at your will is not allowed, however you can take the permission of the librarian who will allow you to take few snaps of the place in general. Below are the few pics that i have taken with the permission of the librarian in the children’s section:

I request everyone to take your children once a while to take them to library, even if they are not interested in reading you read books in the library initially, they would observe us and begin to imitate what we do initially. Later they would understand why they are doing it, this may not be achieved immediately, but it’s worth the time spent. The only expenditure which you are going to incur is your travelling cost.

Regards,
Saranya and Karthik
karthiksaranyaparents@gmail.com