A centenary long past

A centenary long past

[Published: October 1, 2012 00:00 ]

A view of the magnificent University Library Building at left, with a wing of the Tower Block on the right and the Clock Tower in the background. This picture was taken a year or so after the library building was opened

Much in the headlines recently has been about the University of Madras wishing to celebrate the centenary of its Library -- belatedly. But given the history of the library, several dates could have been chosen -- all of them, however, long before the date zeroed in on.

The first mention of a library for the University is to be found in the will of a William Griffiths (whoever he was) dated September 9, 1897. He left the University Rs.25,619 with which to start a library. This would indicate that for at least the first 40 years of its existence, the University did not take steps to establish its own library. It was to be several years more before the University decided to use this amount that was lying with the Government for the purpose it was meant. This was in 1903, by which time it had received the Col. Mackenzie Collection, the C.P. Brown Collection and a substantial collection from theEast India House in London after the Company had been wound up. With no building of its own for all these collections, the University got permission from the Government to house them in the Connemara Library and have the Connemara look after them.

Then, in December 1905, Government sanctioned Rs.13,600 for additional bookcases to be made for these collections in the Connemara Library. And in 1907, it sanctioned Rs.100,000 and the University Rs.6000 a month for the maintenance of the University’s Library. (For some reason or the other, this date has been long accepted as the founding date of the University’s Library, despite the claims of earlier dates.) This happened during the Vice Chancellorship of Justice Sillery Benson who urged the University to shift its library from the Connemara Library. A separate building for the Library was proposed. It was, however, June 9, 1928, before the Library moved out -- not to its own premises but to Senate House. Supervising the move was the legendary ‘Father of Library Science’, S.R. Ranganathan, who was appointed the University’s first Librarian in 1924 and who, after training in the U.K., took charge the following year.

On September 3, 1936, the present Main Library building was opened and the Library at last moved into its own home. By then, the Mackenzie, Brown and Leyden Collections had all been transferred into the Government’s hands. Today, the Library with a collection of over 600,000 items, including over 100,000 theses (I’m told they are being digitised), is spread over four campuses: the Main block adjacent to the Teaching (Tower) Block, the University Annexe on the Marina, the Postgraduate Institute of Basic Medical Sciences in Taramani and in the Advanced Centres of Science in Guindy. This column is delighted that even at this late stage, a thought is being spared to celebrate the Centenary of this Library -- whatever the date of its genesis -- but I’d be much happier if the celebrations took the form of cleaning up the University’s libraries and rearranging the books as they should be than merely staging a speech-filled tamasha.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/a-centenary-long-past/article3952987.ece#