Digitizing the Ceylon Collections: A Case Study of the Library, Eastern University, Sri Lanka

Abstract

The digitization is a tactical way of preservation and it becomes an ultimate need to preserve and conserve a record for future use. Even though, the digital preservation is indeed a very challenging task for the library of Eastern University, Sri Lanka (EUSL library) and the digitization process has become a practical necessity in this digital era. Hence, the study describes an initiation towards digitization in order to preserve the precious Ceylon Collections of EUSL library which endures the value and importance of Ceylon Collections for the benefit of various users and also to avoid those collections remain ambiguous and hidden. The current research design is a case study and the research instruments such as observation and focus group interview were used. The DSpace open source software was selected for the digitization processes. The focus group interview was conducted to explore the current usage and expectation of the users and it revealed that the Ceylon Collections services are very essential for users. The study was initiated by two professionals (who are also the authors of this paper) without proper training on functioning and technicalities of DSpace. With testing server, researchers could successfully implement the digital collection and today its collection is totaling to 2000 items. Through digitization, the Ceylon Collections move to a much broader audience and therefore the Ceylon Collections could be accessed significantly through the web and preserved for future generations. Even though, there were challenges during digitization process the work has been completed successfully and the digitized Ceylon Collections could be maintained as a digital repository of Ceylon Collections which are capable to access through the library website. Thus, every user would able to access those Ceylon Collections.