RTI Application to track latest status of Library

Let us file an RTI Application to track latest status of Library

Meeting 13/04/2008

The following were discussed at our meeting on 13/04/2008 at the press club.

1. The role of the YMCA . The forum requested the Ymca to cooperate in reviving the library, by letting the library continue in the present premises. It was pointed out that the YMCA could win enormous goodwill by this, from the people of Trivandrum.
2. The importance of retaining the present staff was stressed. Procedures for this was discussed.
   
3. Books becoming obsolete and the need to update the collection constantly. Members raised the concern that subsrciptions to International magazines and online journals may not be available.
4. The library should be resurrected as soon as possible and should be back to its previous state this year itself.
5. The status of the govt intervention
6. The political will needed to achieve this . C.M , Ministers and Govt Secys are very keen.
7. The Land revenue commissioner is to hear the case about the present building. This was discussed. Possibilities of becoming a party to this was discussed. Members suggested filing a PIL in the high court.
8. The legal implications of the YMCA subleasing the building to the BC.
9. Organising a human chain or a candle light protest near the library
10. Corporate sponsorships for the campaign were discussed
    
11. International assistance for the new library (U.N, NLBS etc)
12. The forum agreed that the library needs to be restarted immediately. Till the dispute between the ymca and the govt is resolved, the new library could start preliminary operations, like stock taking , cataloguing, barcoding etc. A temporary location for this needs to be identified. Suggested locations were :the govt rest house (where the books are stored now), the pwd guest house, Park view, some heritage buildings near the west fort etc. This would only be a temporary location - the old building is still the place where we want the library to be run.
    
13. Members could offer voluntary service to the govt to help set up and run the library in its initial phase.
14. Possibility of having a citizen's charter for the new library was discussed.
15. The forum decided to prepare a proposal to submit to the CM for the govt's consideration. This would help the govt to set up the library and would enable the views of the library members to be considered when the new library is formed.
    
16. The adhoc executive committee was further expanded . A delegation to visit the C.M would be formed from this committee.
17. A group of 3 members from the executive committee will identify possible locations and a group of 9 members will draft the proposal /project report.
18. The list of possible temporary locations would be identified by April 17th and the proposal would be drafted by April 25th.
    

The exec committee now has the following members:

P.Radhakrishnan (President)

Dr C.Jayan (V.P)

K.Padmakumar

P. Vijayakumar

K.M Joseph

George Koruth (Sec)

Krishnamohan (Sec)
Tarun Thomas Abraham

S.A Rehman

Abraham Pathircikan

Hariharan . N
M.Varadarajan

Latha Kurien Rajeev

P.C Chacko

P.B.Subhas Chand

Velappan Nair

Sheeba R

Oommen K Oommen

The group to identify possible temporary locations

K.M Joseph

P.B.Subhas Chand

Abraham Pathirickan

A group was formed to prepare a project report to help set up the new library. This would be submitted to the C.M for the Govt's consideration.

P. Radhakrishnan

Dr C Jayan

K Padmakumar

P Vijayakumar

K.M Joseph
M.Varadarajan

Hariharan . N

Latha Kurien Rajeev
P.B.Subhas Chand

Krishnamohan

Closing Down..

Photos and videos from the last day the library was open to the public. (Feb 29)

The Hindu - Revenue officials unable to enter British Library for inspection

The Hindu, Sunday March 23, 2008

http://www.hindu.com/2008/03/23/stories/2008032358290300.htm

Officials on order from the high court, to audit the assets at the library were unable to do so, since the librarian/assistant librarian were not present to open the premises.

TV reports - Revenue officials visit BL

TV report about the incidents in the post above

Update: Our supporters in the UK have now picked this up. See comment #5 in this article

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/2008/03/wednesday_26_march_2008.html

Neil Robertson writes:"On the day that Tata takes over both Jaguar and Land Rover why is British Council denying access to the Indian Revenue officials that The High Court in Kerala has ordered to go and check out the contents of the British Library in Trivandrum that The British Council is still trying to close in the face of a readership campaign? Having been kicked out of Russia, it seems Britain's culture quango now wants to lose us India?"

Another TV report , Asianet News

Library Boards changed

A member sent in these photos of the 'British Library' sign boards, which have been changed overnight.

Barcodes being removed!

