Library readying digital hall of fame for rare and old books

KAVYA PRADEEP KUMAR

Antique texts is being preserved in the ongoing digital drive

It may be a crumbly text with a frail spine from the outside, but its pages hide a rare treasure. The book, lying buried among volumes in the Public Library, contain meticulously drawn illustrations of what appears to be statues and engravings in temples.

According to one of the librarians here, a visit by a painter who is involved in the renovation work at the Madurai Meenakshi temple revealed that the drawings in the book are indeed sketches of the original from the temple, drawn to scale and with an anecdote scribbled in Tamil beneath each sketch.

ANONYMOUS ARTIST

Probably one of the rarest books here, the unfortunate part is no one knew who the artist is or who gave this rare manuscript to the library. “It was just there among the collection,” said a staff.

This book is among the many antique texts here that will be preserved in the digital drive going on in the library for the past few years.

In a phased manner, the library, in association with the Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT), has been scanning government gazettes and original documents dating back to 1538.

The materials are available for viewing only in the Local Area Network of the library and in time, they will be uploaded to the Net.

“The library has completed work with gazettes between the 1904 and 1954,” another staff said.

Aside from creating a PDF format of the documents, those involved in the work had to go through a painstaking task of making corrections and eliminating loopholes.

In-built with a Malayalam keyboard and a dictionary, the software is capable of making connections with variants of the same word.

For instance, keying in ‘Travancore’ in the search box, will also display documents containing ‘Thiruvithancode’ in Malayalam and a Tamil version as well.

They have now begun work on gazettes dating post-1954. Few more old books are left to be converted and 1,183 of them have already been uploaded to the server.

 SOURCE: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Thiruvananthapuram/library-readying-digital-hall-of-fame-for-rare-and-old-books/article3990773.ece

Row over Thiruvananthapuram Public Library land takes a new turn

The row over the alleged encroachment on the State Central Library (Public Library) land has been given a fresh twist with the Thiruvananthapuram Public Library Protection Council urging the State Government to declare the library ‘heritage property.’

Only the ‘heritage property’ status can save the library and its campus from further encroachment, Council president M Ahmed Kunju and general secretary Attukal Surendran said in a petition submitted to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb.

‘’It was the then king Swathi Thirunal who allotted 3.5 acres for establishing the library in 1829. A large chunk of the land was lost in the widening of the road. Now an affidavit filed by the government before the Kerala High Court says the library has only 2.24 acres with it,’’ Ahmed Kunju said.

The controversy over library land has taken centre-stage once again with the Kerala High Court demanding to know as to where a proposed ‘Heritage Block’ - a public library project - was to be constructed.

Controversy started dogging the public library land after the Pattom Thanu Pillai government sanctioned office space for the Grandhashala Sanghom (now State Library Council). According to the Library Protection Council, the Library Council had demolished the said building in 2002.

The Council moved the High Court following attempts to build the EMS Memorial Information Centre on this land plus another 20 cents. The A K Antony government scrapped this order, but the project re-emerged during the term of the V S Achuthanandan government.

More News at :http://ibnlive.in.com/news/row-over-public-library-land-takes-a-new-turn/273649-60-123.html

Library of a different kind

Books were the main source for education outside school and one should utilise every opportunity that was given to them to acquire knowledge.

They pledged to dedicate their time to acquire knowledge and develop a reading culture which would enable them to bring a positive change not only to their lives but also to society.

For the inmates of the Central Prison, Poojappura, who spend a considerable amount of time in the company of books, there could have been no better time to take such a pledge than during the Reading Week celebrations.

‘Vayanotsavam’

Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan inaugurated the ‘Vayanotsavam-2012' here at the Central prison on Friday. Additional Director-General of Police (Prisons) Alexander Jacob recited the 'Reading Day' pledge to the inmates at the function jointly organised by the Central Prison, P.N. Panicker Foundation, and various other departments. (The Reading day observed on June 19 is a week-long celebration to honour P.N. Panicker who started the library movement in Kerala).

Books were the main source for education outside school and one should utilise every opportunity that was given to them to acquire knowledge.

It was important to inculcate reading habits among people for the development of society, said Mr. Radhakrishnan to the gathered audience.

The prison has a collection of 15,000 books and at least 80 persons use the library daily.

The fact that an inmate had taken a Ph.D. and as many as 124 inmates were pursing various degree courses in the different jails was an achievement, said Mr. Alexander Jacob.

The prison library has a varied collection of books and has a regular supply of all the leading national and regional newspapers and magazines. The prison also has computer labs, television, and radios for the inmates to keep up with the latest happenings around the world.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Thiruvananthapuram/article3562135.ece

BrahMos shuts down library

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Four months ago,BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram Limited (BATL), a leading missile integration and defence production unit in the state, shut down its library and reading room. 

Other BrahMos units in the country have a technical library and other facilities as part of employees' welfare. 

The company is governed by an independent board of directors and is headed by chairman Dr A Sivathanu Pillai. 

The BATL management said: "Reading room and club is not within the scope of BrahMos. It is the company's decision following de-recognition of trade unions after taking over of Kerala Hi-tech Industries Limited (Keltech) by Brahmos Aerospace in December 2007." 

Employees at BATL are, however, upset. "We had a club with facilities such as carom board. That, too, has been shut," says one of them. 

For the last four years employees and the management at BATL have been at loggerheads over various issues. 

"We believe the company's productivity can be enhanced without affecting the welfare of the workers," said Abdul Salaam, general secretary of the BrahMos Trade Union. 

A spokesperson for the management said the company has ensured reasonable pay for its employees and has a workmen's welfare committee to represent the employees. 

BrahMos Aerospace Limited is a joint venture between the DRDO at Centre and NPOM Russia.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/thiruvananthapuram/BrahMos-shuts-down-library/articleshow/14254363.cms

Library Assistant (5) at Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram

Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) invites applications for following  post on contract basis  : 

1. Library Assistant 'A'  : 05 posts

Pay Scale : Rs.9300-34800 grade pay Rs.4600/- 

Age : Age limit: 35 years as on 17/06/2012 (SC/ST/OBC/ Ex-servicemen/ Persons With Disability (PWD) are eligible for age relaxation as per rule).

How to Apply : Application should reach the Administrative Officer, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), Valiamala PO, Thiruvananthapuram – 695547 on or before 17/06/2012.

Please visit http://www.iist.ac.in/application-ta-la for further details and application form.

National Seminar by RRRLF at Thiruvananthpuram

Dear All,

The Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation (RRRLF) is organizing a National Seminar on the theme “Towards a new reading culture” on 20-21 April 2012 in Thiruvananthapuram.There would be four technical sessions, viz.Changing Reading Habit and Public Libraries, Re-orienting Public Libraries in India, ICT Applications and Public Libraries and Equipping Public Library Users and Staff with Appropriate Skills and Competencies.

RRRLF National Fellowship will be awarded to Dr Balamohan Thampi at this function. Shri P Govinda Pillai, Shri Kavalam Narayana Paincker, Smt. Sugathakumari, Shri Vishnunarayanan Namboothiri, Dr K Satchidanandan, Shri Kanayi Kunhiraman, Dr George Onakkoor, Dr N.A. Karim, Prof. C.A. Augustine, Smt Lalitha Lenin and Shri N. Balagopal, the veterans in the field of Literature and Library movement will also be honoured.

There will be invited presentations from eminent Literary persons and Library Professionals.
Delegate registration is already completed.
For more information, please contact,


Mr N. Sukumaran Nair
General Convener
RRRLF National Seminar 2012
Mob: 09447213155