First digital library of Odisha opened in Bhubaneswar

Manmohan Digital Library, the first digital library of Odisha with over 1.3 lakh digitized pages of Odia literature, opened to the public at Old Town in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday.

The library boasts of a collection that comprises Odia magazines and newspapers published between 1850 and 1950. From the first available Odia magazine, Prabodha Chandrika (1856), to the first regional newspaper, Utkal Deepika, the library has it all.

The library was set up by voluntary organization Srujanika, which works on digitization of literary works, and Kedarnath Gabeshana Pratisthan, a socio-cultural association.

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“The library will help scholars and researchers interested in Odia literary works dating back to 1856. This is probably the only library completely digitized in the state,” said Nikhil Mohan Patnaik of Srujanika.

“We had approached libraries of almost all leading universities of Odisha, but none of them showed interest in buying the digitized collection of these magazines and newspapers. Interestingly, universities outside the state, including Shantiniketan and one each in the US and the UK, have bought the collection. So, we decided to take the initiative,” said Jiban Panda of Srujanika.