Preservation and Conservation Techniques for ...

Preservation and Conservation Techniques for Manuscript Dr. Manoj Kumar Sinha Associate Professor & Head Dept of Library and Information Science, Assam University, Silchar E-mail: [email protected] Saturday, January 02, 2016

Workshop on Manipuri Manuscripts _Department of Manipur, Assam University, Silchar

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Manuscript • A handwritten book, poem, or other document, or a collection of such hand written documents bound together; • A version of a book, article, or other work befor e being published or prepared for publication: The author submitted the manuscri pt as a text file. • Handwriting, especially in contrast to print. Saturday, January 02, 2016


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Manuscript • acephalous A manuscript lacking a beginning could be called acephalous. • autograph Comes from Greek, then Latin autographum, meaning "selfwritten"; it originally meant "author's own manuscript." • manuscript Originally an adjective meaning "written by hand"; manuscript can refer to a handwritten piece of music. • palimpsest Can describe a manuscript or writing surface that has been reused, erased, oral altered while retaining traces of its earlier form— and, by extension, an object, place, or area that Workshop on Manipuri Manuscripts Saturday, January 02, 2016 Assam University, 3 reflects its history. _Department of Manipur, Silchar

Meaning and Definition of Manuscript • A manuscript (abbreviated MS or MSS for plural) is any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to being mechanically printed or reproduced in some automated way. • More recently it is understood to be an author's written, typed, or wordprocessed copy of a work, as distinguished from the print of the same. • Before the arrival of printing, all documents and books were manuscripts. Manuscripts are not defined by their contents, which may combine writing with mathematical calculations, maps, explanatory figures or illustrations.

• Manuscripts may be in book form, scrolls or in codex format. Illuminated manuscripts are enriched with pictures, border decorations, elaborately embossed initial letters or full-page illustrations. • (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript )

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Meaning and Definition of Manuscript • In the context of library science, a manuscript is defined as any hand-written item in the collections of a library or an archive. • For example, a library's collection of hand-written letters or diaries is considered a manuscript collection. • Such manuscript collections are described in finding aids, similar to an index or table of contents to the collection, in accordance with national and international content standards such as DACSand ISAD(G). Saturday, January 02, 2016


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Christ Pantocrator seated in a capital "U" in an illuminated manuscript from the Badische Landes bibliothek, Germany. Saturday, January 02, 2016

10th-century minuscule manuscript of Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War


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Armenian Manuscript


The Pentecost, from an illuminated Catholic liturgicalmanuscript, c.1310Workshop on Manipuri Manuscripts _Department of Manipur, Assam University, 1320 Silchar

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Manuscript, Codex Manesse Most manuscripts were ruled with horizontal lines that served as the baselines on which the text was entered.



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Cultural Background of Manuscripts • The traditional abbreviations are MS for manuscript and MSS for manuscripts. The second s is not simply the plural; by an old convention, it doubles the last letter of the abbreviation to express the plural, just as pp. means "pages“; • Before the invention of woodblock printing in China or by moveable type in a printing press in Europe, all written documents had to be both produced and reproduced by hand; • Historically, manuscripts were produced in form of scrolls (volumein Latin) or books (codex, plural codices). • Manuscripts were produced on vellum and other parchment, on papyrus, and on paper. Saturday, January 02, 2016


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Cultural Background of Manuscripts • In Russia birch bark documents as old as from the 11th century have survived; • In India, the palm leaf manuscript, with a distinctive long rectangular shape, was used from ancient times until the 19th century. Paper spread from China via the Islamic world to Europe by the 14th century, and by the late 15th century had largely replaced parchment for many purposes; • When Greek or Latin works were published, numerous professional copies were made simultaneously by scribes in a scriptorium, each making a single copy from an original that was declaimed aloud; Saturday, January 02, 2016


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Cultural Background of Manuscripts • The oldest written manuscripts have been preserved by the perfect dryness of their Middle Eastern resting places, whether placed within sarcophagi in Egyptian tombs, or reused as mummy-wrappings, discarded in the middens of Oxyrhynchus or secreted for safe-keeping in jars and buried (Nag Hammadi library) or stored in dry caves (Dead Sea scrolls);

• Manuscripts in Tocharian languages, written on palm leaves, survived in desert burials in the Tarim Basin of Central Asia. Volcanic ash preserved some of the Roman library of the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum; Saturday, January 02, 2016


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Cultural Background of Manuscripts • Ironically, the manuscripts that were being most carefully preserved in the libraries of antiquity are virtually all lost.

