Abstract
The integration of AI technologies into digital libraries holds significant promise for improving content discovery, accessibility, and usability, of knowledge and information. The goal of this chapter is to present an overview of digitization projects of Arabic, Persian, and Urdu manuscripts in India, with a further exploration of the process and guidelines of digitization and uncovering of best practices for ensuring discovery, accessibility, and long-term digital preservation. Additionally, the study identified the challenges and seeks to provide recommendations for future research in this field. Design/methodology/approach: To investigate diverse objectives, the researchers employed the qualitative case study method. the study employed semi-structured interviews, observation, and content analysis of library records. The findings of the study indicate both the National Mission on Manuscripts and the Punjab Digital Library successfully digitized more than a million pages, encompassing materials from over 100 different institutions across India.
TopIntroduction
The Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being used to transform digital libraries in various ways, enhancing accessibility, efficiency, and the overall user experience.The Cultural heritage represents a valuable inheritance that transcends international boundaries and should be preserved for the benefit of future generations (Singh, 2012). Manuscripts are typically considered tangible cultural heritage according to UNESCO (Munjeri, 2004). Manuscripts constitute valuable components of our cultural legacy and serve as invaluable resources for reconstructing a nation's history and culture. The term “Manuscript” originates from “manuscriptum,” a fusion of two Latin words - “Manus” and “Screbere” or “Screpte,” signifying something that is hand-written (Kanchi, & Kulkarni, 2021). In additional (Kumar & Shah, 2004) Highlight that, India possesses an estimated 5,000,000 manuscripts, of which about 8% are written in Arabic, Persian, or Tibetan languages (Kanchi, & Kulkarni, 2021; Bansode, 2008). In contemporary librarianship preserving manuscripts poses a significant challenge many cultural heritage assets are at risk of being destroyed and lost forever, therefore, digitization is the sole viable approach to safeguard manuscripts for their future accessibility and utility (Singh, 2012; Devi & Murthy, 2005). According to the online dictionary for library and information science, digitization refers to the transformation of information into a digital format, making it suitable for computer-based processing (Reitz, 2004). The digitization of manuscripts is crucial since it enhances accessibility, Improves the preservation of original documents, and minimizes the need for physical handling and extensively used original manuscripts, particularly those that are rare (Aarti, 2011; Bansode, 2008).