By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : The British Council Library in the Kerala capital will be run by the state government from April 1 after the British Council of India decided to close it down.
Kerala Law Minister M. Vijayakumar, who was engaged in talks with the council’s Minister for Cultural Affairs Rod Pryde and Director for South India Chris Gibson last week to take over the library, told IANS Sunday: “It was certainly a laudable achievement of the state government to get the agreement done.”
“Several state government departments have expressed willingness to take over the library. The state IT department could most probably be given the charge to run it,” said Vijayakumar.
Only the computer facilities from the old set-up would not be in the new library, he said.
“The library’s name will be retained and it will function on the same premises because that belongs to the state government. They have offered us all the help in maintaining the library by providing us the necessary inputs,” added the minister.
The British Council management made a sudden decision to close down its library here in December 2007. There was a huge public outcry in the aftermath and Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan was flooded with requests asking for his intervention in the matter, said Vijayakumar.
“Since then we have had several rounds of discussions with the British Council officials. We are thankful to them to have agreed to our request. On April 1, 2008, we will have a grand opening,” the minister added.
The British Council Library was opened here in 1964. It has a collection of about 27,000 books.