• Papyrus has a life of at most a century or two in relatively moist Italian or Greek conditions; • Only those works copied onto parchment, usually after the general conversion to Christianity, have survived, and by no means all of those. Saturday, January 02, 2016


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Cultural Background of Manuscripts • Originally, all books were in manuscript form. In China, and later other parts of East Asia, woodblock printing was used for books from about the 7th century. • The earliest dated example is the Diamond Sutra of 868. • In the Islamic world and the West, all books were in manuscript until the introduction of movable type printing in about 1450. • Manuscript copying of books continued for a least a century, as printing remained expensive. Private or government documents remained hand-written until the invention of the typewriter in the late 19th century. • Because of the likelihood of errors being introduced each time a manuscript was copied, the filiation of different versions of the same text is a fundamental part of the study and criticism of all texts that have been transmitted in manuscript.



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Cultural Background of Manuscripts • In Southeast Asia, in the first millennium, documents of sufficiently great importance were inscribed on soft metallic sheets such as copperplate, softened by refiner's fire and inscribed with a metal stylus. • In the Philippines, for example, as early as 900AD, specimen documents were not inscribed by stylus, but were punched much like the style of today's dotmatrix printers.

• This type of document was rare compared to the usual leaves and bamboo staves that were inscribed. However, neither the leaves nor paper were as durable as the metal document in the hot, humid climate. • In Burma, the kammavaca, Buddhist manuscripts, were inscribed on brass, copper or ivory sheets, and even on discarded monk robes folded and lacquered. In Italy some important Etruscan texts were similarly inscribed on thin gold plates: similar sheets have been discovered in Bulgaria. Technically, these are all inscriptions rather than manuscripts.



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Gharib al-Hadith, by Abu

`Ubayd al-Qasim b. Sallam al-Harawi (d. 223/837). The oldest known dated Arabic manuscript on paper in Leiden University Library, (dated 319 (931 AD)) Saturday, January 02, 2016


Lectionary 183

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Cultural Background of Manuscripts • The study of the writing, or "hand" in surviving manuscripts is termed palaeography. In the Western world, from the classical period through the early centuries of the Christian era, manuscripts were written without spaces between the words (scriptio continua), which makes them especially hard for the untrained to read. • Extant copies of these early manuscripts written in Greek or Latin and usually dating from the 4th century to the 8th century, are classified according to their use of either all upper case or all lower case letters. • Hebrew manuscripts, such as the Dead Sea scrolls make no such differentiation. • Manuscripts using all upper case letters are called majuscule, those using all lower case are called minuscule. Usually, the majuscule scripts such as uncial are written with much more care. The scribe lifted his pen between each stroke, producing an unmistakable effect of regularity and formality. On the other hand, while minuscule scripts can be written with pen-lift, they may also be cursive, that is, use little or no pen-lift. Saturday, January 02, 2016


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Manuscripts in Manipuri



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Introduction: North East States of India • North East India comprises of seven states commonly known as the “Seven Sisters”. • They are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura and recently in 2001 the eight State “Sikkim’ has been included in the North Eastern Region. • From times immemorial, India’s North East has been the meeting point of many communities, faiths and cultures. • A place renowned for its magical beauty and bewildering diversity, North East India is the home for more than 166 separate tribes speaking a wide range of languages. Saturday, January 02, 2016

ICLAM-2014 , NIFT and INGC, New Delhi , 27-29 November , 2014

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Introduction: North East States of India

