In the heart of Thiruvananthapuram city stands India’s oldest library—the State Central Library. A traditional red-and-white Victorian-style building, it was built in 1829 during the reign of Swati Tirunal, the legendary musician king.
Then British Resident Colonel Edward Cadogan was entrusted with the task of starting the library; Cadogan was the grandson of Sir Hans Sloane, whose vast collection became the founding collection of the British Museum. Only English books were initially available. The library was open only to British officers and local elite, despite being called Trivandrum People’s Library.
Opposing the elitist restriction, local residents formed their own People’s Library in the 1870s. The government took over the Trivandrum People’s Library in 1899 and opened it to the public, making it truly a public library. The current building was built in 1902 as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of Queen Victoria and the People’s Library was merged with it.
Soon, the library became a meeting point of brilliant minds of the period. “All prominent writers would spend hours here every day,” says Asokan P.U., deputy state librarian.
The library went online a decade ago, providing bookings and renewals online. Even as reports lament the decline in reading culture, the library’s membership has only gone up—it has 1.5 lakh members now.
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“Our’s is the only library with a separate building for children’s books,” says State Librarian Sobhana P.K. “We are also the only library that has been running the librarian course regularly.”
The library runs a number of programmes to initiate young minds into reading, including a month-long children’s camp during summer vacation.
The library has three wings, with an exclusive wing for Malayalam literature. According to Librarian Ansar A.P., who is in charge of the Malayalam literature wing, novels are favourites. Translations from Bengali and Spanish literature have most takers. “Books of both new generation writers and stalwarts have many takers,” he says, pointing to the empty shelves named after them. “M.T. Vasudevan Nair is an all-time favourite.”
As one walks through the premises dotted with a giant banyan and sandalwood trees, one can see readers of all ages walking in and out of the library. And, one realises what the librarians said was true: “Those who have visited this library will never say reading is dying.”