Facts That Are Now Very Critical

• In British Library, the assets are owned by the ICCR which is under the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India
• Assets created with donor assistance in an establishment of a host country, is not usually repatriated, except when it is in foreign embassies / consulates. Here it is also an educational resource.
• The assets of the ICCR are Governmental assets and stripping of any asset from a State has to be backed by sound reasons and done only by following transparent procedures

• British Council, the funding agency has moved out and hence the implication is just that their financial support will not be there in future. The 'No Objection' from the British Council to transfer the books and furniture is welcome

• The Library Management is employed by the ICCR.
• It is the ICCR / Library Management that has the authority to negotiate the terms with the State Government, instead of taking cover under the British Council.

But ICCR’s silence to the requests from CM, members and even applications under RTI is suspicious.

• Unbundling and fragmentation now planned is to create chaos and kill the new establishment from the very beginning. At the same time, the act of just giving the books would look gracious, though virtually.
• The Government also has considerable stakes in the present library premises.

ICCR should transfer all the assets in the library to the State Government ‘as-is-where-is’ to form a new organization (say a Public Trust) and to restore normal operations immediately from the present premises

Text of report in newindpress.com

ICCR reply leaves many questions unanswered
Friday February 8 2008 09:34 IST

Express News Service

TPURAM: On January 10, four days prior to a reply by ICCR for a query submitted by a library member under the Right to Information Act, ICCR programme director Padam Talwar in a letter instructed T K Subramoni, librarian of the British Library, Thiruvananthapuram, to kindly bring it to the notice of all concerned in British Library, Thiruvananthapuram, that the library will close down on March 31, 2008.�

A member in November sought details under the RTI Act, including the �nature of entity, organisation, governing and management structure� of the library.

Other details sought were about the role of ICCR and details of the 1971 agreement between ICCR/Government of India and the British Council for managing British Libraries in India.

The ICCR is mum on most of the queries. The reply from the ICCR also says that the library is �not a public authority under the provisions of the RTI Act 2005, as it is not owned, controlled or substantially financed by the Government of India or through the funds provided by the Government of India to the ICCR.�

Also, the ICCR is silent on why the decision to close the library was taken by the British Council when the ICCR website states that the library comes under it. With most of his questions unanswered, 'Save our Library' is now planning to file an appeal.

The High Court recently issued a notice to the British Council after another library member filed a petition against the hasty decision of the Council to close the library.

The recent government decision to take over the library had come as a good news for members who had kicked off a campaign to retain it in the capital.

Why this discrimination by the British Council to Trivandrum

The British Council refuses to allow transfer of membership from the present library to the new entity. But the press release on their website clearly shows that they allowed this in Nepal
Click http://www.britishcouncil.org/nepal-learning-library-change-refund-faqs.htm

BL TVM in Public Domain - What's next for Professional Management - Click on the Images for news

Letters from Scotland

Several people in the U.K, and from other parts of the world, have supported us .

Two of them have been part of the campaign right from the start, and given us valuable insights into the inner workings of the British Council.

Neil Robertson, Development economist and member of the UNESCO Scotland standing committee, has written to and personally contacted dozens of key officials, writers, the press and others in the U.K, for our cause.

David Blackie, International Education expert and Director, IE Connect, has blogged about our camapign continuously and supported from the very beginning.

In his latest post in his blog 'The Language Business', he says

"They keep the books, they keep the premises, they keep something that they cherished. It clearly didn’t suit the British Council who wanted to close this library like all the others, but this time they ran into passion, commitment, solidarity and a real interest in – and love for - books. And so they folded.

Let this story be a lesson to all those who deal with the appalling British Council. Stand up to them at all times. Any BC manager may try something on, or make a really crass or damaging decision, and he or she will then go on to another place, another job, and try and advance their careers elsewhere, and leave people to live with the consequences of their narrow ambitions and short-term expedience. These people must be resisted, they must be forced into an acceptable degree of transparency, and they must be held to account.

For now, and especially for the doughty campaigners in Thiruvananthapuram, it’s time to celebrate! Congratulations! "

Neil, when informed about the British Council's decision to handover the library, wrote:

That is indeed excellent news ....... I have passed your message on to Joanne Orr of Unesco Scotland and it is excellent that the AJ Cronin omnibus edition mentioned by Yasho in one of the more poignant postings on your campaign website (which touched a chord in Scotland) will now be returning to library shelves in Kerala!

