*
The Connemara Public Library at
Egmore
Egmore is a neighbourhood of Chennai, India. Situated on the northern banks of the Coovum River, Egmore is an important residential area as well as a commercial and transportation hub. The Egmore Railway Station was the main terminus of the Madr ...
in
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
, Tamil Nadu, India, is one of the four
National Depository Libraries which receive a copy of all books, newspapers and periodicals published in India. Established in 1896, the library is a repository of century-old publications, wherein lie some of the most respected works and collections in the history of the country. It also serves as a depository library for the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
. It is located in the Government Museum Complex on Pantheon Road,
Egmore
Egmore is a neighbourhood of Chennai, India. Situated on the northern banks of the Coovum River, Egmore is an important residential area as well as a commercial and transportation hub. The Egmore Railway Station was the main terminus of the Madr ...
, which also houses the
Government Museum and the
National Art Gallery
List of national galleries is a list of national art galleries.
{{tocright Africa
*Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
*National Art Gallery of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia
The Americas
*Galería Nacional, San Juan, Puerto ...
.
History
The library's beginnings go back to 1860, when Captain
Jesse Mitchell set up a small library as part of the
Madras Museum
The Government Museum, Chennai, or the Madras Museum, is a museum of human history and culture located in the Government Museum Complex in the neighbourhood of Egmore in Chennai, India. Started in 1851, it is the second oldest museum in India af ...
in
Madras
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
, capital of the
Madras Presidency
The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...
in the
British Indian Empire
The British Raj (; from Hindi language, Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Q ...
. Hundreds of books had been found to be surplus in the libraries of
Haileybury College Haileybury may refer to:
Australia
* Haileybury (Melbourne), a school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
**Haileybury Rendall School, an offshoot in Berrimah, North Territory, Australia
China
* Haileybury International School, an international ...
(where civil servants of the
Indian Civil Service
The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947.
Its members ruled over more than 300 million ...
were trained in
Hertford Heath
Hertford Heath is a village and civil parish near the county town of Hertford in Hertfordshire, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 2,672. Geography
It is located on a heath above the River Lea valley, on its south side. Almost all of ...
,
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
) and these were sent to the Madras Government, which in turn handed them over to the Madras Museum. Conceived on the lines of the
British Museum Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
, it was part of the Madras Museum until 1890, when the need for a free public library prompted the then
Governor of Madras
This is a list of the governors, agents, and presidents of colonial Madras, initially of the English East India Company, up to the end of British colonial rule in 1947.
English Agents
In 1639, the grant of Madras to the English was finalized be ...
,
Lord Connemara
Robert Bourke, 1st Baron Connemara, (; ; ; ; 11 June 1827 – 3 September 1902) was a British Conservative politician and colonial administrator who served as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1874–80, 1885–86) and Governor of ...
, to lay the foundation on 22 March 1890. It opened in 1896 and was named after Lord Connemara (by then the former
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
), an
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...
nobleman
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteristi ...
. The library was indeed essentially free: A small deposit had to be paid but this was refundable. It became the state central library in 1948,
[ with the enactment of Madras Public Libraries Act 1948, which was the first concerted effort in India to institutionalise, structure, otherwise, co-ordinate and organise public library services. This is one of the Asia's largest libraries.
The library was as part of a cultural complex that grew in the grounds of what was once called The Pantheon. The entire complex now boasts buildings that reflect architectural unity, even while demonstrating the various stages of ]Indo-Saracenic
Indo-Saracenic architecture (also known as Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-Mughal, or Hindoo style) was a revivalist architectural style mostly used by British architects in India in the later 19th century, especially in public and government ...
development, from Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
-neo-Byzantine
Neo-Byzantine architecture (also referred to as Byzantine Revival) was a revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It incorporates elements of the Byzantine style associated with Eastern and Orth ...
to Rajput Mughal and Southern Hindu Deccani.
The new building, which was added to the library in 1973, has a vast collection of books, a much sought-after textbook section, a periodicals hall, a reference room, a video room, an entire floor for books from the Indian languages, a Braille
Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are Blindness, blind, Deafblindness, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on Paper embossing, embossed paper ...
Library and an IAS IAS may refer to:
Science
* Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton, New Jersey, United States
* Image Analysis & Stereology, the official journal of the International Society for Stereology & Image Analysis.
* Iowa Archeological Society, Uni ...
study centre. Efforts are on to fully computerise the library database, which could ensure easy access to books. The library has a collection of over 600,000 books.
In 1981 the central government ordered that the library became one of the four national depository libraries. The library, however, is not a registered member of the (IFLA).
Collections
The library, along with the Madras museum
The Government Museum, Chennai, or the Madras Museum, is a museum of human history and culture located in the Government Museum Complex in the neighbourhood of Egmore in Chennai, India. Started in 1851, it is the second oldest museum in India af ...
, benefited greatly from the effects of the Madras Literary Society
The Madras Literary Society is a learned society in Chennai (earlier called Madras), India which was founded in 1817 and in 1830 it became associated with the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. It was founded by Sir John Henry Newb ...
, the Oriental Manuscripts Library and the Records Office. Under the provision of Delivery of Books and Newspapers (Public Libraries) Act 1954, every publisher in India has to compulsorily send a copy of each publication to the library. Apart from this a good number of publications and periodicals of UN and its specialized organs and Asian Development Bank
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The bank also maintains 31 field office ...
were also received. Furthermore, several books were added every year by purchasing from the funds made available by the state government budget. The collection includes rare books
Book collecting is the collecting of books, including seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever books are of interest to a given collector. The love of books is ''bibliophilia'', and someo ...
including a 1608 Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
.
Librarians
Gallery
File:CONNEMARA PUBLIC LIBRARY 03.jpg
File:CONNEMARA PUBLIC LIBRARY 01.jpg
File:CONNEMARA PUBLIC LIBRARY 02.jpg
File:CONNEMARA PUBLIC LIBRARY 04.jpg
File:Connemara Public Library, Chennai-8.jpg
File:Connemara Title.JPG
File:List_of_Librarians_Connemara_Public_Library_Chennai.jpg
File:Connemara_Library_Chennai.jpg
File:Connemara_Public_Library_Chennai.jpg
See also
* Government Museum, Chennai
The Government Museum, Chennai, or the Madras Museum, is a museum of human history and culture located in the Government Museum Complex in the neighbourhood of Egmore in Chennai, India. Started in 1851, it is the second oldest museum in India af ...
* Anna Centenary Library
The Anna Centenary Library (ACL) is an established state library of the Government of Tamil Nadu. It is located at Kotturpuram, Chennai. It is built at a cost of 172 crores (1,720 million). It is named after a former chief minister of Tamil Nad ...
References
External links
Connemara Public Library
{{Authority control
Public libraries in India
Libraries in Chennai
Tourist attractions in Chennai
Deposit libraries
Library buildings completed in 1896