Techies rally to save Library
By John Abhraham

Techies in Trivandrum are mourning the impending loss of an invaluable resource for their knowledge hunt; Trivandrumites are now losing their second international culture symbol, the British Council Library. The proposed closure of the British Library is a bolt from the blue for several Trivandrumites who have been members since its inception in 1964. The attractive grey stone-block with just the right ambience has generously helped in promoting the reading habits of many a Trivandrumite.

The British Library has been a cultural and knowledge hub in the state capital since 1964 and is one of the most loved landmarks of the city. The library stocks a huge number of books and has been one of the mainstays of the rather laidback capital city. With the newly introduced IT section, the city’s techies found this a favorite haunt to look for new books on their latest ‘lingua franca’ as also a place to relax in comfort.

Dr. Asha Gopinathan, of IIITM-K, Technopark, has started an online petition to appeal against the impending closure. The petition link http://www.petitiononline.com/bcl64lib/petition.html started doing the rounds at the Technopark intranet before gathering momentum in the wider community. The petition points out the boon that the library has been over the years to Trivandrum and appeals to the Director of BC of India and Srilanka, Mr Pryde to consider reversing the decision. Other techies like Krishna Mohan and Tarun are sweating it out to organize support from prominent members of the public to try and reverse the decision. A mass petition to the Prime Minister is also being organized in the hope that the authorities can influence a reversal. The state government also expressed its concern and cited the closure of the academic resource as unfortunate, and has offered to facilitate the library.

Unfortunately the announcement that the library would cease to function from the 31st of March 2008 is being circulated physically by the library authorities and the library has stopped taking subscription renewals effective immediately. The membership fee will be refunded on a prorate basis, and the books in the library currently are to be distributed among the other libraries in India.

The BCL at Bhopal is also under closure notice on the same date. The IT community will definitely find this an irreplaceable loss.

Kerala has a rich tradition of education and learning.   Many dedicated volunteers with a tech background continue to lobby to save this great institution.

(Techgoss note:  Sadly, organizer and techie, Asha Gopinathan of  IIITM-K, has parted ways with sections of the Save the library movement recording protest against male domination.  In her blog http://www.saveourbritishlibrary.org post dated Dec 23rd,   she says: 

“I want to make it very clear to all those who attended today's meeting ( Dec 23rd, 2007)in the Press Club that any other petitions you wish to circulate - you will have to write it yourself and collect signatures. I take no responsibility for misuse of these signatures. As petition author, I am also informing PetitionOnline that the movement here is disintegrating due to male dominance and personal attacks. Thus no permission is to be given to you to use these signatures.

Good luck in all your petition campaigns.

Asha Gopinathan, Ph.D”)