• North East Region of India is a hub of diversity of ethnic resources and culture. • The ethnic communities in the North East Region of India applies host traditional practices reflects in their food habits, land use, medicines, textiles, home and housing, decorations. • Along with traditional practices, North East Indian landscape incarcerates rich and diversified cultural heritage and resources. • The indigenous populace are holding rich traditions, rich cultures, and a rich heritage since time of immemorial. Saturday, January 02, 2016


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North East States of India • But there are rare efforts of codifying, collection and dissemination of traditional and indigenous culture and heritage by developing a Digital Library or Repositories of Traditional Knowledge System in this part of the world; • There are a plethora of opportunities linking the traditions and cultures for commercialisation; • Recently, there is resurgence for developing awareness on the preservation and development of indigenous traditions art and cultural heritage in North East Region of India which has promulgating by the information revolution; and • Manuscripts are one of the area where lot of information pertaining to Indigenous knowledge are available Saturday, January 02, 2016


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Illustrated Manuscripts from Manipur - Social And Religious Aspects - - Part 7 • Some of the illustrations in old manuscripts are the best visual portrayals of life and manners of the Manipuri people, particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries. Such illustrations and drawings may or may not be relevant to the contents of the manuscripts. A few examples are taken up here. • In Subika Laisaba manuscript of the 18-19th century, one illustration depicts the profound changes taking place in social and religious life of the people in the beginning of the 18th century as a consequence to the involuntary acceptance of Vaishnavism under royal pressure. Saturday, January 02, 2016


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Illustrated Manuscripts from Manipur - Social And Religious Aspects - - Part 7 • A valiant people known for martial qualities were becoming mellowed under its influence and the upper strata of the society were getting occupied by priests and monks. In the said illustration, these changes are presented artistically with symbolic figure of wild birds and a monk (Fig. 123). • In other Subika manuscripts of this period, there are illustrations in which some persons in a group are shown drinking fermented wine - a social practice common on festive occasions in those days - with long pipes from the same pot (Fig. 33 no. 21, Fig. 89, 107, 112 no. 3, Fig. 120 no. 2). • They indicate a certain mutuality of feeling among the people. When, in many illustrations, an elephant and a horse are shown together in their frontal and rear positions, it conveys the fact of frequent wars or battles during the period, because the elephant and the horse symbolize the king and the general respectively (Fig. 25 no. 3). Saturday, January 02, 2016

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Manipuri Manuscripts • That Manipuris practiced tantric rituals can be deduced from the illustrations. There is the figure of a peacock sitting on a snake that signifies the possession of superhuman powers of causing harm to someone. The prevalence of tantric belief in Manipur is corroborated by the archaeological finding of a gold peacock and a bell-metal snake measuring 2.5 cm in height and 12.5 cm in length inside a chaisel, a traditional bell-metal utensil, from excavations in 1968 at Kangla, the ancient palace of Manipur. • The utensil was found very securely protected by iron rods and bricks. The amaiba or priests and amaibi or priestesses who are knowledgeable about tantric practices have interpreted the finding of the utensil with its contents in such fashion as somebody's determined and secret intention to cause harm to the then king. • Fig 23 to Fig 34 –



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Manipuri Manuscripts • In Paphal Lambuba manuscript, there are drawings of 364 Paphals of different shapes and colours (Fig. 124 -154). The seven traditional yeksalai or clans of the Meiteis have their own specific colour codes. These colours are reflected inPaphal drawings about them. Other manuscripts also contain Paphal drawings in which both the head and tail of the python are sometimes depicted like flowers (Fig. 156). The Paphals are generally believed to possess supernatural powers as various tantric symbols, alphabets and mantras are inserted inside and outside the Paphal. Some people used to draw the Paphal on the wall above the main front door of the house in the belief that it would protect the inmates from evil spirits, etc.

