The Periyar Arivulagam library in Coimbatore is facing demands for a formal inquiry after progressive organisations and arts and literature bodies protested alleged irregularities in the procurement and stocking of books at the recently opened facility.
More than 40 people participated in the protest near the State Express Transport Corporation bus stand in Gandhipuram on Saturday, according to a report by the Times of India. The protesters carried placards and raised slogans, demanding that disputed books be removed from the library and that officials and publishers linked to the titles face action if the allegations are established.
The controversy concerns several books displayed at the library under the names of specific publishing houses. Writers and activists alleged that some titles had unclear publisher identities and that portions of the content had been flagged as “AI content”. They called for expert scrutiny of the books and a review of the process through which they were selected, purchased and placed in the library.
The protest was organised by a coalition that included the Dravida Tamizhar Katchi, Tamil Nadu Association of Arts and Literature, Students Federation of India, Democratic Youth Federation of India and All India Lawyers Union, along with literary, social justice and youth organisations. Their demands included disciplinary action against officials allegedly responsible for procurement and action against publishers associated with the disputed titles.
The allegations place the library’s procurement system at the centre of the dispute. A public library’s book collection is shaped not only by the number of titles acquired but also by the credibility of publishers, the quality of content and the transparency of selection and purchasing decisions. In this case, the protesters have sought an institutional investigation rather than relying only on the removal of individual books.
Tamil research scholar S Sathishkumar also alleged that similar fake books had surfaced at the Kalaignar Centenary Library in Madurai. Referring to Phoenix Publications, he said the Coimbatore library had more than 300 books linked to the publisher, most of them English-language science titles, and called for their content to be examined by experts.
Sathishkumar further claimed that checks of ISBN records showed multiple books registered under the same name on March 30, March 31 and April 4, 2022. He also raised pricing concerns, citing a 204-page book priced at Rs 895, and demanded an investigation into possible plagiarism. These claims were made by the protester and have not been independently established in the material available for this report.
The dispute highlights the administrative importance of verification before public institutions add books to their collections. ISBN records, publisher details, pricing, copyright information and content quality are among the records that would need to be examined to determine whether procurement rules or professional standards were breached. The protesters have demanded that such scrutiny be carried out formally.
The immediate demands are the removal of disputed titles, action against publishers and disciplinary proceedings against officials allegedly connected with the procurement. The next substantive development will depend on whether the authorities order an inquiry and whether the questioned books undergo an expert review.
