The Children’s Library with its three storied building is situated in 1.05 Acre of land, owned by the Library. At this property stood Gopivilasom the original birth place of the great diplomat Late Shri. K.P.S Menon from whom the Library purchased it for running the Children’s library, the Children’s wing of our Library. Joining with the BalBhavan society of India, the JawaharBalBhavan Kottayam was started here administered by a Committee of 10 members 5 from the Library and 5 top Government officials of which District Collector was the Chairman and Public Library President the Vice Chairman. But through a recent Government order in 2018, the Five Govt. officials in the Managing Committee were replaced by 5 members from Public, Selected by Government. For the last 49 years the children of Kottayam get training in over 20 disciplines in Classical Music, Instrumental Music, Fine Arts, Painting, Clay Modeling, Public Speaking etc with special emphasis for Personality Development.
The Children’s Library and JawaharBalBhavan
K.P.S Menon Auditorium and KPL Cultural Society
The Auditorium Complex constructed in 1990 was inaugurated by Hon: Minister for Culture Shri. T.K. Ramakrishnan and later named as KPS Menon Hall by H.E. Dr. P.C. Alexander the Governor of Maharashtra. It is the most sought after Hall in the town by virtue of its central location, easy access and ample parking space. With a seating capacity of 1500, Kottayam Public is dependent on this hall for the last 30 years for private and public functions. K.P.L Cultural Society our cultural wing conducts its own cultural shows here and oversees the utilisation of the Hall when it is used by the public and Government Bodies. During the great floods of 2018, this hall was given free of rent for stocking food materials, clothing and other essential articles for distribution by District Officials to the victims of natural disaster. It was used for a period of 6 weeks. The great help was recognized by District Collector B S Thirumeni I AS with a Special Award and Citation to President Abraham Itticheria.
The Art Gallery
The Art Gallery in the Golden Jubilee Block is a specially designed viewing centre where artists come for display of their creations. Young artists are given special assistance to promote their talents.
The General Reading Rooms
The General Reading Room and the Members Room in the heart of the town near TirunakkaraMaidan are places where over 1000 people come every day to browse through News Papers and Periodicals. This facility is made available free of charge for the Public of Kottayam. Four years back we have added a Special Reading Room for Elders and Women on the ground floor of this building forgoing substantial Rental income and incurring expenses for salary of staff and maintenance.We have arranged these unique services to the public for which there is no comparison in other Libraries of the State by way of size or facilities. Around 3000 Sq.ft in the very heart of Kottayam town is set apart for this service aimed at dissemination of information to general public.
The Kerala PadhanaKendram
The Kerala PadhanaKendram an exclusive centre focusing on Special Studies of Kerala is functioning in the Library with all available Books and data on Kerala. Finance Minister Dr. Thomas Issac, former Vice Chancellor Dr. RajanGurukkal and Several leading literary men and Scholars from different fields have openly vouched the utility of our Kerala PadhanaKendram through their personal experience and as beneficiaries.
Reference Section and Special Study Room for Research Students
The newly inaugurated Reference Section in the ground floor of the new building extending to 2500 sq. ft. was inaugurated by Justice Antony Dominic, Chairman State Human Rights Commission on July 6, 2019
Our special services
We are also offering some special services to the public which makes the Library function as a one stop counter for such needs.
- Bound Volumes of the Gazette, MalayalaManorama, Mathrubhumi and Hindu are available which enables a person to go back to the past for digging up information badly needed by him for documentation,litigation and fact finding.
- Certificate of corresponding English date for Malayalam Era entries are done from our Library and is accepted for legal and administrative requirements.
- Photostat and Internet facilities are regularly made use of by the public on payment of nominal fees.
- Newly installed lightning arresters protect Library Building and Silpam from natural hazards. Solar Panels for solar energy supply has been installed and shortly K S E B willconnect us to their grid and we will have a great saving in electric charges. So we are moving with the times. Soon Air-conditioning of Library and K P S Menon Hall will be taken up. We are also constructing an Open Air Auditorium for performances and aKerala style Gate at the Entrance. The Great Sculptor Kanai is finalizing his drawingsfor both and with these the expansion activities in the Library Compound will be fairly complete.
In the light of a review of all these activities it will be seen that the spectrum of activitiestaken up by the Kottayam Public Library is much beyond the routine lending of books done by an average Library where the fund flow is mostly dependent on grant received from the Library Council. Till 2008- 2009 we were getting an yearly grant of Rs.30, 000/- which was hardly sufficient for paying the Bimonthly electric bill. As per direction of the AGM and decision of the Managing Committee we had intimated the Library Council that we do not need this paltry Grant and we do not want imposition of any unwanted and meddlesome controls.