CHENNAI: Nearly 50,000 books — mostly from Agalvilakku and Phoenix Publications that are under scrutiny for allegedly supplying government libraries with AI-generated titles filled with fabricated information — originally sent to district central libraries for being distributed to branch libraries are being held back there, School Education Department sources said.
While a senior official confirmed to TNIE that all district libraries received these books, district officials estimate the count at around 1,500 per district, pegging the total at roughly 50,000 books across the state. This excludes the books bought for six new district libraries and five special libraries under a Government Order issued in November 2025.
At present, district librarians are segregating and packing these books in boxes. Salem district central library has received 1,121 books from Agalvilakku and 360 from Phoenix. In Madurai, the numbers stand at 998 and 530, respectively. Chengalpattu has received around 1,600 books from both publications, sources said.
According to librarians, the department has procured books twice since the transparent procurement portal was introduced, once in April 2025 and then in February 2026. The first procurement did not contain books from these publishers on a large scale, sources said.
“However, we were asked to select books for a second round of procurement in February, even before the books selected during the previous round had reached branch libraries. Our library selected books on February 15. The books supplied under the second selection are yet to be distributed to branch libraries. It is in this consignment that books suspected to be AI-generated are lying in district libraries,” said Durai Thiayagaran of the Tamil Nadu Noolaga Munnetra Sangam.
The department is yet to ascertain the actual expenditure incurred, as books for government libraries are usually procured at a discount of around 30% on their MRP, sources said. Therefore, the total MRP value of the books would not reflect the actual procurement cost.
“The department should also investigate whether the prescribed per-page rates for different genres of books were followed under the transparent procurement policy,” said a district librarian.
On Thursday, Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI) condemned unethical practices and clarified that publishers under investigation had never been association members. BAPASI president R S Shanmugam said the association’s stringent membership criteria were intended to ensure that only genuine and responsible publishers were admitted.
Meanwhile, PMK president Dr Anbumani Ramadoss demanded that the government release a White Paper on the alleged irregularities.