Kolkata:

The Zoological Survey of India is celebrating its 100 years by making its vast repository of natural history records and animal specimens available to the public at the click of a button.

Besides having four million specimens of zoological species, the apex body on animal taxonomy also has one of the largest collection of books, manuscripts, old drawings, photographs and other publications on natural history.

Under a Rs 25 crore modernisation and upgradation project to mark its 100 years of operations, ZSI has already digitised around 4500 publications of more than 3 lakh pages.

“Our e-archive of documents dating back to the 19th century are ready. We will put it up on the website so that anyone in the world can access our rich database,” ZSI Director Dr K Venkataraman said.

Besides its headquarters in Kolkata, the documents are spread across its 16 regional centres. The oldest book in its custody dates back to 1547.

Established on July 1, 1916, to promote survey, exploration, research and documentation on animal taxonomy, ZSI’s centenary celebrations will kick off in a grand way with the launch of the e-archive this July.

The director said after digitisation, citation of ZSI scientists will also increase in international journals.

“Now international scientists have to ask for a copy of our research papers and other publications. But now they will have easy access to all our work which will result in increase in citation of ZSI scientists,” Venkataraman said.