Mr Sundar Ganesan, Roja Muthiah Research Library
2008 award – major project
£49,885 for 24 months
Roja Muthiah Research Library (RMRL) is a resource and research hub for south Indian studies covering diverse fields from humanities, social sciences to popular culture. Through this project, RMRL proposes to preserve early print literature on the history of Tamilnadu by microfilming the publications and later by digitizing the microfilm reels.
A wealth of 19th & 20th century material lies scattered in different libraries and private collections in Tamilnadu. These libraries are under-funded and struggle to preserve their collections. RMRL has as its highest priority the preservation of important Tamil publications before they deteriorate beyond the point of use. Some of the items that have been located are related to Dravidian movement, political movements, history of Vaishnavism, Saivism, Jainism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. These histories if preserved through microfilming can be accessed more easily by current and future researchers.
Approximately 500 book titles and 10 to 15 periodical titles will be preserved with the selection of items for preservation undertaken by senior scholars and the exact numbers to be decided at the start of the project. A committee will be formed of established research scholars working in different disciplines related to the history and culture of Tamilnadu and they will prioritise the titles that need attention.
In most cases the paper has turned brown in colour and some of the paper is brittle. The newsprint items are made of cheap paper with high acid content thereby making their life shorter. So it becomes imperative to preserve them on a priority basis. The collections are scattered in different locations in Tamilnadu both in urban and rural areas. Most of the materials are fortunately in a manageable condition at present. In a few years they will become unmanageable as they will turn completely brittle. Microfilming is the best option for copying them without damaging them further.
The original material will be microfilmed for high quality images through archival microfilming procedures and appropriate bibliographic control will be provided in the microfilms through technical targets. From the master negatives two service negative copies will be produced. One copy of the service negative will be scanned and saved as digital Tiff images.
