The United States has a convention of its presidents setting up libraries named after them once they demit office. President APJ Abdul Kalam’s library project won’t bear his name, nor will it be housed in a grand hall bearing his name. What he will leave behind for his successor and for the nation when he closes Rashtrapati Bhavan’s doors behind him in July will be a fully digitised library.As far back as 2003, Kalam had begun agonising over the possibility of termites, fires and accidents destroying the fascinating collection of old books and manuscripts housed in the domed Lutyens’ palace by viceroys and presidents. He decided to tap experts for ideas on digitising the collection. Four years later, the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Carnegie Mellon University of the US and the Department of Information Technology are in the process of digitising the thousand of volumes of the library.It was Professor N Balakrishnan, Associate Director of IISc and a personal friend and associate of Kalam, who drew up the blueprint on how to transfer the contents of the books to CDs. A team of around eight have been visiting Rashtrapati Bhavan every working day since 2004 to complete the process. They say almost 90 per cent of the transfer has been completed. While there are about 25,000 books in the library, only about 14,000 are being digitised, with 58 lakh pages having been scanned since the project began. The oldest work being digitised is a book on ornithology published in the 1700s.Those involved in the ambitious project say the effort is to eventually upload all the books on the Rashtrapati Bhavan’s website so the collection can be accessed by anyone. For copyright reasons, only those books published more than 60 years ago can be made freely available on the website. Speaking on behalf of the Rashtrapati Bhavan librarian, who is on leave, Press Secretary to the President SM Khan said, “The President has been constantly advising all old libraries and institutes in the country to immediately digitise all old manuscripts and volumes in their collection. For instance, while on a visit to Patna recently, he advised the Khuda Baksh Library there to do this immediately to prevent destruction of irreplaceable documents.” Kalam’s wish has been to ensure the average Indian has easy access to knowledge as well as the opportunities to improve his lot.
