| 4 September 2010 |
| Theological college enters digital world |
BANGALORE, India (APEN) – A theological college in this southern Indian city has embraced modern technology by digitizing and microfilming its rare palm leaves, manuscripts and books.
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The 97-year-old United Theological College (UTC) has digitized nearly one lakh pages of rare books and manuscripts as well as 5,000 palm leaves with the financial assistance from the US Consulate General in the country.
The program to digitize and microfilm the manuscripts was started in October 2006 with a grant of US $ 35, 000 from the US ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation., which is set up for preserving historic sites and manuscripts, music collections and traditional forms of expressions such as music, dance and language.
The UTC is an ecumenical institution based on a life centered spirituality which promotes justice, peace and human solidarity in India and abroad.
Its library attracts large numbers of scholars and researchers from different parts of the country and outside.
According to the UTC principal, Dr O V Jathanna, some of the original materials available in the college archive were getting worn-out and digitizing will help theological and secular scholars who have been using the UTC facilities to have better access to the materials.
The UTC collection includes 5,000 palm leaf manuscripts that are 200 years old on folk literature, native medical formulas, religious writings, astrological texts, astronomical facts, records of cultural practices, traditional systems of medicine, veterinary and agricultural sciences, crafts and skills.
The first Indian Bible printed in the 18th century is among the rare books digitized under the program.
The UTC library has about 75, 000 books, 672 periodicals. 420microfilms of historical records and 23,023 microfiches.
Equipping students for the ministry of the church is one of the major aims of the UTC, which celebrated its platinum jubilee in 1985.
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