Thoughts on Chennai public library.

[uttermost]

I went to the famed Anna Centenary Library, that was built on 100k sqm with 8 floors full of books. Aside from the usual unusable toilets, these are my thoughts.

1. waste of space. The entire library could have fit into 1/10th the land it was occupying on prime space. For eg. No need for parking space. people who visit the library should be forced to walk to it, or use the public transport. Too many cars in the parking area.

2. not enough books. The scientific journals were all dated only until 2001 at best. Most of the books seemed to have been sourced from the Connemara library. entire sections on history were empty.

3. No need of air conditioning. waste of public resources.

[tennisluvr]

11 minutes ago, uttermost said:

I went to the famed Anna Centenary Library, that was built on 100k sqm with 8 floors full of books. Aside from the usual unusable toilets, these are my thoughts.

1. waste of space. The entire library could have fit into 1/10th the land it was occupying on prime space. For eg. No need for parking space. people who visit the library should be forced to walk to it, or use the public transport. Too many cars in the parking area.

2. not enough books. The scientific journals were all dated only until 2001 at best. Most of the books seemed to have been sourced from the Connemara library. entire sections on history were empty.

3. No need of air conditioning. waste of public resources.

[tennisluvr]

11 minutes ago, uttermost said:

I went to the famed Anna Centenary Library, that was built on 100k sqm with 8 floors full of books. Aside from the usual unusable toilets, these are my thoughts.

1. waste of space. The entire library could have fit into 1/10th the land it was occupying on prime space. For eg. No need for parking space. people who visit the library should be forced to walk to it, or use the public transport. Too many cars in the parking area.

2. not enough books. The scientific journals were all dated only until 2001 at best. Most of the books seemed to have been sourced from the Connemara library. entire sections on history were empty.

3. No need of air conditioning. waste of public resources.

If they have computers, maybe they need air conditioning to cool them down. Correct? 

[uttermost]

1 minute ago, tennisluvr said:

If they have computers, maybe they need air conditioning to cool them down. Correct? 

Not that many computers. Each block has a couple for searching books according to how they are indexed.

The other thing I forgot to mention is that they don't have ebooks, and a network to search and order from other libraries.

[tennisluvr]

Just now, uttermost said:

Not that many computers. Each block has a couple for searching books according to how they are indexed.

The other thing I forgot to mention is that they don't have ebooks, and a network to search and order from other libraries.

Like an Inter library loan? That sucks, that's one of the things they should have considered before setting up the library to begin with. 

[uttermost]

2 minutes ago, tennisluvr said:

Like an Inter library loan? That sucks, that's one of the things they should have considered before setting up the library to begin with. 

The other thing I forgot to mention is the lush green lawn of about 1000 sqm, with a dozen sprinklers. total waste of resources again.

I should have visited in April/May when Chennai runs out of water to see if these lawns are still watered. I hope people squat in this library when they do that.

I was hoping this library could be used as meeting ground for radicals, but the programmes (talks) arranged read mostly like cultural exchanges. Nothing at all radical.

[mastercheif]

27 minutes ago, uttermost said:

I went to the famed Anna Centenary Library, that was built on 100k sqm with 8 floors full of books. Aside from the usual unusable toilets, these are my thoughts.

1. waste of space. The entire library could have fit into 1/10th the land it was occupying on prime space. For eg. No need for parking space. people who visit the library should be forced to walk to it, or use the public transport. Too many cars in the parking area.

2. not enough books. The scientific journals were all dated only until 2001 at best. Most of the books seemed to have been sourced from the Connemara library. entire sections on history were empty.

3. No need of air conditioning. waste of public resources.

this thread is waste of public's time

[uttermost]

4 minutes ago, mastercheif said:

this thread is waste of public's time

yes.