The history of the present Jaffna Public Library began on August 1, 1934, by K M Chellappa who was the founder of the Jaffna Free Library Movement, when the library was relocated from his home to a building on Hospital Street. The year 1936 saw the library being relocated twice to a spacious building owned by the Puthur Mallavarayar family. The real development of the Library happened upon the election of A Sabapathy as the first Mayor of Jaffna. He decided that a separate modern building should be constructed to house the Library. The Jaffna Library Association was formed with Mayor Sabapathy as the Chairman and Rev Fr Long, rector of St Patricks College, Jaffna as the Vice Chairman, whose contribution to the Library was immense.
The foundation laying ceremony was held on March 29, 1954, where Mayor A Sabapathy, Rev Fr Long, Sir Cecil Sayers British High Commissioner, Philip Grove US Ambassador and Siddhartha Chari First Secretary to the Indian High Commission laid the foundation stone. The foundation stones laid by each person has been placed at various locations of the building and can even be seen today.
To reflect the culture and tradition of the people of the area, the design of the Jaffna Public Library was of Dravidian architecture. This is evident by the characteristic domes and pillars of the building. The first stage upon completion was ceremonially opened on October 11, 1959 by Alfred Duraiappah, Mayor of Jaffna.
A replica building of the original Jaffna Public Library was built to form the rear of the current building.
While the front or main entrance is on Esplanade Road, the entrance of the replica building (new section) opens to Kankesanthurai Road. The foundation stone for this building was laid by Mayor Raja Visuvanathan on February 7, 1982 and ceremonially opened by Opposition Leader A Amirthalingam on June 4, 1984.
The most recent restoration work was completed in 2002 and since then the Jaffna Public Library has been a source of knowledge for all those who enter through its doors.