In every Paphal drawing, the head of the python is shown biting the tail. It is believed to symbolize the continuity of life cycle, the emergence of life from the Creator and its immersion into Him. It signifies order and tranquility in the universe. The body of the python in the Paphal being intertwined, one part lying above another in succession, is also interpreted as symbolizing the male-female union as begetters of the offspring. Saturday, January 02, 2016


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Manipuri Manuscripts • Available Paphal drawings may be broadly divided into three types: – The usual type has the head of the python biting its tail. It suggests serenity. – The other type, in which the head does not bite the tail, denotes fear and aggressiveness. – Still another type depicts an animal that slithers on its belly but is not a python. However, a manuscript called Ningthou fi saba suggests that Meiteis of the past treated all animals that moves on their belly, including lizards, as coming under the category of pythons.

• The position of the python's head in the Paphal also creates three subtypes. – If the head is in the upper portion of the Paphal, it is the sign of high intellectual accomplishment. – Calmness and control are indicated if the head is in the middle portion of the Paphal. – Sometimes, the head and neck of the python are shown as if bending backwards. This motif denotes versatility, an ability to work in both worlds.



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Manipuri Manuscripts •

Traditional martial arts exponents follow specific Paphal patterns in their body movements with a spear, depending on the objective, that is, whether it is for offensive or defensive purpose. In Lai Haraoba also, to usher in prosperity to the society and for the wellbeing of future generations, the maiba- priest, maibi-priestesses and pena sakpa lead the men and women to a dance that follows the twists and turns of the python in the Paphal.

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A number of illustrated manuscripts also depict local folk beliefs, for example, the circles in Numit Khenchanglon. Figures in miniature of different animals, birds, fishes, parts of the human limb etc. are drawn mostly within circles representing the sun and have a diameter of not more than 2.5 cm.

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Animals usually found in the manuscripts are lion, elephant, horse, peacock, crow, fish, tortoise, snake, python, otter, etc. Such illustration reflects the folk belief that, if a particular figure is shown inside or outside the sun, it portends a calamitous event or indicates good fortune for the king and the country. The border of the sun is in red colour, the inner space in yellow, and the figure are painted in black, blue or white colour.



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Place of Manuscripts for Conservation and Preservation: Libraries, Archives and Museums



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Libraries, Archives and Museums • Libraries , Archives and Museums are three important units which are conserving and preserving the recorded knowledge of mankind since time immemorial ; • Libraries, Archives and Museums have developed in India are engaged in providing Library services to the academics, common citizen / mass people and also conserve and preserve the rare collections, manuscripts and Indigenous Traditional Knowledge System of India in general and N E India in particular; • Archives serves the purposes of preservation of important Govt. Documents, public records which reflects the working of an entire administration of a particular period of time from where an researcher and academician gather first hand information from various sources like letters, reports, newspapers, journals and other primary sources. • It provides the knowledge needed for research especially social science research. It mainly works for preservation of unpublished documents in original format. It also gives a chronological knowledge about the progress of the society and culture. So archives play an important role in preserving the political, social and economic history of a country and in India also many libraries, archives and museums preserve these resources Saturday, January 02, 2016


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Cultural Heritage • Cultural Heritage is the legacy of physical artefacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations. • Cultural heritage includes tangible culture (such as buildings, monuments, landscapes, books, works of art, and artefacts), intangible culture (such as folklore, traditions, language, and knowledge), and natural heritage (including culturally significant landscapes, and biodiversity). • Cultural heritage is unique, irreplaceable and beautiful which places the responsibility of preservation on the current generation. Smaller objects such as artworks and other cultural masterpieces are collected in museums and art galleries. Saturday, January 02, 2016


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Preservation and Conservation • Preservation is a branch of Library and Information Science concerned with maintaining or restoring access to artifacts, documents and records through the study, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of decay and damage . • It should be distinguished from conservation which refers to the treatment and repair of individual items to slow decay or restore them to a usable state . • Conservation is occasionally used interchangeably with preservation, Saturday, January 02, 2016


