Preserve manuscripts scientifically: Expert
Include conservation in library science, says Mallika Mitra
Dr. V.S. Krishna Library in Andhra University
possesses over 6,000 manuscripts in paper and ‘Tala patra’ (palm leaves). A few
of them are centuries old and they contain matter related to religion,
medicine, astronomy, agriculture and defence strategy. And now the challenge is
to preserve and restore the treasure trove.
“This is not the challenge for AU alone; it
is the challenge for the entire country. There are thousands of such
manuscripts and they need to be preserved and conserved using scientific
techniques,” said Mallika Mitra, Director of Conservation Institute, Indian
National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach), Bhubaneswar.
According to her, the entire process can be
broadly classified into two parts: preservation and conservation, and both
processes are scientific art.
While preservation deals with management of
the entire environment, which includes managing the micro and macro climate,
conservation is more about treating the materials with chemical solvents,
polymers and natural colours.
“Both the processes involve scientific
process and should be done without tampering the originality of the material,”
Ms Mallika told The Hindu .
According to Ms. Mallika, the micro and
macros climate plays an important role in preservation.
“The ideal lighting or luminance in the
library, where such books or manuscripts are stored, should be around 50 to 55
lux, the humidity should be about 55 per cent and the room temperature should
be about 26 degree Celsius,” she said.
Lack of knowledge
On the conservation part, she said toxicology
and de-acidifying played an important role. “Cellular fibres and polymers are
also used to fill the holes and special natural inks and colours are used to
increase the legibility,” she said.
According to her, conservation should be
included as a full-time subject in library science. “What we have now is just a
passing reference in the course. It should be made a full-time subject. It
should also be included in archaeology along with archaeology conservation. In
the present day, librarians are not trained and equipped to handle the preservation
and conservation of books and manuscripts,” she said.
Home recipe
On preservation of books and manuscripts at
home, Ms. Mallika said that regular dusting, placing home-made pest repellents
such as powdered turmeric or pepper on the shelves and exposing them to
sunlight at least once in a year, could work wonders.
Source | The Hindu | 28 June 2016
Regards
Pralhad
Jadhav
Senior
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Khaitan
& Co
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2016. The title of the paper is “Removing
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