Preservation of Doceumentary Heritage Colections: A study of Selected Cultural Institutions in Kerala.

Abstract

Documentary heritage collection denotes all kinds of documentary archival materials related to the cultural, historical, and scientific traditions of various civilizations around the world. Libraries and cultural institutions are the centres responsible for the collection, organisation, conservation, preservation, and dissemination of this documentary heritage collection. A significant proportion of the documentary heritage collection housed in libraries and other cultural institutions is in deteriorated condition due to different physical, chemical, and biological factors. Adoption of an effective traditional or digital preservation method is the most important component in ensuring the long-term existence and accessibility of documentary heritage collections. The libraries and cultural institutions in Kerala possess a wide variety of documentary heritage collections in different forms. Here, documentary heritage collection means old and rare books, bound volumes of old periodicals and magazines, manuscripts on paper, palm leaves, bound volumes of newspapers, government orders and reports, maps and historical records. The review of literature revealed that there was a lack of study on the preservation methods employed by the cultural institutions in Kerala for safeguarding their documentary heritage collections. So there was a need to study the role, efforts, initiatives, and perceptions of cultural institutions in Kerala towards the preservation of documentary heritage collections. Previous studies have identified a lack of expertise among staff as one of the major challenges to proper preservation activities. This study was conducted in an attempt to understand the knowledge and expertise among staff in the cultural institutions of Kerala on preservation practices. The major objectives of this study were to identify the preservation practices followed by the cultural institutions in Kerala for protecting their documentary heritage collections and to assess the opinion and perception of staff working in these cultural institutions on their knowledge and practical abilities in traditional and digital preservation methods.