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Digitizing Knowledge: Jose Tahta's Vision and Armenia's National Lib

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  • Digitizing Knowledge: Jose Tahta's Vision and Armenia's National Lib

    Digitizing Knowledge: Jose Tahta's Vision and Armenia's National Library

    By MassisPost
    Updated: April 29, 2014

    YEREVAN ' A building might amaze an observer, but a book can inspire
    the world. When nothing but a column remains from that building, the
    ideas from a book continue to teach and shape the future. If they're
    preserved, that is.

    >From the monasteries of the Mekhitarists to the printers of Calcutta,
    to the writers of Shushi, Constantinople, Tiflis, and Yerevan, the
    corpus of Armenian literature is vast ` and old. Although there are
    libraries in many of these places and beyond, the main repository for
    Armenian texts is in Armenia.

    The National Library of Armenia is a mammoth institution. It contains
    millions of volumes that are a record of every part of Armenian
    history, as well as the history of other peoples.

    Among this collection, there are books dating back over 500 years, to
    1512. The National Library over the years has gone to great lengths to
    preserve the integrity of these books so that future generations may
    enjoy them and learn from them. As time passes, however, allowing
    these books to be exposed to light, air, and people complicates the
    already difficult preservation process.

    Fortunately, with the technology available today, it's possible to
    preserve books digitally so that a wider audience can enjoy them
    without using a physical copy. And because duplicating the digital
    version of a book is much easier, books can be copied and secured for
    preservation and storage in perpetuity, without worry that they might
    be lost.

    Old-fashioned library catalog card system for books published between
    1512-1920 at the National Library of Armenia

    All the National Library of Armenia had to do was digitize the books.
    No big deal, right? Wrong.

    The machine to digitize books, servers to store the information, as
    well as the additional furniture and tools needed to complete the
    project, do not come cheap. In all, about $130,000 would be needed for
    a setup that could do the job, and do it well. That was a sum the
    National Library didn't have so it approached Armenia Fund for ideas.

    Although best known for its infrastructure projects like roads,
    schools, hospitals, and agricultural improvements, Armenia Fund also
    works on other important initiatives of national interest. And knowing
    this was an issue that they could help with, Armenia Fund conveyed the
    idea to Jose Tahta.

    Mr. Tahta, an Armenian from Argentina, was not new to pressing
    undertakings that had a big impact: the humanitarian benefactor whose
    assistance built the first school in Vaghuhas village in Artsakh's
    Martakert region after the old one had been levelled during the
    Artsakh War.

    Having entrusted large sums to Armenia Fund in the past for
    infrastructure projects and having seen them come to fruition, Mr.
    Tahta decided that it would be a good investment and agreed to donate
    the funds necessary to complete the library digitization.

    The process, including a large format book scanner, is able to record
    old and new books, as well as maps and posters. The digitized material
    is then stored on the Library's new, state-of-the-art secure servers
    and the scanned books and other material are stored in their archives.
    Once the process is complete, the digital material is made available
    for use electronically.

    Marrying the will of the National Library of Armenia, the generosity
    of Jose Tahta, and the organization of Armenia Fund, centuries-old
    Armenian literature that was previously only available to researchers
    who could physically be in Armenia is now available to anyone in the
    world with an Internet connection.

    Most of the time, Armenia Fund is bringing the gifts of benevolent
    people from throughout the world to Armenia. With the digitization of
    the National Library of Armenia's book, it's bringing the gift of
    knowledge from Armenia to the world.

    You can enjoy the digitized books online at this address: http://nla.am/eng/

    http://massispost.com/2014/04/digitizing-knowledge-jose-tahtas-vision-and-armenias-national-library/

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