Swindon Councillor Domingos Dias along with staff at the Central Library in Swindon.
LONDON
As many as 55 books on Goa’s culture and history which were dispatched from Goa have arrived at the Central Library in Swindon, as part of a project on Goan books being set up by Domingos Seby Dias, local Labour Councillor in the Central Ward of Swindon city.
Dias, who has initiated the ‘Goan Cultural & Heritage Collection’ project, said he received the shipment of books on March 14.
“My parents, my family and I were delighted to receive the books which had been dispatched from Margao-Goa. These books were then handed over to the Central Library in Swindon on March 18,” Dias told The Goan.
The staff at the Central Library informed Dias that the books on Goa’s culture and history are in the process of being catalogued so that readers can see what books are in stock and where they will find them in the library.
“The library will create individual records for each book on Goa using library cataloguing criteria, assign it an accession number so it can be issued and returned, add date labels and spine labels. Besides, RFID tags will also be added to enable the scanning of books on self-service units at the library,” said Dias.
“The ‘Goan Cultural & Heritage Collection’, the first Goan project of its kind at the Swindon Council library, will be officially inaugurated after these books are catalogued in the library.”
The 55 books carefully chosen to cover various topics on the history and culture on Goa, including the book ‘Francis Xavier: DNA of a Saint’ published by The Goan to commemorate the recent 18th Exposition at Old Goa, have been purchased by the Dias family from the Dogears Bookstore at Margao.
Dias had decided to have a section of Goa-related books at their Central Library, which would benefit the huge Goan community in Swindon, and sponsored the project with the support of his father, Jose Dias, mother Antonia Gonsalves, wife Eunice Luis and son, Doran Dias.
The Swindon councillor said the books would be of interest to Goan youth and other communities in Swindon who are keen to learn about Goa’s rich heritage.
