The Asiatic Society of Mumbai has been awarded ISO certification - the first library in India to get it.
Industrialists pitch in for 204-yr-old society
The Asiatic Society of Mumbai has been awarded ISO certification - the first library in India to get it. Although the library is 204 years old, its managing committee felt the need to get international standardisation to meet growing competition from the Internet.
“We want more young faces to come and use this historic library. It is free of cost and we have the best old and new books,” said Aroon Tikekar, president of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai.
To get the new ISO 9001 certification under the American National Accreditation Board, every employee underwent training under the Toyota Production System method, which helps streamlining processes - from better organising the catalogue with coloured tags to creating a calendar for housekeeping.
It was the idea of Sharad Gadgil, finance secretary of the society, to get the certification. “We approached the Narottam Saxena Foundation and they willingly funded the audit process, which cost around Rs1 lakh,” he said. The process, carried out by Ace Management Consultants, took nine months to train every employee from the base level to the core group.
Keen to assess what change the ISO certification has brought about, honorary secretary of the Asiatic Society, Vidya Vencatesan, has decided carry out a survey to get
feedback from everyday visitors.
Ariandra Riera, a Spanish tourist, said, “This library has beautiful architecture and is exceptionally large as compared to the ones in Spain. An ISO certification will help get more people to use it, especially foreigners like me.”
For now, the future of the library looks bright with the Tatas, Godrejes and Rajya Sabha MPs coming forward with funds. Rajya Sabha members Dr Alexandra and Shyaam Benegal have already sanctioned Rs25 lakh and Rs11 lakh for a fire fighting system and research centre respectively.
m_irani@dnaindia.net
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