One Nation One Subscription is great — but so are libraries and archives

ONOS indispensable beryllium seen successful airy of 2 crushed realities astir probe successful India.

The archetypal is the debased prime of existing Indian databases. Digitisation should beforehand the democratisation of knowledge, but that volition hap erstwhile databases are professionally managed, perpetually maintained, and vigorously expanded. Indian digitisation efforts person foundered owed to a deficiency of resources, competing initiatives, and declining interest. The Digital Library of India — begun successful the aboriginal 2000s and defunct by 2017— is simply a bully illustration (the American website archive.org, thankfully, has mirrored its content).

Many Indian libraries and archives person in-house digitisation projects, but these person not ever been good managed. The National Archives of India has done commendable enactment successful digitising parts of its postulation done Abhilekh Patal. This database, however, is riddled with problems. The website is often inaccessible, its hunt relation is not optimal, and its “digitise connected demand” relation does not ever work. I, similar galore different scholars, person paid for digitised items which I person ne'er received. At different facilities, digitisation projects proceed to trust connected untrained unit and obsolete technology, specified arsenic CDs.

Other countries tin supply India with models of professionally managed, state-of-the-art digitisation efforts that person genuinely democratised knowledge. The Qatar Digital Library has made immense tracts of the British Library’s collections publically accessible. Brazil’s Projeto Resgate Barão bash Rio Branco has accomplished the aforesaid extremity for Brazilian worldly successful overseas repositories. India should survey specified models, integrating ONOS wrong a overmuch much robust home integer infrastructure.

However, digitisation has its limits. The United States, Britain, France, Germany, and Japan became probe powerhouses successful the 19th and 20th centuries by gathering large probe libraries. These libraries stay captious hubs of cognition accumulation successful the 21st century. India, successful contrast, has mostly fto its probe libraries rot away.

Digital resources tin ne'er represent a afloat substitute for carnal resources. To beryllium genuinely productive, Indian researchers volition request resources similar ONOS alongside much “old fashioned” things: Well-stocked libraries, decently maintained archival collections, and professionally trained librarians and archivists. Recent cyberattacks against the British Library and Cambridge University Press lone further item this reality: Digital resources tin vanish successful the blink of an eye.

For implicit the past decade, I person intimately monitored the authorities of Indian archives and libraries. Institutions specified arsenic Ashoka University and the National Centre for Biological Sciences beryllium that India tin physique world-class probe facilities. However, conditions successful astir nationalist institutions stay grim. Collections are being destroyed owed to inadequate preservation and incompetent management. A librarian astatine a large authorities authorities probe room successful Mumbai told maine that they bash not person funds to acquisition acid-free boxes, without which priceless collections volition simply crumble into oblivion. At galore authorities archives, determination is nary somesthesia control. Rain, rats, fungus, and insects further destruct records and books. Disintegrating volumes are held unneurotic with coarse jute twine.

Indian libraries and archives are obsessed with 1 glaringly out-of-date preservation technology: Lamination. By indiscriminately sticking bladed sheets of insubstantial insubstantial connected fragile documents, preservationists tin inflict semipermanent damage. Lamination is simply a exertion that, starting successful the 1980s, was phased retired successful the remainder of the satellite (it remains utile erstwhile applied with implicit discrimination, utilizing lone high-quality insubstantial paper).

Organisations similar INTACH, which should cognize better, person continued to beforehand it connected a wide scale. I person witnessed the consequences. Letters by Mahatma Gandhi are present unreadable, priceless nineteenth-century newspapers are cracked and warped, and blurred ink connected centuries-old spiritual manuscripts effect from sloppy exertion of insubstantial paper.

At immoderate facilities, digitisation has besides meant destruction. Digitisation is done by low-cost, badly-trained contractors who inflict irreversible harm connected collections. After digitisation, archetypal documents are mislaid oregon misplaced. Many years ago, a digitisation task astatine the National Library of India destroyed collections of 18th-century books. Low-cost contractors carelessly ripped pages retired of books to marque them easier to scan connected inexpensive flatbed scanners. Needless to say, each of this makes the Indian probe situation an adjacent much hard terrain to navigate.

One whitethorn rightly ask: What does this person to bash with ONOS?

When reasoning astir digitisation and integer resources, India needs to debar creating its ain asymmetries of information. ONOS and akin efforts are commendable, but they request to beryllium coupled with meaningful investments — of some monetary and quality superior — successful existing carnal repositories. I interest that integer projects similar ONOS volition distract from the urgent task of rescuing room and archival collections from oblivion. While we summation entree to overseas journals, we proceed subjecting irreplaceable Indian collections to out-of-date preservation methods, shoddy facilities, and poorly-trained unit and management.

Across the world, governments person continued to meaningfully put successful probe libraries and archives portion gathering integer infrastructure. To amended probe productivity, India indispensable bash the same. Poor stewards of extant cognition volition beryllium mediocre producers of caller knowledge.

The writer is subordinate prof of past astatine the S P Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR) successful Mumbai.