A seven-decade-old library on the compound of Leprosy Sanatorium at Nooranad in Alappuzha district of Kerala, which once offered comfort and solace to thousands of inmates as well as enriching the lives of others by guaranteeing access to knowledge with its collection of some 25,000 books and rare palm-leaf manuscripts, is on the verge of going to seed after remaining shut for the past four years.
The Leprosy Sanatorium (LS) library was established in the late 1940s with the father of the Library Movement P.N. Panicker, playwright Thoppil Bhasi and others playing key roles. Beginning in a tiny space, the library was later shifted to a two-storey building within the compound.
