Old religious books at the Srirangam Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple library are gradually digitised to preserve them for posterity, thanks to an initiative of Srimad Andavan Arts and Science College at Tiruvanaikoil here.
The college has digitised around 750 books so far since the digitisation project was launched in February. The digitisation works were being carried out using two hi-end face-up page scanners procured by the college for this purpose.
Situated inside the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple premises, the library has a collection of around 2,000 books on religion and culture written in Tamil, Grantham, Sanskrit, Telugu and English by well-versed scholars.
Three Master of Computer Application students of the college have been roped in to scan the books and convert them into Portable Document Format (PDF).
The students are paid a monthly stipend for being involved in the digitisation project which they carry out after college hours every day barring holidays.
The college management has granted Rs. 7 lakh to carry out the digitisation work as a service to society, says S. Lakshmi, college librarian.
The old books in the library are a treasure and hence it was felt that they should be preserved through a digital make over, says K. Sridharan, Director, Computer Science Department of the college.
Scanning is being done with utmost care as pages of some of the books are brittle, says Mr. Sridharan. The project is expected to be completed by 2016. The digitised format will be handed over to the temple authorities upon completion of the project. It can be posted on the temple website or could be retained in the DVD form for ready access, Mr. Sridharan says.
Some old books in the library’s collections include Sri Aalavandar Sthothra Ratnam published in 1878 with slokas and commentary, Vivadhachinthamani published in 1894 in Sanskrit, and Brihada Ramya Upanishad in Sanskrit published in 1911.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Tiruchirapalli / R. Rajaram / Trichy – September 21st, 2014