World Book and Copyright Day 2023 celebrated in Dhanvantri Library, Jammu University: Exhibition of Rare Books

Jammu, April 24- Dhanvantri Library, University of Jammu, celebrated World Book and Copyright Day 2023 by organizing an Exhibition of Rare Books of the Dhanvantri Library and from the Departmental libraries of Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, and Dogri Departments of the University of Jammu, on 24^th of April 2023.

The Exhibition of Rare Books was inaugurated by Prof. Naresh Padha, Dean Academic Affairs, University of Jammu. Speaking on the occasion he congratulated the organizers and the contributing Departments for preserving the culture and intellect of the land for the generations to come. He highlighted the need to Digitize the documents for its longevity and outreach. He called this a Dharohar, heritage, that should be accessible to the society throughout the world.

The World Book and Copyright day has been celebrated since 1926 in Spain by Cervantes publishing house in Barcelona, as a way to honour the author Miguel de Cervantes. In 1995 UNESCO started celebrating the day in the memory of Shakespeare, Cervantes and Garcilaso de la Vega. The Decadal theme for 2022-2032, given by UNESCO,  is Indigenous Languages. Linguistics, Diversity and Multilingualism is the UN Priority, since there are about 7000 languages in the world, mostly spoken by the Indigenous people.

Every year a World capital is selected to celebrate this day. This year the world capital is Accra, Ghana. The publishers, book sellers and libraries remain the focus of the World Book Day. Accra is trying to popularize books by having mobile libraries for the marginalized groups, and workshops to promote reading and writing of books in indigenous languages, among other initiatives.

Dhanvantri Library, or Central Library as it was previously known, is a premium Library of Jammu, visited not only by the Faculty, Scholars, Students of the University of Jammu, but also by the members of the civil society, faculty, and scholars from universities in the state and from other parts of India.

It houses 4.6 Lakh books. More than 500 Rare books like Agnipuran, Upnishad, Mahabharat Katha, Pali Sahitya ka Itihyas, Sardar Patel’s Correspondence(1945-50), Picturesque Kashmir,  Srimadh Valmiki Ramayan(Sanskrit), Tahir-e-Kashmir, Firangi Kulayat Mir, Mukhtasar Tariq J&K  were displayed  including Dogri Manuscripts in Takri Lipi, Giligit Buddhist Manuscripts, Gulabnama in Urdu Language, Punjabi Literature, copies of old newspapers like Hamari Zaban, The weekly Mashriq, Javeed, The Chand, Jadid Kashmir, Awami  Daur,Khayyam, The Weekly Ranbir,Mughal Art, Dogra Wall Paintings in J&K etc .

The purpose of the exhibition was to display and promote the linguistic diversity of indigenous languages of India and to move towards digitization of these rare documents for wider outreach, and for reference of generations to come. Prominent among those who visited the Exhibition were Prof. Jasbir Singh, Prof. Sangeeta Gupta, Prof. Anupama Vohra, Prof. Namrata Sharma, Prof. Veenu Koul,Dr. Anuradha Seth, Dr. P.K. Singh, B. D. Sharma-Retd. IAS Officer, R.S. Jasrotia,Retd-IFS Officer, and various others members from the Civil Society, Faculty, Scholars, Students and Library Professionals also visited the exhibition. The Exhibition was convened by Dr. Anita Sachar along with her team comprising of Mrs. Anju Gupta, Mrs. Nimmi Suri, Dr. Vikram Sahi, Dr. Joginder, Mrs. Anjana Wazir, Mrs. Babita Jamwal, Mrs. Sonika Sharma ,Mrs. Veenu Gandotra, Ms. Bhawana, Mrs. Shweta Khajuria , Mrs. Jasveer Kour and Dr. Kussum and the Office Staff  of Dhanvantri Library.

Prof. Neeru Sharma, Incharge Librarian, thanked Prof. Naresh Padha for his encouragement and suggestions, and congratulated the organizing team for its hard work. She also thanked Heads of all the participating Departments of the University of Jammu for their contribution.

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