Transcript MEDIA ARCHIVES-CUMNATIONAL REFERENCE LIBRARY ON THE NORTHEAST(India):PROMOTION AND MARKETTING Prof Alaka Buragohain M A, M L I Sc, Ph D Honorary Director, Media Archives … E-mail:[email protected].

MEDIA ARCHIVES-CUMNATIONAL REFERENCE
LIBRARY ON THE NORTHEAST(India):PROMOTION
AND MARKETTING
Prof Alaka Buragohain
M A, M L I Sc, Ph D
Honorary Director, Media Archives …
E-mail:[email protected]
NEWSPAPERS:
• Indispensable Companion, part and parcel of
one’s daily life. Communicating day-to-day
events to the Public.
• First Draft of history, Chronicles of social,
cultural and political past. Testimony of
Cultural Heritages
• Primary sources of Historical Information.
• Serving the Public as Watchdog, investigating
the public affairs.
• Great Mediator between the Public and the
Govt. Addressing always to large audience
• Fourth Estate of Democracy.
• Most Powerful Instrument, so to be most
Responsible for Shaping Public Opinion.
• No Substitute for Newspapers primarily for
Local Media Materials, to be Preserved and
Conserved Permanently in the Archives.
A NATIONAL SEMINAR on ‘Social role of media
and Building a National Information Resource
Centre-cum-Archives for the North-East’ was
held during 21-22 September 2004 at
Guwahati, Sponsored by RRRLF, Kolkata.
• Recommends strongly:
• The Establishment of a ‘Media Archivescum-National Reference Library on the
North-East’ as an autonomous public
institution for scientific preservation and
servicing of the sources.
• Media Trust, Assam was entrusted to submit a
comprehensive project proposal.
• Media Trust, the Successor of the ‘150 Years of
Newspapers in Assam, Celebration Committee,
• To Commemorate 150 Years of Newspapers in
Assam since Arunodoi, Assamese Daily,
published in 1848 from Sibsagar (Assam). ’
OBJECTIVES OF MEDIA ARCHIVES:
The Trust submitted in 2006 the Project Proposal
to the Govt of India through AASU (All Assam
Students’ Union).
• Under the 6th clause of the Assam Accord
signed in 1985 between the Govt of India and
the AASU.
Clause No. 6 states: ‘Constitutional, Legislative
and Administrative Safeguard as may be
appropriate, shall be provided to Protect,
Preserve and Promote the Cultural, Social,
Linguistic Identity and Heritage of the
Assamese people’. Local Newspapers and
Magazines carry the Social and Cultural life,
Linguistic Identity of People and the State.
Assamese people imply: The culture, the
societies, languages and heritage of the
indigenous local people of Assam including all
the indigenous ethnic groups.
The domicile groups also are included who
have accepted and developed the culture and
languages of the indigenous people in lieu of
their own, may be in a modified way.
• To support Healthy Growth of Mass
Communication and Media in Assam and
facilitate its Study and Research.
• To Create a Database on the North-East
with Accurate, Relevant and Exhaustive
Information.
COVERAGE: MEDIA ARCHIVES:
• To restore, preserve and conserve all the
local newspapers and selected magazines in
all languages of the State.
• Rare and important documents and
manuscripts related to journalism, Media
persons of Assam in particular
• Retrospective issues will be in original
physical documentary form as far as
possible.
• Motion pictures, T V and Radio serials are to
be preserved under air-conditioned
environment.
• Eminent Assamese writers’ (both media
people and other writers) original
manuscripts and handwritings deserve to be
preserved.
• One of the original manuscripts of Srimanta
Sankardeva (1449-1568) in his own
handwriting is in the way of destruction in
Madhupur Satra in Koch Vehar (now in West
Bengal, India).
• Current Newspapers, News magazines and
Selected Journals kept displayed for use.
• Oral Collection and Record: Audio-visual and
multi-media cassettes and CDs recording
traditional knowledge of illiterate and semiliterate old persons along with their transcripts.
• Publications on different aspects of the NorthEastern Region.
INFRASTRUCTURAL PROMOTION:
• Administrative Block.
• Exhibition Room, Reading Room, Stack, etc.
•
Conservation Laboratory: Newsprints are very
fragile, and destroyed very soon. Assam’s
climate is humid damaging newsprints.
•
Digital and Microfilming Unit
-Reproductive conservation is a must
-Newspapers become very bulky and unwieldy
with daily additions; to be converted into micro
form; made globally accessible and searchable
-Selected ones may be micro-filmed for
permanent preservation.
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Documentation-cum-Computer Section.
Auditorium, Seminar Halls.
Research cubicles.
Institute of Mass Communication and Media.
MARKETING MEANS:
Collection:
-Several individuals and families have donated
their Preserved retrospective volumes of several
local newspapers and magazines
-The only available copy of The Times of
Assam, dated June 15, 1929 (the first English
news magazine published weekly since 1888,
one more wretched copy is found available),
Processing:
• Two bibliographical databases have been
initiated one for periodicals, the other for books
• Unesco’s WINISIS software is used, very
powerful for information retrieval.
Preservation:
• Rare and specimen printed copies are to be
preserved and conserved as long as possible
• The media materials to be converted into micro
form for permanent preservation for the
posterity.
Digitization:
Bookeye 3 A2 Colour and portable one
(German), overhead scanner seems to be
the one which may be purchased from a
dealer based in New Delhi.
– Not be much problem for the English
prints as OCR (Optical Character
Recognition Software) is applicable to the
English word images.
– OCR not applicable to the local languages.
– Creation of Metadata manually with
creation of record for every news-item in
respective pages of respective dates of
newspapers would be much timeconsuming.
CONCLUSION;
• Different from simply newspaper libraries.
• Developing on various sponsorships, Central
Govt approval is awaiting.
• The infrastructure for on-line networking is
yet to be completed. Digital Surrogates for the
Printed Materials yet to be created.
• First step is taken for joining a Consortium in
Social Science and Humanities in India.
• Experiences obtained by others in various
fields would help in developing this new
venture.