Operations

After the inauguration of the library, consulates in the city expressed interest in visiting the library and donating books to it.
In October 2010, soon after the inauguration, the library placed an order involving 35,174 books worth £1.275 million with the Cambridge University Press (CUP), resulting in the biggest sale in CUP's history to an academic library in India and the biggest invoice CUP has ever issued – at 2,794 pages long.
A single order worth a million euros was placed with the world's largest publisher of books, Springer, which publishes in the fields of science, technology and medicine.
Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State had lauded the library during her visit to Chennai on 20 July 2011.
On 2 November 2011, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha announced that the library will be converted into a super-specialty pediatric hospital. However, on a petition filed against this move, the Madras High Court ordered on 4 November 2011, that the shifting should be stayed and asked the government to submit an answer within six weeks. Scholars, Poets, Professors, Research Scientists, Professionals, Students and people of Chennai have since been actively participating in an online campaign titled Save Anna Centenary Library Campaign.