digitization of gurumukhi manuscripts: panjab digital library

Digitization of Gurumukhi Manuscripts: Initiatives of Panjab Digital Library

Pardeep Rattan

Govt. College, Phase VI, Ajitgarh (Mohali)[email protected]

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1. Manuscript. . .

The word manuscript was originated in 16th century from Medieval Latin word “Manuscriptus” from Manu by ‘hand’ + Scriptus ‘written’

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Manuscript. . .National Mission for Manuscripts (www.namami.org)

“A handwritten composition on paper, bark, cloth, metal, palm leaves or any other material dating back at least seventy-five years that has significant scientific, historical or aesthetic value.”

http://www.namami.org/

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Manuscript. . .

Online Free Dictionary

“a book, document or other composition written by hand, a typewritten or handwritten version of book , an article, a document or other, especially author’s own copy, prepared and submitted for publication; and handwriting.”

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Manuscript. . .common elements A manuscript is basically a hand-written or inscribed

piece of information on bark, leaf, cloth, metal, paper or any other material in any composition. This may be a combination of letters, pictures, symbols, maps, figures etc. with knowledge content about the art, culture, history and science of a civilization.

a hand written document which has scientific, historical, literary or

aesthetic value and which is at least seventy-five year old.

The Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972

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Manuscript…

The study of writing of manuscripts is paleography

The study of manuscripts is manuscriptology

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The Gurumukhi Script was designed by theSecond Sikh Guru Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji in 16th century for writing Punjabi Language.

GURAMUKHI= “From the Mouth of the Guru”

35 distinct letters popularly called ‘ ’ ਪੈਂ�ਤੀ� andOwn set of numerals

www.indianetzone.com

2. GURUMUKHI SCRIPT

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Barbara W Tuchman (1912-1989) American Historian and teacher

“ Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature is dumb, science crippled, thoughts and speculation on a standstill.

Without books, the development of a civilization would have been impossible. They are the engines of change, windows on the world and lighthouse erected in the sea of time. They are the companions, magicians, bankers of treasures of the mind.

Books are humanity in print.”

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The creation of a computerized representation of original documents.

The precious items like manuscripts and the items with a limited permission of access needs to be digitized for their free and global access and to save them from potential damage and also for the use of posterity.

3. DIGITIZATION

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4. WHY DIGITIZE ?

NEED DESCRIPTION

To preserve documents To allow user / reader to have access to older or unique documents without damaging the original one

Originals to make document more accessible

Better service to the users by allowing full text searching

To serve more users- at remote locations and more than one user at a particular time

Accumulation of scattered materials , topic specific or otherwise

Reusing the documents Conversion of documents in different formats- slideshow or training materials

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IS DIGITIZATION EASY ?EASY CONVERSION DIFFICULT CONVERSION

White, clean opaque paper Coloured, damaged or thin surfaces/paper

Simple layout, single columns Complex layout, multiple columns

Single sheets Fragile, heavy bindings

Straight text, few pictures Many pictures, tables, shades, equations

Computer typefaces Poor quality printing, unusual typefaces, handwriting

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF DOCUMENT NEEDS TO BE CHECKED

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REQUIREMENTS Human Resources : Personnel and skills Equipment : scanners, computers, storage

devices Software : Content Management System, OCR,

Image processing, spellcheck Financial Resources

PROCESSObtaining permissions, Scanning, Checking, OCR, Proofreading, Metadata, Backup

REQUIREMENTS…and THE PROCESS

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Started operations as a Stepping Stone in the year 2003, housed at plot no.1, Sector 28, Chandigarh, PDL has achieved many Milestones while remaining true to its motto and mission

Motto

“Revealing the Invisible Heritage of Punjab”

www.panjabdigilib.org

PANJAB DIGITAL LIBRARY (PDL) : Stepping Stone to a Milestone

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Mission :Digitization of documents of ‘Punjab region without distinction as to script, language, region, nationality or other physical conditions’.

Mandate:Free access for all to support life long learning.

PANJAB DIGITAL LIBRARY…

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Introduction :PDL, a non-profit NGO is established with a mission to find, locate, preserve and digitize the lost or disappearing heritage of Punjab region due to environment, ignorance or destruction.

Over 4500 Manuscripts digitized so far, includes 1000 “Paawan Saroops of Sri GURU GRANTH SAHIB” and the oldest Saroop is of 1653.


