Digitization and Digital Preservation of

Indian Cultural Heritage

Multimedia Digital Library Initiatives at IGNCA, New Delhi

Dr. Ramesh C Gaur

PGDCA, MLISc,Ph.D. Fulbright Scholar (Virginia Tech, USA)
Librarian & Head-Kalanidhi Division
Coordinator- ABIA International Project
Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts(IGNCA)
(An Autonomous body under Ministry of Culture. Govt. of India)
5 Dr. Rajendra Prasad Road, New Delhi-1
Phone: 91-11-23385442, 23385884
Fax: 91-11-22385442 Mobile: 91-9810487158
URL: www.ignca.nic.in
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
 Topics covered
• About Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA)
• Kalanidhi-Indian Cultural Heritage Resource Centre at IGNCA
• Digitization Process
• Digitization of Indian Cultural Heritage at IGNCA and NMM
• Digital Archiving at IGNCA
• Digital Preservation
• Digital Preservation of Indian Cultural heritage at IGNCA and
NMM
• Conclusions
 IGNCA : AN INTRODUCTION
The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts
is visualised as a centre encompassing the study
and experience of all the arts – each form with its
own integrity, yet within a dimension of mutual
interdependence, interrelated with nature, social
structure and cosmology. The arts are here
understood to comprise the fields of creative and
critical literature, written and oral; the visual
arts, ranging from architecture, sculpture,
painting and graphics to general material
culture, photography and film; the performing
arts of music, dance and theatre in their broadest
connotation; and else in fairs, festivals and
lifestyle that has an artistic dimension.
 Various divisions in IGNCA
• Kalanidhi
• Kala Kosha
• Janpada Sampada
• Kala Darshan
• Sutradhar
 Kalanidhi
• The IGNCA is a National
Information System and a
Data Bank of the arts,
humanities, cultural heritage
with a fully supported
reference library of
multimedia collections. This
information System and Data
Bank will serve as a major
resource centre for research
in humanities, in the arts, in
the disciplines of Archaeology,
Anthropology, History,
Philosophy, Literature,
Language, Arts, Crafts etc.
 Branches of Kala Nidhi
• Reference Library
• Cultural Archive
• Reprography Unit
• Slide Unit
• Media Production Unit
• Photography Unit
• Conservation Unit
 Reference Library
• The reference library of IGNCA has a large
collection in the broad areas of humanities and
the arts. It constitutes books, reprographics of
several folios of unpublished Sanskrit, Pali,
Persian and Arabic manuscripts in microfilm and
microfiche, photographs and slides. The collection
includes books on archaeology, philosophy,
religion and ritual studies, history and
anthropology, art and literatures as well as folk,
pastoral and community studies. The library is
enriched by many rare collections of illustrious
schoolars who have made path-breaking
contributions in the fields of arts.
Rare Book Collection
 Cultural Archives
• Material relating to different genres in the original
and in the other forms of copies is collected,
classified and catalogued in the Cultural Archives.
The archives are enriched by personal collection,
ethnographic collections documentation and cultural
exchange. Many scholars, artists and art enthusiasts,
over the last decades, have carefully and dedicatedly
collected materials of their interest ranging from
literature and personal histories, recitation, painting,
music to folklore and tribal arts. Some of these rare
collections of ethnography and audio/visual
documentation of old masters and rare art forms
have been acquired by the archives.
 Cultural Archives
• Slides
• Books
• Artifacts
• Audio cassettes
• Video cassettes
• Spool Tapes (Music Records)
• Paintings
• Photographs
• Costumes & Jewellery
• Sculpture
 Reprography Unit
• A unique feature of the Reprography unit of the
Kalanidhi is the reprographic compilation of
unpublished manuscripts in Indian and foreign
collections from private and public libraries. A
pioneering attempt has been made to bring under
one roof primary sources of the Indian tradition
lying scattered, fragmented, inaccessible or worse, in
danger of extinction. At present the library contains
more than ten millions folios of unpublished
Sanskrit, Pali, Persian and Arabic manuscripts.
Total 20,000 microfilm rolls (approx.) containing 2.5
lacs mss. have been generated so far.
 Reprography Unit
Microfilm Rolls Status Rolls Rolls
Summary of Total Collection Mss. Folios Total Dupli- Digi-
Filmed Covered Collection cated tized

