Source: www.thehindu.com
INDIA, September 2010: Centralizing, preserving and improving public access to government orders, historical and cultural documents and manuscripts is often considered the most irrefutable form of preserving heritage. The Tamil Nadu Archives, which is considered one of the largest and accessible repositories of documents in South Asia, however needs better infrastructure, speeding up of digitizing important records and open accessibility to contemporary records, say research scholars.
With records that date back to 1670s, digitization of archives started in 2006, but only the records till the pre-mutiny period have been digitized completely till now. “It takes weeks to procure old records here, it is much faster in other countries,” says a researcher from Europe. Many old records at the institute require better preservation mechanisms, she says, adding that scanning and lamination should have been introduced long time ago to prevent the loss of important archives with time.
Higher Education Secretary K. Ganesan says there has been additional allotment of funds for renovation of the institute and programs are under way to modernize the institute. “The process of digitization will get over in a month,” he says, adding that public grievances are being catered to with utmost urgency.