'Artist's Centenary Library' in madurai is a boon to the people of southern region. This library has been constructed on madurai - Pudhunattam road at a cost of Rs.120.75 crores at par with world standards. It is spread over an area of 2,13,338 sqft. The library contains more than 2 lakh books. About Rs 10 crore has been allocated for the purchase of books related to various departments and Rs 5 crore has been allocated for technical equipment.
Building Floors Details: The basement (19314 square feet) of this 6-floor library houses parking, news, newspaper storage, and book building section. The ground floor area (32656) consists of art gallery, disabled wing, conference hall, dignitaries room, personal reading section-1, multi-purpose hall, membership section, electrical control room, postal sections.
The first floor (29,655) houses Artist Section, Children's Performance Theatre, Periodicals and Newspapers Section, Children's Library, home Reading Section-2, Science Equipment Section. On the 2nd floor (29,655) there is a section on tamil books (Reference books section) and separate sections containing his poems, essays, political, literary, history books and books related to the film industry to honor the memory of the artist. On the 3rd floor (29,655) there are sections including english books, research journals, tamil books. The 4th floor (20,616) houses a section of books of various disciplines for competitive candidates containing about 30 thousand books.
The 5th floor (20,616) houses rare books, e-library, multi-media, book preservation, light and sound collections, gallery, digitization, e-book for the blind, audio book studio and photo card rooms. The 6th floor (20,616) houses english books (book night section), book analysis, bibliography preparation, library administration, book purchase and staff canteen. Officials including the chief engineer of the library construction department said: "With 99 percent of the construction work completed, the work to bring the library into use soon is going on in full swing. The construction work of the building was 100 percent complete in September. The work of electric lights, AC machine, moving stairs to reach 6 floors has also been completed. .
A glass ark tent has been erected in the middle of the building to allow sunlight. Exterior decorative construction work has also been completed and German glazing has been applied. The image of the artist is set in it. At the front, there will be a reading facility and an art gallery along with the artist's sculpture terrace. Interior decoration work is ongoing. About 2.50 lakh books: Rs.10 crore worth about Rs. 2.50 lakh books have been procured. Tables, chairs, bookcases, study tables and furniture are also purchased for Rs.16.7 crores. The work of stacking the already purchased books in their respective places is also going on. At present, department-wise stacking of books is also going on in full swing. Arrangements have also been intensified to open soon.
The library also receives appreciation from tamil scholars, tamil enthusiasts and competitive candidates that the artist's centenary library is another additional landmark for the southern part of tamil Nadu.
About the artist library, tamil scholar and bar judge Salaman Papaiah said, "The artist centenary library in madurai will become a great library for students from the southern region. Poor people who cannot afford to buy books can come and read here. This library can be said to be a gift of wisdom and knowledge to the south. It is even more special that everyone from children to old people can read in this library. tamil and english books on all fields are available in large numbers.
Through this, competitive candidates can get government jobs in various sectors. Like the tamil Sangam, tamil literature, every future book will be placed here. This library will become a union board. Anna centenary library in the north and artist centenary library in the south, both of them together will form a great epic in this land,” he said.