This will help preserve more than 10,000 rare books in Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad’s archive.
The Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad (MSP) has decided to embark on a mega project of digitising and preserving more than 10,000 books in its library. A majority of the books were published between 1800 and 1950 and are both rare and out of print.
Anant Joshi, in-charge of the library section of the MSP, had spearheaded this project.
“A month back, we finished cataloging all the books in our library. During the process, we came to realise that we have around 10,000 books printed during the 1800-1950 period. Due to the antiquity of the books, most of them are in a very precarious state and there is an urgent need to preserve them in the best possible manner,” he said.
Moreover these books, long out of print, are quite in demand among erudite circles of scholars and researchers in Marathi. A majority of the books are on Marathi grammar, penned during the early 19th century.
“Scholars from all over the world come to our library to read these books and often ask for photocopies of them. However, any attempt to photocopy these books would damage the fragile pages, so we do not allow that,” he said.
Joshi said that in the absence of an alternative, scholars have to take copious notes at the library from the books.
In order to make the books available to all and to preserve them for posterity, the project of digitalising these books was conceived. Using ultra-modern techniques, the books would be scanned and printouts would be taken, for the use of scholars and users of the library.
Plans are also afoot to upload these books online to make them available widely. To oversee this project, a committee under the chairmanship of eminent scientist, Vijay Bhatkar, has been formed.
According to Joshi, the work of digitalisation of the books would start after Dussera. “The value of these books can hardly be over emphasised. They represent strides of knowledge made by man and have to be preserved for the sake of the future generation,” stated Joshi.
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