District library reaches out to rural communities

The District Central Library has sought to optimise utility of branch libraries in interior pockets to local community through conduct of health awareness, and training for competitive exams.

Owing to the ready support by Readers’ Forums, experts interact with the readers at the branch libraries, reaching out to the community in the rural parts.

At Mettupalayam branch library, a coaching programme for competitive examinations was initiated, at the start of this month.

Tiruchi is one of the six districts where the Directorate of Public Libraries has started Civil Service Study Centres. Coimbatore, Karur, Tirunelveli, Vellore and Virudhunagar are the other five districts to have the facility.

Dengue awareness

Earlier this week, a tele-medicine programme for awareness of ‘dengue fever’ was conducted at Thottiyam Branch Library.

The programme will shortly be extended to the District Central Library, District Library Officer A. P. Sivakumar said.

The support of the Readers’ Forum has been encouraging in most of the 141 branch, part-time and village libraries under the administrative control of the District Central Library.

Last month, a Patron and Member of Readers’ Forum of District Central Library, Tiruchi, donated an incinerator worth Rs. 15,000 for the convenience of women visitors.

During the course of this week, a programme was inaugurated for senior citizens. Many among the participants recounted that the library was where they could find peace of mind.

Story telling

On Sundays, children are engaged in story telling activity. They are also given training in spoken English, chess and drawing. Every third Sunday, children are engaged in drawing classes by Perumal, a service-minded artist.

Likewise, Iravatham, who has created many champions, is the trainer for chess.

On Friday evening, yoga training is imparted for the interested section of visitors at the District Central Library.

The Library telecasts a literary programme titled 'Ponmalaipozhuthu' at 6.00 p.m. on Saturday.

The programme is telecast live on all Saturdays via Anna Centenary Library’s official Youtube channel: youtube.com/aclchennai.

Special talks

The literary programme features prominent personalties from different fields like Tamil literature, cinema, media, and medicine delivering special talks in the evenings and interacting with the readers, according to Mr. Sivakumar.