Odisha Public e Library all set to be modernized

Odisha Public e-Library, set up by Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) here in collaboration with an organization of non-resident Odias living in the US, is all set to be modernized, an official said.

At present, the e-library is equipped with a dozen computers with high-speed internet connection, two servers, and a projector. The e-library has a sitting capacity for 50 persons and is located on the first floor of the municipal town hall.

"We have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Odisha Society of the Americas (OSA) recently to modernize the e-library adding more facilities for holding workshops and seminars," said BeMC Commissioner Chakravarti Singh Rathore.

The MoU is valid for two years. "The OSA has agreed to provide technical guidance for making the library ICT (information and communications technology) enabled and support for its growth and development," said B Nageswar Subudhi, an eye specialist, who is playing a coordinator between the civic body and the OSA. The OSA has agreed to provide all necessary support to conduct lecture series with subject experts, he said.

"It is not merely a library where people can only browse e-books. Our aim is to make it as a resource center and knowledge hub to cater to the growing needs of the people, especially students," said Subudhi.

The civic body said it would provide audio-video facilities. The BeMC is also planning to automate the library with software like e-Granthalaya.

The corporation would tie up with the National Informatics Centre to avail its e-Granthalaya so that users can browse other magazines and e-books from the Internet, said Basudev Panigrahy, management information system officer of the corporation. In the first phase, OSA had provided Rs 20 lakh to the chief minister's relief fund for setting up of the digital library.

People are allowed to use the library for free. After its modernization, it will boost the library movement in the city and at the same time help computer-savvy poor students, especially job-seekers, added Subudhi.