National Archives and Library

Amid coconut trees and vegetable patches that give the place a rustic look, two concrete and glass buildings stand out in the capital’s Agargaon area.

They are the National Archives and National Library buildings under the Directorate of Archives and Libraries. There are some differences between their basic activities and services. 
The National Archives of Bangladesh (NAB) is a state-owned institution for collecting and preserving archival documents and photos of national importance. With prior permission, one can visit NAB and get the required information for research. To keep pace with the digital age, NAB is trying to provide better service to researchers by installing modern IT equipment. 
On the other hand, the National Library of Bangladesh (NLB) collects all published materials in the country, according to the law of the land. It has a good collection of books that readers and researchers can browse through. The library’s collection is the nation’s asset; it covers all major disciplines and branches of human knowledge. In addition to all new local publications every year, the library also acquires foreign books, particularly those on South Asian issues.  
These two institutions are jointly known as National Archives and National Library (NANL).  This week, The Weekend Independent talks to some officials and researchers regarding the services and activities of NANL.
“Two institutions are here. One is the National Library and the other is the National Archives of Bangladesh. The role of NAB is to collect archival documents from district offices and other public and private collections. Documents that have political, social and historical values are marked as archival documents. At first, we collect the records and sort them. Then we scan them. After scanning, we make PDF (portable document format) files for digitalisation and print them for manual use. Then visitors and researchers can use them as per demand,” said Mohammad Mozibor Rahman Al-Mamun, director of NANL.
“We have already completed manual inventory of all our collected documents. But we have not digitalised all yet. For this, we have submitted a project to the planning ministry. We hope to make a digital catalogue and provide digital services, after getting approval from the ministry. 
We have research, photocopy, reference, advisory, microfilming, digital, membership and auditorium services. We have already completed a women and children’s corner and we have a plan to start a corner for visually-impaired people. We have also established a Bangabandhu corner, where photos and news about him from 1966 to 1975 are kept. We also arrange cultural programmes on our national days at our auditorium,” said the director.
“The main objective of NANL is to enrich the new generation with information. The Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman established this institution in November 1972. Of course, we have some barriers to providing good service, but we are trying to overcome those. We are digitalising the collected newspapers on a regular basis. Nowadays, many newspapers are being published online. So we are trying to collect their soft copy for preservation,” Al-Mamun added.
The rare collections of NAB include old maps from 1780 to 1967, government publications from 1800 to 1972, copy of the death penalty verdict of Master Da Surya Sen from 1933, administrative records from erstwhile East Pakistan, district records from 1972 to 1980, various documents of local administrators and copies of cabinet resolutions from 1972 to 1980. There are separate rooms for displaying manuscripts and rare old records for visitors and researchers. 