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Need for Conservation and Preservation of Rare Books and Manuscripts • Lahkar (2010) in his paper said that the recorded heritage of mankind , now found in libraries ,archives , museums , temples , monasteries and private collections are found in different mediums like stone inscriptions, clay tablets , animal skin, wooden blocks , palm leaves , and barks of trees containing writings written by hand with indigenous ink. • This heritage also includes manuscripts , printed books, newspapers , office papers written by hand , type or printing press. • These materials are made of organic materials and they are deteriorated with the passing of time, environmental effect, pests (insects), and handling by library users. Saturday, January 02, 2016


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Need for Conservation and Preservation of Rare Books and Manuscripts • The librarians , archivists and musicologist are not only responsible for collecting, organisng and exhibiting important and rare reading materials and artefacts and objects which carry historical information but also preserving, conserving and making them available and global accessible of these materials to the end users and future generations;

• The ancient and old cultural heritage of any nation can be searched from the reliable sources available in library, archives and museums in the form of books and other reading materials; and • Therefore, there is a great need for conserving and preserving the valuable cultural and national heritage for the future generations as these resources have historical and significant values.



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Stages / Phases of Preservation and Conservation • • • • • •

Preventive Conservation; Passive Conservation; Active Conservation; Restoration / Preservation Reformatting; Methods of Preservation and Conservation; Controlling Temperature and relative Humidity; Use of Chemicals ; • Curative Preservation and Conservation Methods; Indigenous Methods; • Preservation through Microfilming ; and • Digitisation: Method of Preservation and Conservation of Rare and Manuscripts Saturday, January 02, 2016


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Causes of Deterioration of Archival Materials • As the archives , manuscript repositories and libraries of India mainly deals with collection, organisation , conservation , preservation and dissemination of archival materials like Sanchipat, Tulapaat, Bhojpaat, Bamboo stretch and early papers of the British period which are made up of mainly organic ( bark, wood pulp, bamboo, cotton , tree leaves ) materials , the main constituents of these materials are cellulose (plant carbohydrates) , starch, sugar lignin and plant protein are susceptible to environmental climatic , biological and mechanical deterioration with the passage of time. • The chemical constituents like chlorine, sulphuric acid, lignin and naturally occurring organic acid which are used in making paper are main agents for deterioration of paper which results in brittleness of paper and tendency to get paper pale while exposed to light.



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Factors Responsible for Deterioration of Archival Materials: Papers and Manuscripts • Environmental Factors: Temperature; relative Humidity, Sunlight, Darkness and moisture; • Biological Factors : Insects like cockroaches , silver fish, lice fungus, moulds , rat , etc. ;

• Natural Factors : Natural disaster , flood, earthquake , fire etc. ; • Human Being : Invasion at the time of war, terrorist attack etc. ; Saturday, January 02, 2016


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Practices for Conservation of Manuscripts

• Care and Handling: Documents should be properly cared and handled while conserving and preserving the manuscripts and printed documents ;

• Environmental Controls: Environmental controls are necessary to facilitate the preservation of organic library materials and are especially important to monitor in rare and special collection • Key environmental factors are : – – – –

Temperature Relative Humidity Sunlight Exposure Pollutants



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Methods of Preservation and Conservation of Local Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge System by Archives and Libraries of North East India

• Strategies for Conservation and Preservation of Local Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge Resources : – Documentation of Traditional Knowledge; – Captured and Recording Traditional Knowledge; – Microfilming of Traditional Knowledge; and

– Digitalization and Digital Preservation. – Centrally Air –Conditioned building of Libraries , Archives and Museums conducive for the documents and manuscripts, artifacts etc. Saturday, January 02, 2016


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Recommendations for Conservation and Preservation of Archival and Rare Materials • Libraries should develop documented strategies that address what to preserve when to preserve and what technologies to use; • Training should be imparted to the staff of archives and libraries on preservation and conservation and the staff can update with the new method of preservation with the help of training; • The archival materials should be bringing out into the light of the common people by means of organising Workshop, Seminar , Exhibition which may create general awareness among the common people; • Preservation and Conservation topics should be incorporated in the Library and Information Science Syllabus; • Digitisation and its regular updating ; and • Microfilming of Manuscripts and rare documents



