T’puram: For years, the Mahakavi Ulloor Memorial Library and Research Institute in the city has stood as a silent archive, its 15,000 books—including rare works from the private collections of prominent figures such as poet Ulloor S Parameswara Iyer—gathering dust on neglected shelves. Now, after years of decline, the library is poised for a revival.The state govt has allocated Rs 25 lakh in its budget, and the institute is partnering with Grandhapura and C-DIT to digitise some of its most valuable holdings.The library administration also wants to renovate the building and once again seek recognition from University of Kerala as a research centre.Its collection includes 5,000 books from the personal library of Ulloor and several other prominent figures. It also has a collection of books published by the Travancore Text Book Committee that was set up in 1867.Many of the books date back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, making them valuable resources for researchers and writers.However, these books have become too brittle and fragile to be read or handled. The library has hired a set of library science students to collect these from its dusty shelves, catalogue them, arrange them into two sections – one for lending and another for reference. The ones classified as reference have been selected for digitization.President of the library P K Venugopal said that the digitization work is being done as part of the 150th birth anniversary of the renowned poet.The library plans to digitize the rare books that are part of the poet’s collection first but will also include other old books based on the rarity of the works.“The building is in poor condition. It was once a vibrant cultural hub and open university, attracting research scholars, but the institute later closed after failing to secure recognition from the University of Kerala,” he said.He said it seemed as though the community had forgotten the library, as no one was coming to borrow its books. “That is generational change,” Venugopal said.Shiju Alex of Grandhapura, said that “Our wish is to digitize at least 1,500 to 2,000 based on the condition of the books and the copyright status.”Set up by the state govt in 1956, the library and research centre moved to its present premises in Jagathy in 1966. It became a popular centre for informal education in the late 1970s and remained a well-used library until the late 1990s. Today, only a handful of people visit its reading room, but the library hopes to begin a revival around the poet’s birth anniversary.
