Call for national status to Gowthami Regional Library

Sri Gowthami Regional Library (SGRL) has the oldest and rarest collection of books between the 1805 and 1898. It also boasts unpublished manuscripts.

The government took over the library in 1979 and renamed it as Sri Gowthami Regional Library.

The name Sri Gowthami Regional Library, popularly known s ‘Gowthami’, adjoins the Palm leaf manuscripts since its inception. At present, the library has more than 400 manuscripts of ‘Colonel McKenzie’ describing East and West Godavari Districts. These manuscripts are in three volumes. ‘Tamara Sasanalu’, meaning copper plates (from the 13th and 14th centuries), are also available in the library. An interesting facet of the library is its possession of the first Britannica Encyclopedia of the year 1771.

As of now, the library has more than 1,500 rare books published before 1900 and around 8,115 books published prior to 1923 and 5,000 published up to 1950. In all, more than 15,000 rare books find place in the collections. Magazines and periodicals like Bharathi, Chintamani, Vivekavardhini, Andhri and Krishna Patrika are oldest periodicals that are housed in the library.

Though Union Minister for Human Resources Development M.M. Pallam Raju hails from the district, the library is yet to get national status. “We got national status for the Telugu language after making tireless efforts. For getting the same status for this library also, we have to struggle in residual state of Andhra Pradesh,” says Sannidhanam Narasimha Sarma, who worked as librarian.

V.S. Suryanarayana Murthy, the current gazetted librarian, modernised the only big government library in coastal region in keeping with the advancement in Information Technology. It has now around 16 computers with scanner and Printers.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Andhra Pradesh / by B.V.S. Bhaskar / Rajkahmundry – April 04th, 2014