In 1933, the same year the Nazis burnt large numbers of books that they considered 'anti-German', the idea of setting up a library in Jaffna was born. The Jaffna Public Library (JPL) would have celebrated its golden jubilee in 1983 had it not been burned down in 1981. Instead, June 2012 marked the 31st anniversary of that tragedy.
1933 was a difficult time in Sri Lanka. The economy was slow and unemployment was very high. Amid the gloom, one K M Chellappah, who worked for the district court in Jaffna, circulated an appeal in English and Tamil for "A Central Free Tamil Library in Jaffna", and approached labourers, unions, teachers, authors, business people and prominent retirees for support. He insisted that the library would house not just a Tamil collection, but would also hold books in other languages. The idea caught on, and soon a seminal meeting of interested individuals passed a resolution agreeing that "a Central Free Tamil Library Association be formed with the original subscribers and others who are present at this meeting as original members of the Association".
With support in cash and kind flowing in from many quarters, the library was inaugurated on 1 August 1934 in a rented building on Jaffna's Hospital Street. The initial collection was 844 books and 30 newspapers and periodicals. Professor S R Ranganathan, who at the time was the head of the library at Delhi University and considered the 'Father of Library Science' in India, advised the organisation of the collection and the library.
Yet, it was a British clergyman named Father Long who helped to determine the library's early success. He helped form the Jaffna Library Society, and secured cooperation from as far afield as the British Library and the library at Delhi University. Father Long also came up with a plan to establish a central library in Jaffna town, and to open branch libraries in all of Jaffna's towns, village and colleges. In addition, there would be mobile libraries to cater to those areas the branches could not reach. The central library moved several times as the collection grew, but after some disagreement over a permanent location, construction began in the centre of Jaffna town in 1953. The new building opened on 11 October 1959.