Renovated library at SMV schools opens its doors to students today

It hosts a vast and rich collection going back to 1800s; renovation done after an urgent need to conserve the books that were showing the ravages of time was felt during the post pandemic period

An 1899 print of Virgil’s Aeneid; Alexandre Dumas’ illustrated Marguerite de Valois, the first of the Valois romances portraying the reign of queen Marguerite; and 16 volumes of Nehru’s Discovery of India in Braille from 1979—the renovated library at SMV Government Model Higher Secondary School, Thampanoor, with its vast and rich book collection, will open its doors for students on Thursday.

The first English school in erstwhile Travancore began during the reign of the former ruler Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma with eight students as His Highness The Raja’s Free School where the present Government Ayurveda College sits.Named Sree Moola Vilasam School, it then began functioning on the lines of a British school at Vanchiyoor where the present court complex is located. It was in 1919 that classes shifted to the present SMV school. The collection of books, from book shops and publishers within the country and abroad, also travelled with the school from location to location.

After COVID-19, an urgent need to conserve the books that were showing the ravages of time and the need to bring the library into modern times was felt. Accordingly, a proposal was drawn up and submitted to Minister for Transport Antony Raju who is also the local MLA. The school library got in touch with many other libraries and librarians, including the one at the State Assembly, and faculty members at the Department of Library Science, University of Kerala, Palayam. Nearly 15 research students from the department also lent a hand in modernising the library.

The renovation and automation project was undertaken utilising ₹10 lakh from the development fund of the Minister. Today, the library is automated, that is all functions from issue and return of books to reserving and holding them or searching for their availability sitting at home can be done using computers. The books have been bar coded and assigned call numbers and classified so that they do not get misplaced and searching for them becomes easy.

When work began five months ago, all books and furniture were shifted to an adjacent room that used to be a printing press and remained closed for long. Books that have been sorted have been moved back to the library while those being sorted are still stocked there.

There are books here in Malayalam, Tamil, English, Hindi, and Arabic. A collection of Geography books and textbooks used in those times are among those sorted so far.

School authorities say they plan to display some of the century-old or older books so that the public can come to view them and sit and read. There is also a rich collection of dictionaries and encyclopaedias going back to 20th century.