COIMBATORE: A 51-year-old librarian at Kovaipudur branch has bagged the best librarian award of Directorate of Public Libraries under School Education department for his contribution to the development of the library. P Vijayan, a grade-III librarian, received the award from School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi in Chennai on Tuesday.
He upgraded the library by buying books, furniture and other items at a cost of Rs 4.65 lakh which he collected as aid from private parties. Also, two more rooms were constructed using Rs 10 lakh from MLA funds.
Vijayan, who joined the library in 2014, told TNIE, “In general, only avid readers and students use libraries. But I wanted everyone to visit the library. Reading habit will make humans good citizens. To attract people, I started conducting awareness programmes every Sunday, inviting experts. Now the library has 3,800 members.”
He said seven clubs for different age groups are effectively working in the library. In the kids club, they are engaged with activities such as storytelling, reading and digital literacy. In the ladies club, they taught terrace gardening, self-employment, etc, he said, adding readers’ meets and conferences were held in the literacy club.
“In Career Guidance Centre (CGC), we train people for competitive exams and hold seminars. We also conduct awareness programmes. So far, we’ve conducted 804 programmes, and 13,867 people have benefitted from it,” Vijayan said.
CGC coordinator D Sivaramakrishan said, “CGC has been functioning for six years. A few people landed jobs in government departments. Now 35 aspirants, including 13 school students, are preparing for competitive examinations. We conduct guidance programmes to government school students on higher education. We also offer digital literacy such as operating computers, using banking apps, etc. to rural youth and students at Anaikatti, Pollachi and other places.”