Bengaluru’s Lalbagh library to take digital form soon  

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. 

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.  

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. 

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.