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Issues and Challenges faced by Archives and Libraries for Preserving and Conserving Traditional Knowledge System

• The vital problems against preservation of traditional knowledge include :

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– Inadequate funding, – Lack of technical knowhow, and – Inadequate infrastructure. Lack of Established System for Recording and Documentation of Oral Traditions, Customs and Indigenous Knowledge System ; Issues for Obtaining Copyright for Digitisation ; Copyright Issues for Managing Digital Resources and Digitised Manuscripts (Sinha, 2014); Copyrights of Printed and E-Resources (Sinha, 2014) Cost of Digitization; and Lack of Experienced and Trained LIS Professionals for Managing Indigenous Traditional Knowledge System



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Traditional and Indigenous Culture and Knowledge System of North East India • The tribal community of North East States have : • Rich heritage of Oral Traditions , • Traditional Knowledge System , • Folk Culture, • Customs, • Dialects , • Cultural heritage , • Ethnic dress materials, • Rituals and • Herbal medicine system / animal based medicine system etc. which are still unrecorded.


• The North East Region has rich biodiversity of flora and fauna. Some rare species are available which are not discovered earlier. • Therefore, there are lot of opportunities to explore the natural resources , art & culture, traditions and customs and cultural heritage.

• So we must take initiatives to start Digital Library and Knowledge Repositories Project for this region.


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Digitization and Digital Preservation Initiatives in North East India • National Manuscript Mission Project at Central Library, Gauhati University • Collection, Identification and Digitization Project of National Manuscript Mission at G.C. College, Silchar 

Centre for Endangered Languages , Manuscriptology and Folk Culture at Assam University, Silchar Initiatives taken by Media Trust Centre, Guwahati for Digitization and Archiving of Newspapers

• Institutional Repositories at NEHU , Shillong • Role of IGNCA, New Delhi , National Library , Kolkata and Asiatic Society (Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India) for Conservation and Preservation of Cultural and National Heritage Workshop on Manipuri Manuscripts Saturday, January 02, 2016

_Department of Manipur, Assam University, Silchar

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Preservation Techniques • Preservation of Manuscripts and Rare Books, Govt. Documents ; • Digital Preservation of Digital Resources/ Media



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Technological Development • • • • • • • •

Development of ICT Impact of ICT on Library Activities and Services Emergence of Internet / WWW E-Publishing / CD-ROM/ DVD Electronic Resources/ Online Resources Emergence of Digital Library Institutional Repositories Digital Preservation and Conservation of Printed and E-Resources

Saturday, 02 January 2016

National Workshop on Preservation of Manipuri Manuscripts

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Conventional (Print) and Digital Documents for Preservation • • • • • •

Manuscript and Rare Books/ Documents Paper/Prints (photos) Documents/Books Preservation of Audio-Visual Media Online Photo Albums Magnetic media, video cassettes, tapes, hard drives



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Type of Digital Documents • Converted from Conventional Printed to Digital Document by Digitization • Born Digital Documents – E-Journals – E-Books – Online Databases and Internet / Web Resources



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Preservation of Documents • Preservation generally means keeping an object safe from harmful effects such as loss, damage and destruction ; • The purpose of preservation is to ensure protection of information of enduring value for access by present and future generation; • Many libraries and archives have established formal preservation programme for traditional library resources as well as preservation of electronic / digital resources. Saturday, 02 January 2016


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Concept of Digital Preservation • Digital Preservation is preserving the digital medium that holds the digital information by storing it in the correct environment and following agreed storage and handling procedures; copying the digital information into newer, fresher media before the old media deteriorates ; • Digital Preservation is the planning, resource allocation, and application of preservation methods and technologies necessary to ensure the digital recording of materials and to maintain the ability to display, retrieve and use digital collection in the face of rapidly changing technological and organisational infrastructure and elements. Saturday, 02 January 2016


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Concept of Digital Preservation • Digital preservation refers to the management of digital information over time. Preservation of digital information is widely considered to require more constant and ongoing attention than preservation of other media; • This constant input of effort, time, and money to handle rapid technological and organisational advance is considered the main stumbling block for preserving digital information. Indeed, while we are still able to read our written heritage from several thousand years ago, the digital information created merely a decade ago is in serious danger of being lost, creating a digital Dark Age.