Talking about the digital activities of the national archives, Mohammad Haris Sarker, programmer at the Directorate of Archives and Libraries (DAL), said: “I found two HP servers with the capacity of 6 TB (terabyte) when I joined here. Now we have a new EMC storage system that has the capacity of 7 TB. So our total storage capacity at present is 13 TB. Our database system is Oracle. We have a desktop application and we do the digitisation through that. We ask for documents from our regional office. After cleaning the papers, we scan them with our scanner, which is situated in our computer lab on the 5th floor. We have two scanners, one Zeutchel from Germany, and a Rex-Rotary by which we can scan old newspapers easily. If it is a 10-page newspaper like Daily Azad from 1947, we make it a 10-page document with our desktop application. Then we submit the digital copies, and they go to the EMC store. Finally, we store the database on the HP server. To make the data safe from any untoward incidents, we keep backup DVDs. We have also developed DC (data centre) and DR (disaster recovery) backups.”
“Most of the documents in the national archives are hand-written and they are very old. For those we need to use Bangla OCR (optical character reader). But it has not been successfully developed yet for Bangla fonts. Our ICT ministry is trying its best to make Bangla OCR possible. We have a project to make our catalogue digital, where one can search data instantly by using some keywords. We have not launched it publicly. That depends on the total number of volume or quantity of collected records. And we are trying for that with our present manpower. If the regional offices become better trained, they can send the data via email after scanning the documents. It is very difficult to collect large number of documents from so many places,” Sarker said. “Our official website www.nanl.gov.bd is very resourceful. One can get more information about our activities from there,” he added.
M Ayman Hasan Rahat, an MSS student of Economics from Jagannath University who is doing some private research at the national archives, told this correspondent: “We are working on the recent debate on spelling and printing mistakes in school textbooks published by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board, the omission of certain prose and poems and the addition of some others. We have noticed that the origin of the debate lies in the very deep of our education policy. To develop and modernise our country, this trend in education must be solved first. That is why we are looking into our education policies,  from the Qudrat-e-Khuda Education Commission of 1972 to the Kabir Chowdhury Education Commission of 2009, and their recommendations regarding primary, secondary and higher secondary education in the country. We are also trying to find out their thoughts and suggestions on education. We have come here to research the facts focussing on that side of education. This is our private initiative. There is no academic or institutional purpose. I, along with some other friends, have taken this step to discover the hidden reasons behind the current debate.”
“We have got many documents on education policy from the NANL. Some documents are really fragile and we cannot turn over the pages. Those papers should be digitalised and turned into PDF files so that researchers can access them easily. Besides, a project to copy old documents should be taken up immediately, so that the originals are not damaged through use. Also, most of the researchers here are students or job-holders. So it is difficult for them to work at the NANL as it closes at 4.30pm. If the opening time could be extended till 8pm, that would be helpful,” Rahat added.                                   
Mohammad Elias Miah, a research officer at NAB, said: “The research facility is open for all. But members can get some extra facilities. Bangladeshi nationals have to pay Tk 100 to get membership for a year. It’s Tk 200 for foreigners. They all have to submit relevant documents, like identity cards and a letter describing purpose of research. One can get photocopy or take photos with their camera of the desired documents for a small charge. By using our catalogues, we can provide any information asked by the researcher within 10 minutes.” 
NANL is working for preserving our history, heritage, literature and political documents for the present and future generations. The vision of the institution is to be ‘the heart of learning excellence and development for the archival services of Bangladesh’. If one has the passion for archival documents of the country, he or she can pay a visit there during office hours. It is a nice place for roaming around amid green nature, too. 

