Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under R.N.I 53640/91
Vol. XXVI No. 04, June 1-15, 2016
Volunteers wanted
Getting ready to arrange the books on the stacks at the Madras Literary Society.
The Reorganisation and Re-classification project at The Madras Literary Society got underway on April 30th. We had good participation from members of this group and well-wishers from this group. Renganathan, a book conservation expert, and Tripurasundari gave a brief but interesting demonstration on how books are to be restored and cared for. Books were then taken down from one of the upper shelves, dusted, segregated for restoration and then classified using the Dewey system. You can see some of the pictures and a brief update on the MLS Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Madras-Literary-Society-1053625798 039945/?fref=ts. Please do follow the FB page to keep track of latest updates, upcoming events and project status.
Since the task needs skills and requires close initial guidance, the numbers participating can only be increased gradually. As of today, Tripurasundari believes she would be happy to welcome about ten more volunteers. So, if you would like to join us this Saturday, please call Tripurasundari on +91 94442 53532 or drop her an email at tsarchi2007@gmail.com so that she can plan for the work distribution and make arrangements for materials. Even if you are unable to spare time for the effort, your help in sponsoring protective gear and other materials would be most welcome.
We hope you will join in and help us revive this beautiful library and its collection of books.
Rajith Nair
rajith.bala@gmail.com
Rear Admiral Mohan Raman who manages the Library adds:
Volunteers listening to a conservation trainer at the MLS.
Tripurasundari has commenced a project to restore and classify older books in the MLS collection.
The first stage in restoration is to clean the book and to store it in an acid-free cover. In parallel, the segregated books are allotted a Dewey Decimal Classification number, and a suitable entry made in MLS’s computer records.
Later, funds permitting, we hope to restore the books gradually. As you are aware, there has been very encouraging response to the outreach efforts by Rajith Nair to seek funds through the ‘Adopt a Book’ scheme. This would be the second part of the project.
The work involves activity in a dusty environment, and it might not suit volunteers with respiratory histories like asthma. Even otherwise, volunteers would need to use protective gear and wear suitable clothing.
I urge you to help in this effort if you can. Even if you are unable to spare time for the effort, your help in sponsoring protective gear would be most welcome.
