Dear All, Around three lakh pages of 700 rare books could now be accessed in digital form, as Trivandrum Public library has recently completed its first phase of digitization project. Most of the documents are 200 years old and the digital form has been prepared without losing the originality of the text. This digital archiving project using ‘Nitya’ software was designed by the Centre for Informatics Research and Development, Trivandrum and supervised by a team of LIS professionals. Trivandrum public library is one of the oldest libraries in India and the first in Kerala. The library was set up during the reign of Swathi Tirunal, ruler of erstwhile Travancore, in 1829 A.D., a few years before the Imperial Library of Calcutta and the National Library were established. The library is ranked among the best in south India. In 1958, it was declared the `State Central Library'. Now, the institution functions under the Department of Higher Education, Government of Kerala. The digitization project is the first of its kind in the state with full text retrieval of rare collections in English and Malayalam languages and will continue with some ambitious plans. Bye for now Saji S. Nair Regional Cancer Centre Library Thiruvananthapuram Kerala _______________________________________________ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web!