Library| Dehiwala Mount Lavinia Municipal Council

Dehiwala – Mount Lavinia Municipal Council

Central Library – Grade I

Chief Librarian

Miss. pushpa welgama

Central Library, Frazer Avenue, Dehiwala.

T.P. : 011-2712782

Our mission is to identify , acquire, process, store, retrieve and communicate information with the intention of providing necessary information and resources, to spend their leisure time meaningfully and creatively, to provide the opportunity for the betterment educationally, socially, economically and culturally for every member in society from their childhood to adulthood without race, caste, religion, status, age or language discrimination.

Introduction

A person approaching Dehiwala from Colombo can see this library by travelling 200 yards along Frazer Avenue, which is on the sea side.
This library was opened on 16.05.1977 by Hon. William Gopallawa, the then President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to fulfill the needs of the increasing population.
While the aim of the library is to provide library services and information to the dwellers of the Dehiwala – Mount Lavinia locality, the library is open to the students who study in the city as well as persons who are employed in departments and institutions in the city although they reside outside the municipal limits. According to the objective of the Public Library, this library can freely be used by any reader.
05 branch libraries and children’s libraries plus 09 reading rooms are maintained by this library for the wellbeing of the citizens.

Objectives and Functions..

1. Increasing the knowledge of the dwellers of the Dehiwala – Mount Lavinia locality, collecting of books, magazines and papers needed for individual and communal life and giving them to the readers when needed are among the main functions of the library.

2. Organizing literary festivals in order to develop the creativity of the readers and conferring gifts and certificates, issuing of books to read, and allowing the readers to use them.

3. Select, acquire, access, pay for, classify, catalogue and preserve books, magazines, newspapers, etc. in order to fulfill the above objectives and distribute them to the reference section, lending section and children’s section for the benefit of the readers.

4. Providing of buildings and space needed to provide services for the readers, and maintaining the cleanliness of the library.

5. Providing of knowledge to the staff so that they will be able to provide quality service to the readers.

Who can be a member?

Permanent residents of the Dehiwala – Mount Lavinia Municipality.
Students who study within the Dehiwala – Mount Lavinia Municipality.
People who are employed in the Dehiwala – Mount Lavinia Municipality.

Newspaper Section

This section is open daily from 8.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. It provides knowledge through 14 daily newspapers, 21 Sunday papers, 12 Sinhala magazines and about 13 English magazines. Daily newspapers in Sinhala / English ant Tamil are kept on the table for the readers. In addition to providing the weekly gazette, a collection of paper articles are also maintained.

Reference Section

This section has books on all subjects needed for Grade 5 Scholarhip, G.C.E. (O/L), G.C.E. (A/L) examinations, books on Law, Medicine, Engineering, Computing, Science, History, Political Science, etc. in all three mediums: Sinhala, English and Tamil.
The Central Library has Wifi facilities as well.

Branch Libraries

Branches of this library are open daily except on public holidays and Wednesdays from 9.15 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.

1. Mount Lavinia Branch Library
2. Aththidiya Branch Library
3. Nadimala Branch Library
4. Saranankara Branch Library

In addition to these branch libraries, there are 09 other reading rooms.

Wanarathana Reading Room
Kindawatte Reading Room
Pallidora Reading Room
Dudley Senanayaka Reading Room
Park Road Reading Room
Peiris Road Reading Room
Kadawatha Road Reading Room
Wilawala Reading Room
Gonakovila Reading Room

Photocopy Service

Photocopies of necessary pages of books, magazines, newspapers, etc. which are not allowed to be taken out of the library, can be photo copied here at a reasonable price.

Projects / Services Organized annually

Organizing essay, speech and arts competitions for school students.
Literary Festivals
Book Exhibitions
Scholarly Lectures
Notice Board
Poster Exhibitions on important matters.

How to be a member of the lending section ?

If you are a student, it should be certified that you study in a particular school and if you are an employed person, it should be certified that you work in a particular institution.
Two tax paying permanent residents of the municipality should provide guarantee to the applicant
To be a member in the lending section, you should be above 14 years of age.
Membership could be obtained by filling the application form and getting it signed by two guarantors and by paying a membership fee of Rs. 100/-.
A school going student can obtain the membership by getting the form certified by the Principal and paying a membership fee of Rs. 50/-. In addition to this, a deposit of Rs. 500/- is needed for the membership of elders.
Membership for the children’s library could be obtained by children between the age of 5 and 14 who permanently reside within the municipality of Dehiwala – Mount Lavinia or who study within the municipal area by obtaining a guarantee from a tax payer of the Municipal Council.

Times of providing service to the reader:

Daily from 8.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. except on public holidays and Wednesdays.

Services rendered freely in the children’s section:

• Talk time program
• Speech, drawing, prose, poems, dancing, singing competitions.

Study Section

This section facilitates the readers to use their own books. To use this section, a membership card should be obtained by paying Rs. 15/- and producing the NIC or any other recognized ID.

Services

Books not used for 10 years by the library will be distributed free of charge to low income government schools and Sunday Schools, which are within the municipality.