At a time when people hardly have time for printed material, one would not expect a library to thrive.
But a library with seven branches in Chennai is doing exactly that.
Easwari Lending Library, the oldest in the city, seems to be the only one of its kind where one can source the oldest Tintin to the latest Pokeman comics and current computer books.
N Palani, 67, says that he started his business as an old newspaper vendor about 45 years ago and his interest in Tamil magazines such as Kalki, Kumudham and Savi, which he reads avidly, prompted him to venture into this unlikely business of books.
One may wonder who cares for a library at a time when kids are glued to the idiot box for cartoons and women for mega serials? Palani, who owns 2.5 lakh books spread across such diverse categories as fiction, business management, health and fitness and dog training, etc, says his large chunk of members are women and children.
The library has branches at Mylapore, Adyar, T Nagar, which are as old as 15 years, while the ones at Vadapalani, Anna Nagar and Raja Annamalai Puram are just four-year-old.
Among Chennai's 40-odd private lending libraries, Eloor and Ramona Lending Library are very popular. So how does he manage to run a library chain successfully? He says due to his long years of contact with publishing houses, he gets handsome discount on books. However, he declines to mention the exact discount he gets.
Palani also points out that the most significant reason for running a profitable chain of libraries is that he has a huge collection of fiction and non-fiction, and the last but not the least is the fact that he owns the properties of all his seven libraries. So he does not require huge investments to buy books in bulk.
Entry of new entrepreneurs into this line of business is almost ruled out as it involves huge rentals and salaries making the business unviable. In such a situation, securing good discount on new books alone will not help, he reasons.
Increasing membership fees and rentals will not help in this line of business either.
Therefore, Easwari Lending Library collects Rs 250 as membership fee and Rs 5 to Rs 25 as rent depending on the nature of books, according to Palani.
The chain of libraries is technology savvy as well. It has a web page, with a list of all the books available, while another software is used to keep a tab on all the books lent and received.
His sons P Saravannan and P Sathish help him in managing the business operations. Like his father, the two sons have big plans to set up a large library with 30,000 sq ft area for members to read leisurely. Palani says that it may take two to three years to realise the dream of his sons.
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