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Concept of Digital Preservation • Digital preservation can therefore be seen as the set of processes and activities that ensure continued access to information and all kinds of records, scientific and cultural heritage existing in digital formats. • This includes the preservation of materials resulting from Digital Reformatting, but particularly information that is borndigital and has no analog counterpart. • In the language of digital imaging and electronic resources, preservation is no longer just the product of a program but an ongoing process. In this regard the way digital information is stored is important in ensuring their longevity. The long-term storage of digital information is assisted by the inclusion of Preservation Metadata. Saturday, 02 January 2016


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Definition of Digital Preservation • The term Digital Preservation refers to preservation of materials that are created originally in digital form and never exist in print or analogue form( Born Digital) • As well as those converted from legacy documents and artifacts (printed documents , pictures , photographs or physical objects) into images using scanners, digital cameras, and other imaging technologies for access and preservation purposes.



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Digital Preservation of E-Resources • Digital Preservation encompasses a broad range of activities designed to extend the usable life of machine-readable computer files and protect them from media failure, physical loss, and obsolescence. • TDR divides digital preservation activities into those that promote the long-term maintenance of a bit stream (the zeros and ones) and those that provide continued accessibility of its contents. Saturday, 02 January 2016


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Definition of Digital Preservation • Digital preservation is defined as: long-term, errorfree storage of digital information, with means for retrieval and interpretation, for the entire time span the information is required for. Long-term is defined as "long enough to be concerned with the impacts of changing technologies, including support for new media and data formats, or with a changing user community. Long Term may extend indefinitely (Garrett, J. et. al, 1996)”.



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Definition of Digital Preservation • The OCLC/RLG Working Group on Preservation Metadata added the concept of viability to the maintenance of the bit stream, indicating that information must be intact and readable from the storage media, and further subdivides the content accessibility need into renderability (viewable by humans and processible by computers) and understandability (interpretable by humans).

• As these terms imply, it is one thing to preserve a bit stream, but quite another to preserve the content, form, style, appearance, and functionality. Here we may conceive the idea of digital preservation as a process that requires the use of the best available technology as well as carefully thought out administrative policies and procedures. Saturday, 02 January 2016


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Why Active Digital Preservation is Necessary • Society's heritage has been presented on many different materials, including stone, vellum, bamboo, silk, paper and etc. Now a large quantity of information exists in digital forms, including e-mails, blogs, social networking websites, national elections websites, web photo albums, and sites which change their content over time. • According to a report by the US Library of Congress, 44% of the sites available on the internet in 1998 had vanished one year later (Gladney, H. M. ,2004).



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Aim and Objective of Preservation of Print and Electronic (Digital) Resources • To reduce the effect of deteriorating factors such as temperature, light, moisture, flood, fire , Biological factors (pest, fungus, insects), pollution, dust and the important factors called “Human factor” and brittle paper ; • To maintain the historical value of information; • To make it easy to use and handle; • To make information to survive for longer duration; • To provide worldwide accessibility and 24 X 7 access .



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Preservation Strategies • • • • • • •

Refreshing Migration Replication Emulation Metadata Attachment Trustworthy Digital Objects Digital Sustainability



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Challenges of Digital Preservation of Documents /Media • Physical Deterioration of Paper, Magnetic Film /Tap and other Media • Dynamic Nature of Digital Contents • Machine Dependency • Fragility of the Media • Technological Obsolescence • Digital Obsolescence / Shorter Life Span Of Digital Media • Format and Style • Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issue or Digital Right Management (DRM) Saturday, 02 January 2016


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National Manuscripts Mission • The National Mission for Manuscripts was launched in February 2003 by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, to save this most valuable but less visible of our cultural inheritances • Mission seeks not merely to locate, catalogue and preserve India's manuscripts, but also to enhance access, spread awareness and encourage their use for educational purposes.



