Rain water-logging in Bamu library; rare books collection at risk

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Rainwaterenteredd the underground section of the Knowledge Resource Centre (KRC) of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University on Wednesday evening, posing a risk to the rare collection of books.

It may be noted that there was rain in the city today. The pace of rain is very heavy in the university campus and adjoining areas today.

The building of KRC, which was earlier known as the central library, has three sections-underground, ground and first floors. Rainwater entered the underground floor from its doors. The rear part of the underground has small protection covered with wild grass.

The employees were worried for a large number of kept in racks after over sudden water-logging. There are many books kept in racks in the underground water. If rain continues, the water may increase and cause damage to these books.

The library has the biggest collection of books in Marathwada. There are over 3.99 lakh printed books, three million e-books, and 3,414 rare books along with hundreds of magazines and journals on current affairs. The large collection of 45,000 handwritten books of Raje Shamraj Rai Rajwant Bahadur (Hyderabad) is also available there.