Total Collection from East Region of India 970 237275 373 373 373

Total Collection from West Region of India 44417 2728489 4436 3937 4180

Total Collection from North Region of India 117223 4329942 6658 2642 5246

Total Collection from North-East Region of India 2589 142428 220 202 215

Total Collection from South Region of India 83068 5085567 8115 4095 1911

Total Collection from Central Region of India 4190 227356 350 350 350

Total 252457 12751057 20152 11599 12275

Mss. Folios No. of Duplicate Digitized

Filmed Covered Rolls Rolls Rolls
2,50,295 12634237 20,152 11,599 12,275
Digital Visual Images
 Media Production Unit
• Audio cassettes-870 hrs
• Beta Cam- 1190 hrs
• DV Cam- 30 hrs
• Mini DV- 200 hrs
• VHS- 300 hrs

¾ Data Entered in Microsoft Excel

¾Audio – 510 Titles

¾Videos – 1304 Titles
 ABIA Project at IGNCA
ABIA stands for Annual Bibliography of Indian
Archaeology that was published by the Kern Institute
in Leiden during 1926-1973. In 1996, the International
Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Leiden put forward
a proposal to resume the bibliography. The new
bibliography is called ABIA South and Southeast Asian
Art and Archaeology Index, briefly ABIA Index.
The IIAS, Leiden initiated this International project to
compile and maintain a bibliographic electronic online
database which supplies annotated records, covering
the subjects- pre and proto history, historical
archaeology, ancient and modern art history, material
culture, epigraphy and palaeography, numismatics and
sigillography. An Annotated Bibliography extracted
from this database is published annually in a printed
version.
www.abia.net
 ABIA Project at IGNCA
The database ABIA South and Southeast Asian Art and
Archaeology Index is fully searchable online and is
freely accessible at http://www.abia.net
Two volumes have been published:
First volume in 1999
Second volume in 2002
Third volume expected in 2007
More details are available at http://www.abia.net
From Jan 2007 onwards IGNCA is the coordinating office
for next 5 years
 Users
The ABIA Index database is useful for
Art historians
Archaeologists
Asia specialists
Anthropologists
Numismatists
Historians
Epigraphists
It should also appeal to
Librarians
Curators
Educational service staff
Collectors of Asian art and coins
 Participating Countries
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Cambodia
India
Indonesia
Malaysia
Nepal
Netherlands
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Thailand
Online ABIA
Digitization of Manuscripts in India
 Indian National Manuscripts Library

Collections
acquired
by Kalanidhi Collections
acquired
by NMM

Manuscripts in Manuscripts in Manuscripts

Microfilms from Microfilms from received as
India Aboard donations Digitized Original
Manuscripts Manuscripts

Digitization of
Microfilm
Manuscripts in Manuscripts
Repository
Microfilms
Digital Manuscript Library
Library

Online
Catalogue of
Manuscripts
at IGNCA
KalaNidhi
Online
Online Catalogue of Catalogue
National Other Manuscripts
Manuscripts Repositories in India
Catalogue
 Present Information Environment
Born
E-Journals
Digital

Electronic
Databases
Bibliographic /
Full text

E-Books

Contents

Off-line
Digital
Media
Digitization CDs / DVD
Print
Or non-print
Internet
To Digital Digital
Repositories
 Why to digitize?
• Faster Access
• To Improve services
• Archiving
• To protect the originality of the object/
document etc-Reduce the handling and use of
fragile or heavily used original material and
create a ”back up” copy for endangered
material such as brittle books or documents
• Resource Sharing
• Preservation
 Digitization Process…1
• Purpose of Digitization
• Need for Digitization
• Materials to be Digitized
• Selection
• Hardware requirements
• Software requirements
• Other technological requirements
• Conversion
• Image quality and formats
• Resolution
• Compression
 Digitization Process…2
• Quality Control
• Options for storage both short term and long term
• Collection Management
• Organization of images
• Naming of images
• Description of Images
• Use of metadata
• Data Management
• Document encoding
• Born Digital
• Legal Deposits
• Identification of Digital Archiving System
• Backup, Protection and Preservation
 Ready for
The Workflow for digitization

digitization process Selection of material

for digitization

Selection of manpower,
technology and other
infrastructural requirements

Project implementation:
Scanning / conversion in desired formats OCR, PDF, HTML, TIFF, JPEG, MPEG, DVD, PNG, MP3, WAV, ASCII,
SGML, XML, Postscripts, and other international formats in desired resolution from 120 pixels to 6000 pixels as per
requirements for use such as printing, internet and preservation