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National Manuscripts Missions • Working with specially identified Manuscript Resource Centres (MRCs) and Manuscript Conservation Centres (MCCs) in states all over the country, the Mission has collected data on manuscripts located in a variety of places, from universities and libraries to temples, mathas, madrasas, monasteries and private collections.

• The Mission also brings manuscripts and the knowledge they house to the public through lectures, seminars, publications and specially designed programmes for schoolchildren and university students. Saturday, 02 January 2016


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National Manuscripts Missions • The Mission has, so far, set up 20 Manuscript Conservation Centres (MCC-s) all over the country. • These centres, each equipped with well-stocked conservation laboratories and skilled resource people, are expected to provide all technical services on conservation and preservation in their respective areas of operation (http://www.namami.org/ )



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Asiatic Society of India • Located at Kolkata established by Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India ; • Having huge repositories of rare Manuscripts ; • Well equipped Labs have been established for conservation and preservation of rare documents, books , manuscripts ;



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National Library , Kolkata • National Library is an Apex Library in the country; • It is sub-ordinate office of Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India ; • National Library is having huge collection of rare documents and manuscripts ; • They have initiated Digitisation of Manuscripts and rare documents ; • Helping libraries to organise Workshops / Training Programme for making people aware about the National Heritage / Resources of India. Saturday, January 02, 2016


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Digitization and Digital Preservation Initiatives in N E Region of India •

National Manuscript Mission Project at Central Library , Guwahati University

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Collection , Identification and Digitization Project of National Manuscript Mission at G.C. College , Silchar

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Centre for Endangered Languages , Manuscriptology and Folk Culture at Assam University, Silchar

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Initiatives taken by Media Trust Centre, Guwahati for Digitization and Archiving of Newspapers



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Digital Library Initiatives in India • • • •

Digital Library of India ( http://dli.iiit.ac.in/ ). (http://www.digitallibrary.ernet.in/ ). Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) National Science Library/ National Digital Library Digital Library Initiative at National Library of India, Kolkata (http://www.nlindia.org )



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Digital Library Initiatives in India • ETDs Initiative in India: Electronic Theses and Dissertation Project of INFLIBNET Centre, Ahmedabad (www.inflibnet.ac.in ) • Vidya Nidhi Projects (www.vidynidhi.org.in )

• Nalanda Digital Library Initiatives by NIT, Calicut Library (http://www.nalanda.nitc.ac.in/index,htm)



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Conclusion • Many Indian Universities and Institutions have establishing Institutional Repositories for making valuable resources available to the academic community for research and development; • There is a urgent need for peoples participation in the mission to preserve and conserve the manuscripts and rare documents which are still available with the private collections of village people, Mathas, Madarasa, Private libraries, monasteries etc; and • The information regarding Indigenous knowledge System of Medicine is still available with the medicine men or Vaidya of tribal society of various communities of North Eastern States , Eastern and Southern India which should be explored and documented for the research and development and its exploitation for the benefit of the society at large. Saturday, 02 January 2016


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Conclusion • National Knowledge Commission has also emphasized on the conservation and preservation of cultural heritage and rare documents.

• Information available in the area of medicinal plants and indigenous knowledge posses by the tribal population and various community should be tapped up and documented tp preserve the cultural identity, custom, belief, faith and cultural heritage of the North Eastern States in particular and rest of India in general.



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Conclusion • The preservation and conservation of rare manuscripts, rare books, documents, government records, and digital resources is one of the most important areas where we should pay more attention to preserve the national heritage and resources for the future generation to come; • The Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Information Technology Govt. of India have been taking initiatives through IGNCA, New Delhi, RRRLF, Kolkata and National Libraries, Kolkata of India to conserve the national heritage. In this context Digital Library of India portal has been developed for making the rare books and documents available to all the people of India and abroad 24x7 round the year. Saturday, 02 January 2016


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Thanks and Have a Pleasant Day



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