The room and the register
About Pages Lending Library
Pages Lending Library has been lending books in Chennai since 8 June 2015. It runs from two rooms, and the one you can borrow from this evening is called Limited Edition: a small space in Taramani, near the Panchamukha Hanuman Temple, holding around 2,500 books chosen from a larger collection, one at a time, every one of them here because it earned the space.
The name is a literal description rather than a flourish, and it is the room's name, not the library's. It is shortened to Ltd. Ed. on the signage. The library itself is Pages Lending Library, and it has two locations.
Twenty-six books a year
There are fifty-two weeks in a year. A book a week would make fifty-two books, and almost nobody reads at that pace. A book a fortnight is more likely to be within one's grasp: twenty-six books a year.
So the question this library is built around is which twenty-six. Crime, fantasy, mystery, classics, non-fiction: whatever you read, the aim is that ten to fifteen of your twenty-six are books that belong on any list of the hundred worth reading in a lifetime. That is what curation means here, and it is why the collection stays small: a tailored year of reading rather than a warehouse to get lost in.
Children's books, in complete series
The collection leans hardest towards children. Series are kept whole, so a child who finishes one book finds the next one waiting; the surest way we know to turn a reader into a habit. Alongside them: Tamil short fiction worth rereading, and classics worth owning but better borrowed.
The library opened on 8 June 2015 in Madipakkam, Chennai, and has been lending books ever since: 11 years, and a second room across the city. Madipakkam is still the head office, and it is where the library's first readers joined, though it is temporarily closed for renovations and not open for browsing. Borrowing happens in Taramani.
The register is kept by hand and every book has an accession number, and 2,457 of them are in the online catalog so far, and the rest are being added. The owner reads what goes into it and writes about it, in Tamil and English, on the blog, and picks one book each week to press into someone's hands.
Membership is currently capped at 150. Not as a gimmick: a curated library works when each reader is known, their habit is nurtured, and the purpose of the library is fulfilled.
Who runs Pages Lending Library
Rommell R. David, librarian and owner. Every book here is chosen by Rommell, for a specific reason. He keeps the catalog and the register himself, and writes the reading notes and the weekly pick. Ask for a recommendation, and get a personalised suggestion; that is what a small library is for.
Elsewhere he is on LinkedIn, Instagram, X, and A Little More to the Left.
Visit the library in Taramani, Chennai
No.13/15, Arangannal Street, Near Panchamukha Hanuman Temple, Taramani, Chennai 600113. Open 6–8 pm, Monday to Saturday. Call or WhatsApp +91-90803-25985, or email pageslendinglibrary@gmail.com.
Plus Code: X6MQ+34 Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Paste it into Google Maps if the street address is hard to find.
