Tamil Nadu govt. launches drive to collect books for Jaffna library

The Tamil Nadu government has launched a drive to collect books for the Jaffna public library in October. To replenish the resources of the Jaffna Public Library in Sri Lanka which had lost its rare collections of books and manuscripts to a fire in 1981,   the Directorate of public libraries has so far collected nearly 40,000 Tamil books from general public and educational institutions, the Deccan Chronicle reported.

“We received books through our readers, general public and educational institutions. The collection of books varies from ancient Tolkappiam to biographies of famous film personalities,” said S.Kannappan,   previous director (incharge) of public libraries who helmed the project till last week.

As the 41st Chennai Book Fair is currently being held in the city, the officials have also requested the publishers to donate new titles for the iconic library in Sri Lanka. The move is expected to boost resources of the Jaffna library.