Project implementation:
Store it in available media such as CD/DVD, CD-DVD mirror servers, Zip or tap drives, Servers, Internet. The storage
solutions also depends on the volume of the data

Project implementation:
Quality control, organization of the digitized materials, indexing, keywording, Meta data creation

Delivery mechanism, retrieval and access control, identification of a digital archival system

Protection, backup and preservation

UNESCO Guidelines
 Other Guidelines for
Digitization
• IFLA
• UNC
• List of Other Guidelines
 Digitization at IGNCA
• The digitization of materials, post digitization
editing, high capacity storage & backup
system, designing and development of effective
retrieval system etc. Technology used for this
development is based on Open standards using
Unicode, a multilingual standards for fonts,
accepted worldwide with open type fonts.
Search is available both in English and Hindi
(Devanagari). User have the option to select the
material of his interest either from a specific
type of collection like books, manuscripts,
slides, audio, video etc or from the entire
collections
Digital Resources at IGNCA
IGNCA
Journal and
Bibliography Newsletter
Databases

CDROM
A/V
Collection
Digital Microfisches
Resources
IGNCA at IGNCA
Publication Microfilm

Archival
Papers and
Collection Essays

Digital CoIL-Net-
Content Rare Animations &
Images
Books Walk through
(Slides) development in
Indian
Language
Network
• These rare manuscripts, collected from different institutions of
India and abroad are mainly in the form of microfilms and
microfiche. Approximately 12000 rolls of microfilms (out of about
20000) have been digitized. The digitization of microfiche started
recently. Similarly, slides ( View Digital Images ) are collected
from the institutions like ACSAA, British Library, Victoria and
Albert Museum etc. Slides over 100000 have been digitized. Rare
Photographs digitized includes Rajah Deen Dayal collection,
Sambhu Nath Saha collection etc. About thousand hours of Audio
/ Video Film & Video Documentation (online audio / video) is
available in digital form out of total collection of over 10000
hours. A part of the IGNCA's publications (electronic books
available) with the various volumes of News Letters (Vihangama)
and Kalakalpa: Bi-annual Journal have been digitized.
• Digitization of Ganjuur and Danjuur manuscripts at the National Library
of Mongolia
• Digitization of manuscripts at the National Museum, New Delhi
• Digitization of manuscripts at the Oriental Research Library, Srinagar
 Digitization standards followed at the IGNCA
for the digitization
• Digitization standards followed at the IGNCA for the
digitization are as per the UNESCO Guidelines
published in 2002.
• Slides :Photo CD format (five resolutions normally
and six resolutions in specific cases)·
• Microforms (Microfiche and Microfilms):300 dpi tiff·
• Photographs:300 dpi tiff (600 / 1200 dpi in special
cases)·
• Books and printed materials:300 dpi tiff·
• Audio:44 Khz .wav file format·
• Video: MPEG 1/2
• Tiff. Uncompressed Lower quality derivatives are
used for the on line access of the materials.
 Metadata
• Presently Catalogue records from
LIBSYS are used
• Available Metadata of the contents will
be finally converted in Extended Dublin
Core, as practiced for majority of the
digital library projects worldwide.
Digital Resources at IGNCA Website
Digital Images
Audio Recordings
Video Recordings
IGNCA DVD ROMs On Indian
Cultural Heritage
IGNCA CD on Ajanta
IGNCA CD on Rock Art
IGNCA CD on Temple of
Muktesvara
IGNCA CD on Devadasi
IGNCA’s Publications
Kalakalpa-Journal of IGNCA
Vihangama- IGNCA’s
Newsletter
Conference Proceedings
 Kalasampada:Digital Library Resources of
Indian Cultural Heritage (DL-RICH
• Recognizing the need to encompass and preserve the distributed
fragments of Indian art and culture, and to serve as a major
resource centre for the arts, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for
the Arts (IGNCA) in collaboration with Ministry of Communication
and Information Technology, initiated a project, KALASAMPDA
(Digital Library: Resources of Indian Cultural Heritage) , for the
development of databank of cultural heritage. Kalasampada
facilitating the scholars (users) to access and view the materials
including over couple of lakhs of manuscripts, over a lakhs of slides,
thousands of rare books, rare photographs, audio and video along
with highly researched publications of the IGNCA, from a single
window. Multimedia computer technology has been used for the
development of a software package that integrates variety of cultural
information accessible at one place. This will provide a new
dimension in the study of the Indian Art and Culture, in an
integrated way, while giving due importance to each medium. The
system aims at being a digital repository of content and information
with a user-friendly interface.
 Installation of D-Space
• D-Space –Open source digital
library software has been installed at
Kalanidhi Reference Library. It is
proposed to upload he entire digital
collection of Kalanidhi in D-space
Dspace at IGNCA…1
Dspace at IGNCA…2
Dspace at IGNCA…3
Dspace at IGNCA…4
 Linking of Electronic Resources
through LIBSYS OPAC
• It is also proposed to link the digital
images of all Kalanidhi Division
collections to their respective
catalogue entry. This is under
testing.
 CoIL-Net – Content development in Indian Language Network

