Are you trying to find libraries which have Malayalam books in Chennai? Then here’s a library which comes to your home to deliver books every month.
Anjali Library, has more than 2,000 Malayalam books and was started about six years ago by Kevin MS, a 42-year-old man who hails from Thrissur in Kerala. “Once in every month, I deliver books to my customers. They have to register in advance on my website for specific books and then I deliver it. I have divided distribution into four regions of Chennai,” said Kevin.
Kevin has been an avid reader from his school days and when he shifted to Bahrain, he could not find Malayalam books to read so he started a small library.
"In most of the villages in Kerala there is a library and I have been reading from Class VII," he said.
He shifted to Chennai about nine years ago, he decided to start the library and provide Malayalam books to people in Chennai.
The library has circulated more than 9,000 Malayalam books to its customers in Chennai. “In the beginning, I used to put up hoardings at Onam celebrations in Chennai to get more customers, then I shifted to advertising on Google and Facebook. Most of the people have found the library through Google search or through word of mouth,” he said.
The library currently has about 150 customers in Chennai. “The books by writers like KR Meera, MT Vasudevan, Benyamin have been in demand and most of my customers prefer fiction and quarter of them also want non-fiction,” he said.
How does it work?
“Every member can login and choose the books, put it on the Wishlist and prioritise it. The membership cost is Rs 600 for a year, every month, a person gets three books for a month. There are no home delivery charges and there is a deposit amount of Rs 600 which will be returned. I get all the books from the publishers. If some book is on high demand, we get extra copies,” he said.
Asked about how digitisation has changed the habit of reading books, “There are still many people who read Malayalam books. But it is difficult to make the new generation read books. There are very less books published on digital medium,” said Kevin.
Kevin completed his post-graduation in Physical Education from Puducherry University and hails from Chentrappinni in Thrissur district. To find more about the library, please click here.