A town without a library and a temple is as bad as an arid land. We need them to expand our knowledge and improve our spiritual experience. ''Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body'' according the English essayist Sir Richard Steel. The Thrissur Public Library was opened during the princely State rule in the late 19th century to serve the local community.
Among the libraries of south India during the colonial period, the Public library at Thrissur, Kerala is one of the oldest ones. When Cochin was a princely State, during reign of the British Raj, the concept of library in Thrissur was initiated by Diwan Sankunni Menon (21 April 1820 - 1881; A. Sankarayya) in 1872. His dewanship lasted from 1860 to 1879. Because of inadequate space, it began functioning at St. Mary's College. It was in 1939, the library was shifted to the first floor of the Thrissur Town Hall that had a floor space of 1,200 square feet space enough to meet the initial demand by the public.
Among the libraries of south India during the colonial period, the Public library at Thrissur, Kerala is one of the oldest ones. When Cochin was a princely State, during reign of the British Raj, the concept of library in Thrissur was initiated by Diwan Sankunni Menon (21 April 1820 - 1881; A. Sankarayya) in 1872. His dewanship lasted from 1860 to 1879. Because of inadequate space, it began functioning at St. Mary's College. It was in 1939, the library was shifted to the first floor of the Thrissur Town Hall that had a floor space of 1,200 square feet space enough to meet the initial demand by the public.
The public hall was built during the dewanship of R.K. Shanmugam Chettiyar KCIE (17 October 1892 – 5 May 1953) who later served as the first Union Finance minister (1947-48) after India's independence. This town hall was built in honor of the then Emperor of India, King George V as part of his silver jubilee celebrations. Thrissur Library has the unique honor of being the first one to have been computerized in Kerala as far back as 1996. Credit goes to Sri. K. Karunarakaran, the former chief Minister who granted Rs. 5 lakhs for this purpose. This money came from his MP funds.
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| Town Hall, Thrissur Public library, Kerala en.wikipedia.org |
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| Town Hall, Thrissur Public library, Kerala mapio.net |
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American Novelist Sidney Shelden. quotesgram.com |
In those days, the print media comprising books and magazine had a limited audience because of cost and even the elite of the society had hesitation in either buying them or getting subscription. The printed materials were far beyond the reach of people from middle and lower middle classes. The Diwan had a fruitful discussion and made a decision to start a reading room in a public building where all sections of the society could access the printed materials and get benefits. That public building is the place where the St. Mary's college library stands today. Keen readers made a beeline to this reading room, but had to be content with few journals and books of the old type, The library slowly grew in stature and functioned there for more than six and half decades on the same premises. Serving a large section of reading public in an old building was obviously beset with some inconveniences.
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| Location. Thrissur city, Kerala .mapsofindia.com |
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| Thrissur Town Hall /en.wikipedia.org |
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| http://trichurpubliclibrary.org |
Thanks to the steps taken by the then ruler of Cochin who had a plan to build a Town Hall in 1938, to conduct public meetings, conferences, etc., upon the recommendation of Dewan Shanmugam Chettiyar. It is a nice building deigned in Victorian style with a well-maintained lawn in front. Presently, there is a statue of popular Kerala politician Sri K.Karunakaran in front of the entrance. When the building was completed, the Maharajah had the library - actually a reading room shifted to the front of the Town Hall located in the middle of a 4 - acre square compound. This beautiful building is an impressive landmark of Thrissur city to day. Not only did the ruler bear the cost of shifting - Rs.1200.00 the library to a new location, but also generously provided plenty of wood, etc., to build long reading tables and chairs.
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| Dewan R.K. Shanmugam Chettiyar, dinamani.com/ |
With the passage of time and good growth of print media, the space in the town hall was not adequate for the readers. After India's freedom from the British, Monarchy was replaced by democracy. Realizing the shortage of space and increasing readership,
Sri. C Achutha Menon, the then visionary chief Minister of Kerala granted more space for Trissur Public Library in the upper story of the building.
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| Dewan of Cochin. Sankunni Menon. archive.org |
With old racks and cramped space the ambiance was not conducive to good readership. By 2004, the Thrissur Public library saw vast improvements. Besides getting a face lift a separate section called Central Library of Science and Technology (CLST) for the promotion of scientific and technological research had begun to function. All the major reference books, magazine, etc in science, engineering, medicine and allied subjects were made available at the CLST, including those magazines, newspapers and other publications printed and published in India and abroad. They had a plan to open a separate section for the young children to encourage them to improve their knowledge and to equip themselves to face new challenges in the frontier of modern acknowledge, engineering and science. Kudos to the then Dewans, the then Maharajah and the politicians who evinced keen interest in the successful functioning of well-equipped public library, because they were aware of the dictum that ''Access to knowledge is the supreme act of great civilization. Of all the institutions that purport to do this, free libraries stand virtually alone in accomplishing this mission.''
https://www.thehindu.com/2004/06/27/stories/2004062706150300.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrissur_Public_Library
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