• a project sponsored by Ministry of Communication and

Information Technology (MCIT). Main objectives of the
project wer3:
• To enhance the access to cultural resources using digital
technology
• To develop a reusable ‘MODEL DESIGN’ and ‘Development
Process’ for implementing user friendly web enabled heritage
library for Hindi speaking population and other Hindi
knowing persons in India and Abroad.
• To implement a web enabled Hindi Based multimedia heritage
library also offering contextual and vetted links to important
websites to contribute towards the socio-economic
development of Hindi Speaking region.
 Some thoughts
• Preservation vs Digital Preservation
• Digital Preservation in India
• Why IASC …….
• Let’s understand What is? what has been
done? what has to be done? How it has to
be done?
 Principles of Preservation as Applied to
Digital Preservation
• The basic principles of preservation that
are being practiced for preservation of
analogue media are also applicable to
preservation in the digital world:
• Longitivity
• Selection
• Quality
• Integrity
• Access
 What is not “Digital
Preservation”?
• Digitization
• Copying
• Born digital collections
• Websites
• Online Resources provided by commercial publishers
• Digital Library Services
• Library Automation
• E-commerce
 May be or may not
“Digital Preservation”
• Institutional Repositories
• Learning Management Systems
• E-learning
• E-Publishing
• Mirroring
• Backup
• Digital Archeology
• Microform i.e. Microfilm, Microfiche,
Audio Video etc.
 Digital Cycle
Production/
Digitization

Storage Organization

Digital Archiving/
Digital Libraries

Digital Search &

Preservation Retrieval

10/11/06 3

Planner-2006
 What is digital
preservation?
• Generally speaking the digital preservation is about
safeguarding and maintaining a digital collection for long term
i.e. into the foreseeable and distant future
• The sustainability and accessibility of the digital collection is
the main objective of scheme of digital preservation
• The preservation of digital collection is must as without
appropriate digital preservation method a digital collection may
become useless
• The main goal of a digital preservation process is to keep
digital information in readable and usable condition
• It combines policies, strategies, and actions that ensure
access to digital content over time.
Digital preservation – why?
• Preservation links the past with the future
• Knowledge is one of the few things that
lasts…
• Significant part of world’s knowledge &
heritage is in digital form
• Needs to be preserved as Memory of the
World on Preservation of Digital heritage)
 UNESCO
Charter on the Preservation of Digital Heritage,
October 15th, 2003
Article 1:
“The digital heritage consists of unique resources
of human knowledge and expression.”
“Many of these resources have lasting value and
significance, and therefore constitute a heritage
that should be protected and preserved for
current and future generations.”
 UNESCO Charter: Articles
• Article 2 – Access to the digital heritage
• Article 3 – The threat of loss
• Article 4 – Need for action
• Article 5 – Digital continuity
• Article 6 – Developing strategies and policies
• Article 7 – Selecting what should be kept
• Article 8 – Protecting the digital heritage
• Article 9 – Preserving cultural heritage
• Article 10 – Roles and responsibilities
• Article 11 – Partnerships and cooperation
Who are the stakeholders?
• Traditionally librarians,
archivists, records managers, Conservators
newer stakeholders…
• Hardware & software developers, creators,
publishers, producers, distributors, managers of
digital repositories, rights holders…
Information Density V/s Life Expectancy
of Storage Media
 Threats…1
• Media failure
• Hardware Failure
• Software Failure
• Communication Errors
• Failure of Network Services
• Media and Hardware Obsolescence
• Software Obsolescence
 Threats…2
• Natural disasters
• External Attack
• Internal Attack
• Economic Failure
 Why do we need Digital
Preservation…1?
•Digital Objects require specific environment to be
accessible :
•Files need specific programs
•Programs need specific operating systems (-versions)
•Operating systems need specific hardware components
•SW/HW environment is not stable:
•Files cannot be opened anymore
•Embedded objects are no longer accessible/linked
•Programs won‘t run
•Information in digital form is lost
(usually total loss, no degradation)
•Digital Preservation aims at maintaining digital objects
authentically usable and accessible for long time periods.
 Why do we need Digital
Preservation…2?
E-resources can and do disappear.
• Removal: 27 months after publication up to 13% of online cited
sources are irretrievable*
• Obsolescence: Tapes of U.S. census data from 1960’s are now
inaccessible
• Loss: Location of NASA’s original moon landing recordings is
(currently) unknown
• Funding: Funding for the long standing UK Arts and Humanities
Data Service discontinued April 2008
• Orphans: When ownership or other rights become uncertain,
availability is threatened
*Dellavalle, Robert P. et. al. “Information Science: Going, Going, Gone.” Science 302, no. 5646 (Oct. 31, 2003), 787-8.
 Why do we need Digital
40 Preservation…3?
35
Average E-Resource
• The shift to reliance upon
30 Expenditure as Percent e-resources is accelerating.
25 of Total LME
20 • E-resources consume a
15 growing portion of total
10 library materials
5
expenditures.
0
• Libraries typically license
0
5