Please pass on warmest congratulations to everyone in the team! And if I ever get to Trivandrum I promise I will call in on the library which sounds indeed like it is a 'cultural landmark', that has now inspired the world!

Please keep in touch and keep us posted on progress.

Yours aye,

Neil

Meanwhile , lets also keep in mind that the Campaign is not over yet. So many issues are yet to be resolved. There are reports that The British Council might backtrack yet. The MoU is still to be signed. Memberships refunds haven't been stopped. The new structure is still to be finalised. There are reports that some of the assets might be sold off... Seems we're far from done.

Manorama News reports

Source :Manorama News
Date:03/02/2008

BC and Government support for this Great New Beginning, but not the ICCR

"British Council will give the books, the Government can keep the premises (constructed in 1928) that it ultimately owns and to have a professional body in place, members can keep something that they cherished......" - But Why Books and Furniture alone ? Why not the IT infrastructure and the members who want to continue ? What's use of a an Automobile without the engine and the passengers ? Why is the present library management insisting on keeping the new set up out of the present premises that was refurbished recently with huge investments? Is this the best practice to help the government to manage a transition ?

The Library Management (officers of ICCR) and those in their regional office in Trivandrum are canceling memberships and are creating a disastrous situation to leave the Government and vast majority of members to live with the consequences of their narrow, over-ambitions and short-term goals. They must show an acceptable degree of reasoning and transparency in sale of assets including those recently acquired. They must be made accountable. Why does the present library management insist on destroying an establishment just before handing it over to the sovereign Government? In Mergers, Acquisitions or Takeovers, entities are not dismantled for the sake of it. Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) which is supported with public funds should also take a call on this in response to the CM's letter..

Links with BC's educational / e-learning networks using the IT and other infrastructure currently available will be mutually beneficial. Why should Trivandrum be left to re-invent these legacy systems, links with the Association of British Scholars, so on and so forth ? Firewalls to restricted BC resources and paid services will be easily possible. We were not asking for investments from the BC. The request was always for preserving the institution in its entirety. British Council would be generous to also donate the existing IT enabled Library Management Systems and show a more gracious approach in strengthening co-operation with the Government and People of Kerala . That's what an international charitable organisation usually does. The BC would certainly not take it back to the UK.

A Great New Beginning !

April 1 , 2008 - Same library , Same collections, Same place - new management!!!

Government Meeting with the British Council

The Chief Minister Shri V.S Achuthanandan, Minister for Law Shri M Vijayakumar, Shri P.J Thomas IAS -Chief Secretary, Shri K Jayakumar IAS - Addl Chief Secretary , Smt Shiela Thomas IAS - Principal Secretary to CM, ShriAjayakumar IAS - Secretary IT, Shri K Padmakumar - Secretary RIAB , met a delegation from the British Council represented by Mr Rod Pryde - Director BC India, Mr Chris Gibson - Director BC South India.

After the discussions, the British Council agreed to handover the collection of 28,000 books, DVDs, magazines, and the infrastructure to an entity to be formed by the Govt.

This new institution might be named Trivandrum International Library (TIL).

Availability of the exisiting premises, in Govt owned land, should not be a problem.

The new library under an autonomous , professional structure is expected to commence operations on 1st April 2008.

Lets request all members to hold on to their memberships till the new arrangements are worked out.

UK education services of the British Council are expected to be retained in the future setup, in return for this gesture from the British Council.

Save Our Library meets the C.M

31/01/08 -
Mr Venugopal, K Padmakumar, George, Krishna met the Chief Minister Shri V.S Achuthanandan on Thursday.

The C.M, who has always shown keen interest in the matter, listened to us and promised all help to retain this institution here.

Candle Light Vigil

Last Thursday, some of our members organised a candle light protest at the British Library , Thiruvananthapuram.

Photo Courtesy: 'Mangalam'

See links below for mention about Trivandrum Library closure in the Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Council#Criticism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Council#Historical_anecdotes

"............"In March 2007, the British Council announced its 'intention to increase its investment in the Middle East, North Africa and Central and Southern Asia'. This will largely be funded by cuts in other services, libraries and office closures across Europe. In June 2007, ....."

"..........British Council libraries and offices have also been closed in a number of other countries judged by the British Council to be of little strategic or commercial importance as it refocused its activities on China and The Gulf where it can get a 'bigger bang for the buck'..............."