| dc.description.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. | en_US |
