Conservation and Preservation challenges of Palm Leaf Manuscripts in the National Library and Documentation Centre of Sri Lanka
Proceedings of The 2nd International Conference on Research in Social Sciences
Year: 2019
DOI:
Conservation and Preservation challenges of Palm Leaf Manuscripts in the National Library and Documentation Centre of Sri Lanka
Professor M.K.Weerasinghe, (Former Director General of the National Library and Documentation Centre Sri Lanka)
ABSTRACT:
The concept of the library goes back to the origin of the human civilization. When man began to make and keep written records, library came into existence. After the renaissance and reformation in Europe, philosophy of the libraries underwent a change. The libraries were considered as store houses of knowledge from ancient time to middle ages. After the invention of printing and the dissemination of liberal thoughts, consequently thelibrary became a dissemination centre of human knowledge. The concept of the National Library(NL) also emerged against this background. The origin of the NL concept goes back to ancient libraries of the world. According to some librarians and historians, the library of Alexandria was a NL. It performed some functions, which the present NLs are carrying out. However there is no agreement about the origin of the NL concept.
Keywords: National Libraries, Palm Leaf, Conservation, Preservation National Library Sri Lanka
Professor M.K.Weerasinghe
Department of Library and Information Science University of Kelaniya SRI LANKA