The Faculty of Law, Universiti Malaya is delighted to announce that the family of the late Justice Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram has made a generous donation of his collection of books, journals and law reports. The gift shall be named as:
“The Personal Collection of the late Justice Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram donated by Datin Seri Chandra Sri Ram to the University of Malaya in memory of the world-renowned Librarian and Information Scientist, Dr S. R. Ranganathan.”
The gift of over 10,000 books and periodicals were estimated at close to RM9 million as of December 2022. Datin Seri Chandra Sri Ram, Datuk Seri’s widow, and Professor Dr Jason Chuah, the Dean of Law, have agreed that the collection will be held at the Law Library, Faculty of Law, Universiti Malaya. Datin Seri Chandra is keen for the collection to be placed in UM’s Faculty of Law, the country’s most highly regarded law faculty, given the international and national importance of the materials.
The gift has both a legal and library relevance. Professor Dr Jason Chuah says, “The gift is significant that it commemorates the relationship of the late Justice Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram with the law faculty at UM but equally important, is the fact that the gift is made in memory of Dr S.R. Ranganathan, Datin Seri’s grand-uncle, who developed the first major faceted library classification system; the colon classification. The colon system is fundamental in the field of library science and has influenced modern classification systems in the world.”
Professor Dr Jason Chuah stressed that this collection is not only useful for law students and practitioners, but also to anyone who needs to do legal and archival research of rare law and legal science books from all parts of the commonwealth. The collection also includes one of the largest collections of Indian law reports and books outside India, in Asia. Given the late Datuk Seri’s interest in administrative law, it is unsurprising that his personal collection contains one of the most comprehensive catalogues of books on the subject, especially on judicial review, in the region.
The books have been moved to the Law Library at UM awaiting to be catalogued and shelved. This is a mammoth task as expected. Mrs. Adida binti Mohd Amin, the Chief Law Librarian, is confident that the team at UM will rise to the challenge and ensure that the collection will be ready for use by the time the commemorative ceremony is held in the new year.
The Vice Chancellor, Professor Dato’ Seri Ir. Dr. Noor Azuan Abu Osman, expresses his gratitude to Datin Seri Chandra for making this important contribution to the intellectual presence of Universiti Malaya for generations to come.