On Friday ,October 8, 1869 a meeting was held at the school building in the premises now occupied by the Maharaja’s College, Ernakulum to consider the question of establishing a Public Library and Reading Room at Ernakulum .’The meeting was well attended, the Dewan , the Judges and the principal officers of the Sarkar and a considerable number of the inhabitants being present’, says the first minutes prepared in the handwriting of Shri .A.F .Sealy, President of that meeting .The first resolution of that meeting proposed by Shri .A. Sankariah, and seconded by Shri. Krishna Rao, reads : `that a Public Library and Reading Room be established for the benefit of the community`. Thus was born ,this institution celebrating one hundred and twenty five years of glorious existence. The minutes book from which the above quotations are taking one of the prized possession of the institution, and a close study of how carefully the details were planned and executed would be a very rewarding study for anyone interested in this library.
Donations totalling Rs.1,272/-were collected from those present. The Sarkar made a contribution of Rs.1,267-The initial subscription collections come to Rs.280/-and the Sarkar contributed Rs.248/-and from out of this,Rs.2,277/- was spent for ordering books from M/s.H. Southern & Co., England, the initial purchase of books for this library .From this minutes, it can be seen that in 1065 M.E., that is 1890 A.D., the total numbers of book in the library was 1358.The book were in English, and as the number of persons conversant with English could not have been very large, this represented quite an adequate collection. From the inception, the Government of Cochin extended very generous patronage, contributing an amount equal to the amount raised as subscription and donation. The idea of a matching grant from the Government for which we have been clamoring for years, was really the practice in the early years.