5
00
-9

-9

-9

-9

-9

-0

-0

-0

-0

-0
access to rather than own
94

95

96

97

98

00

01

02

03

04
-2
99
19

19

19

19

19

20

20

20

20

20
19

outright e-resources.

Mark Young and Martha Kyrillidou, ARL Statistics 2004-05 (Washington: Association of Research Libraries, 2005).
Backup vs. Digital Archiving vs.
Digital Preservation
• Purpose
• Risk Management
• Storage Architecture
• Access
• Security
• Indexing
• Retention
 Digital Preservation
Approaches…1
• Digital Preservation-Contents
• Refreshing
• Migration
• Emulation
• Creation of interoperable archive
• Persistent Digital Identifiers
• Replication
• Mirroring
• Preservation Metadata
 Digital Preservation
Approaches…2
• Normalisation
• Digital Archaeology
• Hardware Museum/Technology Preservation
• Print to Paper or Microfilm/fiche or barcode
• Digital Preservation- Media
• Care and handling
• Storage
• Preventive
 Refreshing

• copying digital information from one long-term storage medium to

another with no change in the bit-stream
• Addresses both decay and obsolescence issues related to the storage
media.
• Does not address the issue of obsolescence of encoding and
formatting schemes.
• Longitivity of media does not guarantee availability of hardware /
software required to read the stored format.
• Backward compatibility and interoperability are serious threat to
longevity of digital information.
 Migration
• Periodic transfer of digital materials from one hardware / software
configuration to another, or from one generation of computer
technology to a subsequent generations.
• Migration may include conversion of data to avoid obsolescence not only
of the physical storage medium, but of the encoding and format of the
data.
• Digital objects will have to be constantly migrated and converted to new
formats, computing devices, storage media and software to ensure they
are not left behind on obsolete system.
 Emulation
• Emulation uses a special type of software, called an emulator,
to translate instructions from original software to execute on
new platforms.
• Eliminate the need to keep old hardware working.

