Staff at the Tenkasi District Central Library have taken about 2,200 books off the shelves after identifying them as allegedly generated with artificial intelligence.
The books came from a single publishing house and were bought for ₹27 lakh in December 2025, library staff said on 11 November. All 2,200 have been removed. The titles were allegedly published under five author names, which the library has not verified as real people.
Tenkasi (தென்காசி) is not where the trouble started. The removal followed a statewide inspection of public libraries ordered after questions were raised over books bought for the Periyar Arivulagam library in Coimbatore, and it came a day after the High Court stepped in.
The court ordered a vigilance case on 10 November
On 10 November a Division Bench of Justices G.R. Swaminathan and R. Poornima at the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court directed the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption to register a case immediately over alleged irregularities in book procurement for public libraries, and ordered the publisher’s bank account frozen. The judges asked who had recommended the purchases for the Coimbatore library and why no case had been registered even against unidentified persons. The State’s counsel told the court the matter was under investigation and that full procurement details would be placed before it. A related contempt petition was listed before Justice N. Anand Venkatesh on 12 November.
The petitioner, from Tirunelveli, alleges that purchases in Coimbatore, Tiruchy, Salem, Cuddalore and Tirunelveli broke directions the High Court gave in 2024.
How big the library system is
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| District central libraries in Tamil Nadu | 32 |
| Branch libraries | 1,612 |
| Full-time branch libraries | 314 |
| Village libraries | 1,915 |
| Books removed at Tenkasi District Central Library | About 2,200 |
| Reported purchase value of those books | ₹27 lakh |
| Copies of each selected book sent for archiving and review under procurement rules | 5 |
Source: Directorate of Public Libraries (network and procurement rules); Tenkasi figures as given by library staff on 11 November 2026.
One district central library out of 32. The inspection is statewide, so the other 31 are being checked against the same question.
The rules already ban “low-quality publications”
The Directorate’s Transparent Book Procurement Policy 2024 sets the bar a book must clear before any library can buy it. Each title needs an ISBN. A selection committee scores submissions with inputs from subject experts, librarians and users, on a consolidated point-marking system, after reading a 20 to 25 page digital excerpt and then a print copy. Prices are negotiated against a price index fixed by the Directorate. One copy goes to Connemara Public Library under the Delivery of Books (Public Libraries) Act, 1954, one each to the Anna Centenary Library in Chennai and the Kalaignar Centenary Library in Madurai, and two to the procurement cell for review. The guidelines say the Directorate will “strictly prohibit and penalize copyright infringement, false representation, and low-quality publications”, and that unfair practices bring disqualification.
How we worked this out
Library counts and procurement rules are taken as published on the Directorate of Public Libraries’ website. The Tenkasi count and the ₹27 lakh purchase value are figures given by library staff on 11 November; we have not seen the purchase order. No figure here is derived or estimated.
The story has drawn unwelcome attention abroad
The scandal has travelled well beyond Tamil Nadu. The BBC reported it under the headline “New Indian mega library rocked by scandal over ‘AI-generated books'”, and outlets in China, Hong Kong and Nepal have picked it up, several citing the BBC and The Times of India. That coverage centres on the Periyar library in Coimbatore, which opened on 16 October 2026 at a reported cost of ₹300 crore. Novelist Perumal Murugan raised concerns after a visit, writing that nearly 1,800 books in its Tamil section came from a little-known publisher, Agal Vilakku Pathippagam, many under unfamiliar author names, at unusually high prices and with questionable ISBNs. Reporters who visited the publisher’s registered address found a private house with no sign of a publishing business.
Libraries elsewhere face the same problem
Tamil Nadu is not alone. In the United States, Hoopla, which supplies ebooks to public libraries across the country, said it would do more to keep out low-quality AI-generated books after a 404 Media investigation found they were common on its platform. Librarian groups have pressed Hoopla and OverDrive to act, warning that some titles are so poor that even Amazon won’t sell them, and that the risk goes beyond quality: one AI-written mushroom foraging guide reportedly told readers a poisonous species was safe to eat. Some libraries, such as Pima County Public Library in Arizona, now try to avoid AI-generated books entirely, while others say they have trouble spotting them from vendor catalogue entries alone.
For Context
Tamil Nadu’s public libraries were set up under the Tamil Nadu Public Libraries Act, 1948, and the Directorate of Public Libraries has run them since 1972. The online, scored procurement system came with the 2024 policy, which also routes every selected book through a central facility in Chennai before it reaches district shelves. Books not picked within two years drop off the purchase list.
Checked against official sources on 13 November 2026.
Sources
- About the Directorate, Directorate of Public Libraries, Tamil Nadu
- General Guidelines, Transparent Book Procurement Portal, Directorate of Public Libraries
- Tenkasi district administration: official website
- New Indian mega library rocked by scandal over ‘AI-generated books’, BBC News (via Yahoo News)
- India’s new library found to have bought over a thousand fake AI books (Chinese), DotDotNews, citing BBC and The Times of India
- India’s newly built library bought “AI-generated books”? (Chinese), The Paper
- Public Library Ebook Service to Cull AI Slop After 404 Media Investigation, 404 Media
- Libraries are already contending with crappy, AI-generated books, Literary Hub
- How Local Librarians Keep AI Slop Off the Shelves, Governing
- Books by Bots, American Libraries Magazine
