India, Oct. 17 -- There was a time when going to Sector 17 meant dressing up a little. Before the malls, before the multiplexes, before smartphones became the place where we carried our newspapers, books, photographs and conversations, Sector 17 was Chandigarh's great meeting place. Families came here on Sundays, students wandered about after college, government employees stopped for a cup of tea and, somewhere amid all that movement, stood a quieter institution - the TS Central State Library.

For many old Chandigarh residents, the four-storey library is not just a building. It is a memory. Established in 1955, when Chandigarh itself was still finding its feet, the library grew alongside the young city. Those who knew Sector 17 in the 19...