Thursday, March 4, 2010

World library body calls for digital preservation of newspapers

Faced with the challenge of preservation of traditional and digital newspapers in the wake of rapid technological advancement and the need for universal access, stakeholders felt that libraries, IT companies and governments must collaborate to ensure that content is not lost.

This was part of the recommendations of International Federation of Library Association's (IFLA) three-day newspaper conference here in Delhi. The conference on `digital preservation and access to news and views,' hosted by Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, was attended by over 220 delegates and speakers from about 10 countries including participation from leading national libraries and newspaper libraries and archives from US, UK, France, Germany, Finland, Australia, South Africa and Singapore.

Conference director and IGNCA's Kala Nidhi division head Ramesh Gaur said it was very important that digital content should be preserved as a priority. Noting that digital preservation was a cost-intensive process that required constant upgradation due to technological changes, Gaur said the model that had been successful internationally was one of a collaborative effort between libraries, newspapers, IT companies and governments. "Such efforts in Germany, Australia, United States have been successful and allow for universal access to information. In India, we are still in the process of formulating a policy on preserving our archives," he said.

Full report here Times of India

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