• Emulation requires the creation of emulator programs that

translate code and instructions from one computing
environment so it can be properly executed in another.
 Technology Preservation
• Also called the “computer museum” solution.
• Rely on preserving the computer, operating systems,
original application software, media drives, etc.
• Applicable for neglected digital objects.
• Assumes that media has not decayed beyond
readability.
• Limitation: No obsolete technology can be kept
functional indefinitely.
• Requires a considerable investment in equipment and
personnel.
 Replication
• Replication is used to represent multiple digital
preservation strategies.
• Bit-stream copying is a form of replication.
• LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe) is a consortial
form of replication, while peer-to-peer data trading is an
open, free-market form of replication.
• Objective is to enhance the longevity of digital documents
while maintaining their authenticity and integrity through
copying and the use of multiple storage locations.
 Digital Archaeology
• Rescue content from damaged media or from
damaged hardware and software
• An emergency recovery strategy involves
specialized techniques to recover data from
unreadable media, either due to physical damage
or hardware failure.
• Carried out by data recovery companies
• Given enough resources, readable bit-streams
can often be recovered even from heavily
damaged media (especially magnetic media)
 Encapsulation
• Technique of grouping together digital objects and metadata
necessary to provide access to that object.
• The grouping process lessens the possibility that any critical
component necessary to decode and render a digital object will be
lost.
• Appropriate types of metadata to encapsulate with a digital object
include reference, representation, provenance, fixity and context
information. Encapsulation is considered a key element of
emulation.
 Analogue Backups
• Combines the conversion of digital objects
into analogue form, e.g., taking high-quality
printouts or the creation of microfilm.
• An analogue copy of a digital object can, in
some respects, preserve its content and
protect it from obsolescence.
• Technique makes sense for documents whose
contents merit the highest level of
redundancy and protection from loss.
 Reliance on Standards
• Advocates use of well-recognized standards and discarding
proprietary or less-supported standards.
• Backward compatibility for older formats would maintained
if it is widely used as a standard.
• For example, if JPEG2000 becomes a widely adopted
standard, the sheer volume of users will guarantee that
software to encode, decode, and render JPEG2000 images
will be upgraded to meet the demands of new operating
systems, CPUs, etc.
 Digital Preservation Metadata
• A subset of metadata that describes attributes of digital
resources essential for its long-term accessibility.
• Describe and record information needed to manage the
preservation of digital resources.

• A subset of administrative metadata design to assist in the

management of technical metadata for continuing access to
the digital content.

• Stores technical details on the format, structure and use of

the digital content.
 Administrative or technical Metadata…1

– It is needed to manage a digital object throughout its

lifecycle and is required for long-term collection
management.
Original source
– Date of capture / creation
– Scanning resolution
– Initial Capture Settings
– Version of digital object
– File format(s)
– Compression technology used
– Object relationship, etc.
 Administrative or technical
Metadata..2
• Most of the administrative / technical
metadata can be generated automatically by
the hardware and software used for
capturing contents.
• The administrative metadata also records
legal and financial aspects of access to the
object such as: Rights management; Costs;
authorization; Authentication; etc.
 Preservation Standards
• Open Archival Information System Reference
Model (OAIS RM)
• PREMIS (Preservation Metadata:
Implementation Strategies)- a joint
collaborative project of OCLC and Research
Library Group
• XML and Schema
• Persistent Identifiers
 PREMIS (Preservation Metadata:
Implementation Strategies)-
a joint collaborative project of OCLC and
Research Library Group
• To define a implementable set of core preservation metadata
elements with broad applicability with digital preservation
community
• Draft a data dictionary to support the core preservation metadata
element set.
• Examine and evaluate alternative strategies for encoding, storage and
management of preservation metadata within a digital preservation
system, as well as exchange of preservation metadata among systems.
• Conduct the pilot program to testing the group’s recommendations
and best practices in a variety of system settings
• Explore the opportunities for cooperative creation and sharing of
preservation metadata.
 OAIS Model – Example for a Standard
Preservation Planning

consumer
producer

Data
management
Ingest Access
Archival
SIP AIP storage
AIP DIP

Administration

SIP Submission Information Package

AIP Archival Information Package
DIP Dissemination Information
Package
 Digital Preservation Policy and
•
Strategy
Resources- Manpower, Technology, Funding, Collaborative
Partnerships
• Collections
• Document types and formats
• Digitization Strategies
• Requirements
• Collection Development
• Digital Archiving
• Web Archiving
• Content Management Systems / Data Asset management Systems
• Standards
• Copyright and other legal issues
• Training and work flow
• Preservation Metadata
• Preservation and metadata
 Digital Preservation-Media
• Storage – Short and Long Term
• Preservation- both media and contents
• Storage- Media
• Portable Media- CD/DVD, DAT and DLT Tapes, Zip and
Jaz Drives etc
• Non-portable Media- PC Hard Drives, Network Severs
etc.
• Labeling, Organization
• Care and Handling
• Storage- Climatic conditions
 Storage- care and handling
• Media should be stored in the correct cases and or cabinets designed as per its storage
requirements. It should not be left inside the machine.
• Media should be stored as per guidelines provided under various national and
international standards for storage and exhibition of archival documents.
• Following preventive measures should be taken to ensure the safety of the media:
• Drives should be regularly cleaned.
• Media should be kept away from agents of fire and sources of magnetic fields etc.
• Media should be regularly checked on periodic basis.
• The data storage surface of the media should not be touched.
• Labels should be fixed in the designated area on the media
• The media-specific guidelines should be followed in accordance with various national
and international standards.
 Storage- Climatic conditions
S.No. Media Short Term Preservation Long Term Preservation

