The library inside Lalbagh Botanical Garden which has been under renovation for a few years, is now being digitalised in association with Servants of Knowledge (which has been digitising books for five years). Over 6,000 books will be available in the digital format after six months.

Ever since the renovation began, books from the library were placed in two rooms in the training institute building. Now, scanners are being used to digitise books at the same place.

We came to know that there was a library in Lalbagh which was being renovated and hence, we approached the Horticulture Department. They immediately gave us the go-ahead, and by the next week our scanners had reached Lalbagh, said Omshivaprakash H.L., co-founder, Servants of Knowledge.

Over 6,000 books of Lalbagh librarywill be available in the digital format after six months. | Photo Credit: special arrangement

He added: We started our work in the last week of June, and we have finished digitising over 1,000 books now. There are a total of 6,300 books and it will take us another four to five months to finish scanning them all.

There are books on various subjects such as horticulture, botany and history in the library, and some are 100 years old. With some books being so old, we did not want its content to get spoiled. Digitising them helps us preserve the content and makes it more accessible, said M. Jagadeesh, Joint Director (Parks and Gardens), Horticulture Department.

Over 6,000 books of Lalbagh librarywill be available in the digital format after six months. | Photo Credit: special arrangement

The library will also get a digital index which will help readers find books easily. Currently, they only have an old handwritten index. Now as we scan the books, we are also preparing a digital index, Mr. Omshivaprakash said.

The officials are yet to decide if the digitised books will be put in the public domain. However, Mr. Jagadeesh said that researchers from even outside the State come to Lalbgah to access these books.

Students, researchers, horticulture enthusiasts, and environmentalists regualrly come here to refer these books. The new library building will be ready in another six months. Along with an e-library, the new building will also have a specific reading area where visitors can also sit and read newspapers, he said.

Lalbaghs digital herbarium, where the taxonomy of every tree and plant in the garden will be available at the click of a finger, is also expected to be ready by next May.

Servants of Knowledge is a volunteer group which has been digitising books all over India. We recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Azim Premji University (APU) in Bengaluru and Kannada University in Hampi to digitise books and other documents. We are also internally digitising APUs archives , said Omshivaprakash H.L., co-founder, Servants of Knowledge.

The volunteer group is digitising over 10,000 books available at Gandhi Bhavan in Bengaluru, along with 60 of its publications and various editions of its magazine Bapu Prapancha which was published in the last five years.

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Bengalurus Lalbagh library to take digital form soon - The Hindu