Sunday, 21 March 2010

The eBook truly global

India has become another country to fall under the eBook spell - The authorities have been working towards making the library a smart, connected and web-enabled place. An entire catalogue of 24 lakh books would be available in the digital format online when the e-project is completed.

According to a section of readers, displaying rare books on the web would be the best part of the modernisation. Himadri Banerjee, Guru Nanak Professor of history at Jadavpur University, said: “The library was founded in 1860, but it has books published in the 17th and 18th centuries. These rare books available on the website will be a treat for readers.”

Banerjee said two books will be displayed at a time. The readers will be asked for feedback and request for rare books of their choice from the online catalogue. For instance, anyone who wants to read The Prince’ must key in the title and wait for the book to be displayed online. He or she could then download the book. As part of the modernisation, the library has digitised 3,200,00 pages from 9,141 books published before 1900 in English and Indian languages.

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