Whither this National Library?

With the Anna Centenary Library just opened in Kotturpuram, what is planned for the Presidency's/ Province's/State's premier library for nearly 150 years and which has been designated as a National Library? I refer to the Connemara Public Library.

That library, designated as the State Central Library in 1950 and a National Library in 1955, had its beginnings in 1861 when the Government of Madras received hundreds of books found surplus in the libraries of Haileybury College (where Civilians for India were trained) and the India Office in Britain. This collection was sent to the Government Museum which established a separate library section with these books as its nucleus. The Madras Literary Society too had its collection there till it moved into its own premises in 1906 and the Madras University Library was also housed in the Museum till it moved in 1928 to the Marina campus. It would appear each of the three libraries had its own staff, the Museum's being part of the Museum staff till it was separated from it in 1930. In 1939, the Library became a separate institution.

It had, however, in 1896 been named the Connemara Public Library, when it moved into a new building raised next to the Museum's main block which had developed from the old Public Assembly Rooms better known as The Pantheon. Named after the Governor who had suggested that it should be a separate institution, the Connemara's first home of its own was built by Namberumal Chetty to a design by Henry Irwin. That design featured a magnificent reading hall that was only recently renovated and which stocks the Old Book Collection. What, I wonder, is the future of this collection? Is it moving to the 21st Century library or will it stay put in its splendid old surroundings but with, hopefully, easier access — at least, even to view that splendid old reading room?

Full report here Hindu