Photos: Courtesy

National Archives and Library

Amid coconut trees and vegetable patches that give the place a rustic look, two concrete and glass buildings stand out in the capitals Agargaon area. They are the National Archives and National Library buildings under the Directorate of Archives and Libraries. There are some differences between their basic activities and services. The National Archives of Bangladesh (NAB) is a state-owned institution for collecting and preserving archival documents and photos of national importance. With prior permission, one can visit NAB and get the required information for research. To keep pace with the digital age, NAB is trying to provide better service to researchers by installing modern IT equipment. On the other hand, the National Library of Bangladesh (NLB) collects all published materials in the country, according to the law of the land. It has a good collection of books that readers and researchers can browse through. The librarys collection is the nations asset; it covers all major disciplines and branches of human knowledge. In addition to all new local publications every year, the library also acquires foreign books, particularly those on South Asian issues. These two institutions are jointly known as National Archives and National Library (NANL). This week, The Weekend Independent talks to some officials and researchers regarding the services and activities of NANL. Two institutions are here. One is the National Library and the other is the National Archives of Bangladesh. The role of NAB is to collect archival documents from district offices and other public and private collections. Documents that have political, social and historical values are marked as archival documents. At first, we collect the records and sort them. Then we scan them. After scanning, we make PDF (portable document format) files for digitalisation and print them for manual use. Then visitors and researchers can use them as per demand, said Mohammad Mozibor Rahman Al-Mamun, director of NANL. We have already completed manual inventory of all our collected documents. But we have not digitalised all yet. For this, we have submitted a project to the planning ministry. We hope to make a digital catalogue and provide digital services, after getting approval from the ministry. We have research, photocopy, reference, advisory, microfilming, digital, membership and auditorium services. We have already completed a women and childrens corner and we have a plan to start a corner for visually-impaired people. We have also established a Bangabandhu corner, where photos and news about him from 1966 to 1975 are kept. We also arrange cultural programmes on our national days at our auditorium, said the director. The main objective of NANL is to enrich the new generation with information. The Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman established this institution in November 1972. Of course, we have some barriers to providing good service, but we are trying to overcome those. We are digitalising the collected newspapers on a regular basis. Nowadays, many newspapers are being published online. So we are trying to collect their soft copy for preservation, Al-Mamun added. The rare collections of NAB include old maps from 1780 to 1967, government publications from 1800 to 1972, copy of the death penalty verdict of Master Da Surya Sen from 1933, administrative records from erstwhile East Pakistan, district records from 1972 to 1980, various documents of local administrators and copies of cabinet resolutions from 1972 to 1980. There are separate rooms for displaying manuscripts and rare old records for visitors and researchers. Talking about the digital activities of the national archives, Mohammad Haris Sarker, programmer at the Directorate of Archives and Libraries (DAL), said: I found two HP servers with the capacity of 6 TB (terabyte) when I joined here. Now we have a new EMC storage system that has the capacity of 7 TB. So our total storage capacity at present is 13 TB. Our database system is Oracle. We have a desktop application and we do the digitisation through that. We ask for documents from our regional office. After cleaning the papers, we scan them with our scanner, which is situated in our computer lab on the 5th floor. We have two scanners, one Zeutchel from Germany, and a Rex-Rotary by which we can scan old newspapers easily. If it is a 10-page newspaper like Daily Azad from 1947, we make it a 10-page document with our desktop application. Then we submit the digital copies, and they go to the EMC store. Finally, we store the database on the HP server. To make the data safe from any untoward incidents, we keep backup DVDs. We have also developed DC (data centre) and DR (disaster recovery) backups. Most of the documents in the national archives are hand-written and they are very old. For those we need to use Bangla OCR (optical character reader). But it has not been successfully developed yet for Bangla fonts. Our ICT ministry is trying its best to make Bangla OCR possible. We have a project to make our catalogue digital, where one can search data instantly by using some keywords. We have not launched it publicly. That depends on the total number of volume or quantity of collected records. And we are trying for that with our present manpower. If the regional offices become better trained, they can send the data via email after scanning the documents. It is very difficult to collect large number of documents from so many places, Sarker said. Our official website www.nanl.gov.bd is very resourceful. One can get more information about our activities from there, he added. M Ayman Hasan Rahat, an MSS student of Economics from Jagannath University who is doing some private research at the national archives, told this correspondent: We are working on the recent debate on spelling and printing mistakes in school textbooks published by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board, the omission of certain prose and poems and the addition of some others. We have noticed that the origin of the debate lies in the very deep of our education policy. To develop and modernise our country, this trend in education must be solved first. That is why we are looking into our education policies, from the Qudrat-e-Khuda Education Commission of 1972 to the Kabir Chowdhury Education Commission of 2009, and their recommendations regarding primary, secondary and higher secondary education in the country. We are also trying to find out their thoughts and suggestions on education. We have come here to research the facts focussing on that side of education. This is our private initiative. There is no academic or institutional purpose. I, along with some other friends, have taken this step to discover the hidden reasons behind the current debate. We have got many documents on education policy from the NANL. Some documents are really fragile and we cannot turn over the pages. Those papers should be digitalised and turned into PDF files so that researchers can access them easily. Besides, a project to copy old documents should be taken up immediately, so that the originals are not damaged through use. Also, most of the researchers here are students or job-holders. So it is difficult for them to work at the NANL as it closes at 4.30pm. If the opening time could be extended till 8pm, that would be helpful, Rahat added. Mohammad Elias Miah, a research officer at NAB, said: The research facility is open for all. But members can get some extra facilities. Bangladeshi nationals have to pay Tk 100 to get membership for a year. Its Tk 200 for foreigners. They all have to submit relevant documents, like identity cards and a letter describing purpose of research. One can get photocopy or take photos with their camera of the desired documents for a small charge. By using our catalogues, we can provide any information asked by the researcher within 10 minutes. NANL is working for preserving our history, heritage, literature and political documents for the present and future generations. The vision of the institution is to be the heart of learning excellence and development for the archival services of Bangladesh. If one has the passion for archival documents of the country, he or she can pay a visit there during office hours. It is a nice place for roaming around amid green nature, too. Photos: Courtesy