Vellalar College for Women (Autonomous)
PG Department of Library and Information Science
Erode-12
Report on Library Visit to Tanjore
Date (7.8.2015)
The
association of PG department of Library and Information Science “Bibliotheque
club de Vellalar”, arranged a trip to Tanjore to visit various libraries on 7th
August 2015.A group of 23 students( I
and II M.L.I.Sc) with 2 faculty members (Mr.T.Stephen and Ms.X.MercyAngeline),
have visited Tamil University Library, IICTP Library and Saraswathy Mahal.
TAMIL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
First
we have been to “Tamil University”.It is the one of the famous and renowned
library, which holds a good collection of classic books in Tamil as well as in other
languages. The infrastructure of the building is designed more like the parliament
building at New Delhi. The various sections in Tamil University Library are
Stack Room, Periodical Section, Personal Section, Reference Section, Mobile
Library (cart used by Dr.S.R.Ranganathan) and Newspaper Section. The Periodical
Section has 30,000 journals and back volumes, the Stack Room contains nearly
50,000 books, the Personal Section has the personal collections of individuals
donated by philanthropist and theReference Section has rare collection of
dictionaries, encyclopaedia’s, gazettes, yearbooks and back volumes in various
languages. The appearance and arrangement of Library was comfortable for the
user to access easily. There was an Artefacts Section where the mobile library
cart used by Dr.S.R.Ranganathan preserved .It was the first mobile library used
by Dr.S.R.Ranganathan (Father of Library Science) to educate various people
living invillages. It is made up of wood and there are shelves to arrange
books.
1INDIAN INSTITUTE OFCROP PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY(IICPT)
Next
we have visited the Indian Institute of Crop Processing Technology(IICPT) which
has a knowledge resource centre. It is a special library and its objectives is
to help the researchers in the field of crop and food processing. The knowledge
centre has three floors with centralised air-conditioning facility. The
infrastructure was very impressive we had knowledge exchanging session with
Mr.P.Peter Kennedy, Technical Officer Knowledge Resource centre. He shared his
10 years’ of experience in serving the users of the knowledge centre.We also
visited the incubation centre were machine like tray drier, oven for baking,
wheat powder dry machine, pulp drier etc and knew its purpose and uses
explained by thestaff. This institute also provides training for outsiders on
the way and means of preservation of
food products.
SARASWATHY MAHAL
In the afternoon we moved to
Saraswathy Mahal the famous historical library.Nearly 49,000 manuscripts are
preserved in the library. The manuscripts are preserved by applying lemon-grass
oil for once in three years. The lemon-grass oil is not only helps to preserve
but also makes the letter visible on the manuscripts for the researches and translators. The palm leaves
are available in many languages such as Tamil, French, Hindi, Telungu,
Sanskrit, Marathi and English. We also visited the museum which has the
paintings of Raja Serafoji and the paintings of London and Pondicherry. The
painting on human anatomy is a real feast of our eyes. The manuscripts in the
library are all digitalized. Ateam of pandits are translating the information
from the manuscripts into the easily understandable form and are published is
the form of books. The library has also released a book on methods of
preserving the manuscripts.
SRI BRIHADISVARA TEMPLE
We
finally visited the Brihadisvarar temple which is also known as the “big temple”,
which was built by Raja Raja Cholan in the 10th century. The statue
of Nandi sculptured in one rock is one of the remarkable significance of the
temple. The temple is located in a large area with big statues. There were
several lingam’s placed in and out of the temple. The Lord Siva’s statue is
very big in size when compared to other Shivan temple. On seeing the Shiva
lingam we were speechless and admired by its true beauty.
The trip was very informative, we
have learnt many things about the libraries and its collection.
