Cataloguing
RMRL has been documenting all available and accessible Tamil resources in MARC21 format. It has been contributing catalogue records to the South Asian Union Catalogue and WorldCat. RMRL has indexed 1,60,000 articles from Tamil periodicals on literature, indigenous medicine, religion, folklore, popular culture, metaphysics, Gandhian studies, gender studies, and modern history. It has developed a Union Catalogue of all public libraries in the State with the support of the Government of Tamil Nadu. The library has also Indexed private collections of eminent personalities and institutions in India. RMRL has catalogued and indexed several collections, including some of the books in University of Texas, University of Chicago, Cambridge University, Bodelien Library and a few private collections.
Preservation
A crucial element of RMRL’s vision is the preservation of its collection for posterity. One of the main aspects that RMRL focuses on is the preservation of existing material in alternative formats. RMRL preserves its collection systematically through archival microfilming and digitisation. While microfilming has been discontinued as the preferred mode of preservation is through digitization, RMRL has been using various equipment to preserve its material through digitization. It uses state of the art equipment for this purpose. A facility with an exclusive storage to preserve microfilms round-the-clock under 35% relative humidity and 18° Celsius is in place. International best practices like the Methylene Blue Test were performed to determine the archival quality of microfilms processed at RMRL. RMRL is also involved in the digital restoration of manuscripts. The restoration of the Notebooks of Srinivasa Ramanujan and the first edition of Thirukkural is a testimony to its expertise in this field.
Paper Conservation
In 2015, RMRL set up a full-fledged Conservation Studio with financial assistance from the Tata Trust to physically conserve its collection of rare papers that are damaged. RMRL has developed conservation methodologies, suitable for tropical climates. It has conserved around one lakh pages of rare Tamil books and periodicals. Its ‘Adopt A Book’ programme collaborates with patrons who want to conserve a book of their choice. It costs INR 5000/- to conserve a book (This is an average cost, which would vary according to the number of pages.) Individuals and corporates have come forward to join us in this cause. As of September 2024, 2000 books have been adopted. RMRL is also a consultant to several premier institutions in South Asia in the area of preservation and conservation. RMRL is also a consultant to several premier institutions in South Asia in the area of preservation and conservation.