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Introduction :

Started operations in 2003-04 with a meager budget of Rs. 10,000, 2 staffer, digitized 5000 pages/month.

Budget raised to Rs. 25,000 in 2005-06.

From the year 2007, PDL started accepting donations, product capacity raised to 5000 pages/day.


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MILESTONES…The digitized collection of manuscripts at PDL dates back to 15th century on a variety subjects which includes theology, history, philosophy, medicine etc. in different scripts and languages with a thrust on Gurumukhi.

A complete metadata is available with PDL for each of the digitized manuscript including title, year, description, keywords, script, language, author, custodian, completion status, condition, orientation and pages. Many works however needs attention for description and year owing to PDL’ s time being attention on DIGITIZE FIRST.


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MILESTONES…

Till date (11-01-2013) PDL has digitized 7 Million pages without charging a single penny from the custodians of precious treasures of knowledge. About 2 million are available at www.PanjabDigiLib.org for free access to all.

PENDENCY :100 Million pages with permission from custodians ( Does not include Panjab, Punjabi and Guru Nanak Dev University).TARGET :TO DIGITIZE 50,000 PAGES/DAY SO AS TO DIGITIZE THE ENTIRE STOCK OF DOCUMENTS ON PUNJAB IN NEXT 15-20 YEARS –SAVE THE DOCUMENTS FROM FURTHER DAMAGE AND MAKE ALL AVAILABLE ONLINE AT NO COST.

PANJAB DIGITAL LIBRARY (PDL)…

http://www.panjabdigilib.org/

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Govt. Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh Kurukshetra UniversityNirmal Sanskrit Vidyala, VaranasiShiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC)Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management CommitteePunjab Languages DepartmentAnandpur Sahib FoundationSt. Stephen’s College New DelhiChief Khalsa DiwanPunjabi Sahitya Academy, LudhianaPunjab Virasat Charitable TrustThe Sikh ReviewAnd over 100 personal libraries

Panjab Digital Library: Projects accomplished

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Punjab Archives DepartmentInstitute of Sikh StudiesThe TribuneAjit, JalandharPhulwariKirtiChandigarh Architecture MuseumBeant Singh MemorialPanjab Digital Library (its own ever growing

collection)And 14 personal libraries

Panjab Digital Library: Projects under scanner

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KURUKSHETRA UNIVERSITY, Kurukshetra430 manuscripts digitized.

PUNJAB LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT, Patiala604 manuscripts and created a data collection of 1,70,000 folios (2006-2008).

CHIEF KHALSA DIWAN, Amritsar29 manuscripts digitized with a folio record of 37,000 and establishment of manuscripts’ digital library.

Panjab Digital Library : Projects completed

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PUNJAB VIRASAT CHARITABLE TRUST, AjitgarhCompleted digitization of 650 manuscripts out of a collection of 800 manuscripts

GOVT. MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY, ChandigarhAbout 50 manuscripts and over 100,000 pages on the making of Chandigarh, which includes letters of Partap Singh Kairon, Le Corbuiser, Dr. MS Randhawa and Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru


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DELHI SIKH GURUDWARA MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE, Delhi (DSGMC)

The year 2008 saw digitization of 36 manuscripts available with Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee culminating into 23000 folios.


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SHRIMONI GURUDWARA PRABHANDAKCOMMITTEE, Amritsar (SGPC)

SGPC offered PDL in 2008 a massive project of digitizing complete treasure of manuscripts and other literature and the digitization was done in the Parikarma of Golden Temple at Amritsar. A total of about 1000 manuscripts have been digitized.


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Go Public : Self declaration and Advocacy by individuals, libraries, institutions to National Initiatives like NMM/ National Digital Library at IGNCA

Conservation : Treatment with natural/ indigenous/ modern techniques of prime importance

Digitization : With complete metadata details at war footing

Knowledge domain : Exploration and Interpretation of knowledge content with the help of subject experts and specialists

Central Database : Networking at national and Global level for furtherance of research in unexplored and explored areas

8. Roadmap for Preservation and Access…

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Thomas Jefferson, 17913rd President of USA (1801-1809) and Political Philosopher

“ Let us save what remains….Not by vaults and locks which fence them from the public eye and use in consigning them to waste of time, but by such multiplication of copies as shall place them beyond the reach of accident.”

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Thanks for a patient hearing……

digitization of gurumukhi manuscripts: panjab digital library

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