Temperature RH Temperature RH

1 Flexible magnetic disks, CD, 10-510 C 10-80% 18-22 0C 35-45%

DVDs, Magnetic tapes, Solid state
media etc

2 Optical disks, Mixed collections, 16-320 C 20-80% 16-32 0C 35-60%

DAT, DLT tapes
 NESTOR- Network of Expertise in
Long-Term Storage of Digital
• Resources
http://nestor.sub.uni-goettingen.de
• to create a network of expertise in long-term storage of digital resources for Germany.
• the emphasis is put on long-term accessibility.
• Within the project the following offers will be created:
• a web-based information forum,
• a platform for information and communication,
• criteria for trusted digital repositories,
• recommendations for certification procedures of digital repositories,
• recommendations for collecting guidelines and selection criteria of digital resources to be
archived,
• guidelines and policies, the concept for a permanent organisation form of the “network of
expertise in digital preservation”.
• The long-term goal is a permanent distributed infrastructure for long-term preservation and
long-term accessibility of digital resources in Germany comparable for example to the
Digital Preservation Coalition in the UK.
 kopal - Co-operative Development
of a Long-Term Digital Information
Archive
Homepage:http://kopal.langzeitarchivierung.de/
• One of the open problems of the global information society is to ensure
the long-term accessibility of digital documents. kopal tackles this
problem head-on:
• This cooperative project, supported financially by the Federal Ministry
of Education and Research, is developing an innovative technical
solution in the form of a reusable long-term archive for digital data.
• It is based on DIAS (Digital Information and Archiving System), jointly
devised by IBM and the National Library of The Netherlands in The
Hague.
• The system will be implemented in accordance with international
standards for long-term archiving and metadata within the OAIS
framework (Open Archival Information System).
reuse: A European Community
Project of the e-content
Programme at DDB
• http://reuse.uibk.ac.at./
• The project is being coordinated by University
Innsbruck Library, Austria. DDB is the project
partner along with 8 more European Libraries.
• This project proposes to archive the master
copy of a book developed at the time of the
printing as most of the books printed now a
days are from the born digital copies only.
 Legal Aspects
• Copyright and other intellectual property rights (IPR)
have a substantial impact on digital preservation
• Preservation of digital materials is dependent on a
range of strategies, which has implications for IPR in
those materials
• Consideration may need to be given not only to content
but to any associated software
• Specific permissions may be very challenging e.g. for
webarchiving or digital art
 Conclusions…3
• Unlike Library automation and digital libraries, the Digital
preservation is not required for each and every library
• Lets identify our strengths and weaknesses
• Lets understand the concept and our needs, roles, goals,
priorities, for digital preservation
• Man management and change management is the key to
success
• We are not very far, it is the right time to catch the
• Forging Collaborative Partnerships is the key
• Believe in yourself, we can do it
 Conclusions ..2
• About 40 % non-print material such as manuscripts in
microfilm and microfiche formats, slides, photographs,
rare books, and paintings, etc. have already been
digitized.
• We are in process of digitization of entire non-print
material. About 2 lacs cultural archival material, 1700
rare books, 2.5 lacs manuscript in microfilming format,
1 lac visuals more than 1000 hours of Audio Video
recordings, 9 personal collections of eminent scholars
and artists, photographic collection of eminent
photographers such as Lala Deen Dayal, 1000 Paintings
are some of the unique collections at Kalanidhi Division.
 Conclusions…2
• A digital library of manuscripts is another important plan
of Kalanidhi Division of IGNCA.
• Online catalogue of about 8 lacs cultural resources in
MARC 21 format, Installation of CD mirror server,
networking of various Divisions of IGNCA and finalization
of various metadata formats for collection such as
photographs, manuscripts, slides and audio-video material
are some of the plans under implementation.
• Moreover, masks collected from various parts of the India,
textiles and other tangible and intangible heritage material
have thrown new challenges for digital library experts to
preserve them in digital images