Digital Preservation of Indian Manuscripts: a case study on International Dunhuang Project, London Pritam Gurey Librarian Vidyasagar College for Women Kolkata E-mail: pritam.vb@gmail.com Ph.: (+91) 9804224507 Avijit Chakrabarti Librarian Barasat College Barasat E-mail: avijitchakrabarti@yahoo.com Ph.: (+91) 8013437767 Introduction Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society. The Indian literary heritage is one of the oldest in the world. It encompasses a large body of poetry, drama are treatise on various arts and sciences found in manuscripts. The manuscripts are important to the study of human society because they provide a concrete basis for ideas and can validate them. Objective of the study To know the importance of preservation of manuscripts To provide a view on the International Dunhuang Project (IDP), London To point out the challenges IDP are facing at the time of digitization To provide a view on digital preservation method from LIFE project Importance of the study Information Historical Importance Significance in Human Progress Artistic Value Psychological Aspect Social Aspect International Dunhuang Project (IDP) International Dunhuang Project (IDP) is the largest and most successful project of its kind. (paintings, artifacts, manuscripts, historical photographs & maps) All the data and images are freely accessible to all. IDP was awarded the 2010 Casa Asia prize ‘for its enormous task in the recovery, preservation and exhibition of information and images of the manuscripts, paintings and textiles found in the Chinese city of Dunhuang and of the Silk Route’ All Collaborating Members of IDP The British Library, London State Library, Berlin The British Museum, London Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Berlin The Victoria and Albert Museum, London Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris The Chester Beatty Library, Dublin Musée Guimet, Paris The National Library of China, Beijing The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm The Dunhuang Academy, Dunhuang The Sven Hedin Foundation, Stockholm Academia Sinica, Taipei The Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC The Institute of Oriental Studies, St. Petersburg University of California at Los Angeles The National Museum of India, New Delhi Princeton University, (Gest Library and Art Museum), Princeton Ryukoku University, Kyoto The Morgan Library, New York Research Institute of Korean Studies, Seoul Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO), Japan Procedure IDP:The British Library, London Formed in 1994 at the British Library with external funds from Dunhuang and archaeological sites of the Eastern Silk Road. Over 100,000 images representing over 20,000 items from the British Library were available online. It is planned that 80% of the material will be available by 2013 subject to funding. Collection of Indian Manuscripts Language(s) / Script(s) No. of manuscripts / blockprints Number Digitized Brahmi 7,575 7,280 Gandhari 351 351 Gupta 9 5 Kharosthi 370 370 Sanskrit 6,040 5,924 Digitization Projects of IDP IDP UK opened a dedicated digitisation studio at the British Library in 2000 with a grant from the Mellon Foundation. - More than 120,000 images of British Library Central Asian collection items being freely accessible to all online. A substantial proportion of the 6000 manuscript fragments, although stable and requiring only minor conservation for preservation purposes needed specialist work before they could be digitised. Challenges Ever rising costs Funding Physical condition of objects Difficult accessibility Digital obsolescence Legal and regulatory legitimacy LIFE Project LIFE (Lifecycle Information For E-Literature) - to calculate the long-term costs & future requirements of the preservations of digital assets Generic LIFE Preservation Model: (provides a solid foundation for the costing of preservation activity) Preservation = t * TEW + (t / ULE + PON) * (CRS + UME + PPA + QAA) where: TEW - Technology Watch = 1 metadata officer week @ £30k annual salary = £625 ULE – Unaided Life Expectancy of a Format PON – Proportion of normalization CRS – Cost of new rendering solution UME – Update Metadata = 2 metadata officer weeks @ £30k annual salary = £1250 PPA – Performing preservation action QAA – Quality Assurance Conclusion Collection of manuscripts are spread all over the country - in different libraries, academic institutions, museums, etc. and in public collections. Sufficient information on manuscripts is not available. Today most of them face survival threats. We strongly advocates for the national and international cooperation – ◦ to save those manuscripts from deteriorations ◦ to run projects for digitization of those manuscripts ◦ to raise funds for digitization projects ◦ to set quality and technical standards ◦ to make all content information available on the Internet ◦ to encourage the use for educational and research purpose THANK YOU ALL