This was my first time visiting the library, and it is impressive with its 8 floors (plus a ground floor). The process is very simple: you don't need to pay any fees. Just drop your bag at the nearby counter (free of charge). You are allowed to carry a notebook and a water bottle inside. To enter, you just need to sign in—either in a physical register or online.
If you bring a laptop, there is a separate sign-in process for security when entering and exiting. Each floor is divided into two sections: Section A (அ) and Section B (ஆ).
Floor 1
I spent about 30–45 minutes here. Section A houses newspapers and magazines, while Section B is dedicated to children's books. I found several tech and science magazines particularly interesting, including:
| Number | Magazine Name |
|---|---|
| 44 | Tamil Computer |
| 112 | Data quest |
| 113 | Digit |
| 114 | Down to earth |
| 117 | Electronics for u |
| 146 | PC Quest |
| 154 | Stuff |
| 184 | The book review |
I started with the December 1st edition of Tamil Computer. It featured fascinating articles on the importance of savings, Linux apps on Pixel, using the Linux terminal on Android, the benefits of websites, and how LLMs (Large Language Models) work. I even spotted articles by my friends: one on Spell Checkers by Kaniyam Shrini and another on USB Workings by Kaleeshwar. It reminded me of a conversation I had with Shrini last year about open-source spell-checking tools.
Floor 3 section A
Here i explored computer book specially and found quite a lot of interesting books.
- Domain Driven Design
I found books from following publication
- OReilly
- APress
- Head First books (WOW)
- dummies series (eg: Network for Dummies)
- BPB publication
I spent most of my time reading Implementing NLP Use Cases Using BERT. My interest in this was sparked by AI/ML engineers I've met at conferences and meetups who recommended studying BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers).
Floor 5 section A
Next, I explored the Mathematics section. Two books stood out:
- Business calculus DeMystified
- Make: Calculus
- This one is amazing! It teaches calculus using OpenSCAD (3D modeling software), which is a very unique approach. I’ll definitely be coming back for this one.
Final Thoughts
My only regret was not bringing my laptop. While the library is a bit of a long commute for me, it is absolutely worth the trip. If you are in or around Chennai, you should definitely check it out!
Useful links
- Library catalogue and Membership