Abstract:
Documentation is a set of documents provided on paper, or online, or on digital or analog
media, such as audio tape or CDs. Documentation is distributed via websites, software
products, and other on-line applications. Cultural Heritage is an expression of the ways of
living developed by a community and passed on from generation to generation, including
customs, practices, places, objects, artistic expressions and values. Libraries are the
cultural institutions of a country and have long been related with the physical aspects of
their collections. The magnificent past of Indian culture lies in the ancient manuscripts
and rare books in Ancient Indian libraries which were open to all irrespective of caste,
creed or religion. Historically libraries were part of Indus-valley civilization. Those
libraries are called as “Pustakalayas”. According to the Archaeological research
department, evidence of ancient Indian libraries are available from 2500-1500BC.
Learning and teaching was traditional works done in India since ancient times. Ramayana
and Mahabharata are the two great epics which prove that point. As rightly pointed out
by Dr.Sarvepally Radhakrisnan- “In the olden days teachers of India were themselves
librarians and they were held in higher esteem”. So, they are also known as “mobile
libraries’ and “memory libraries”. There are many ancient libraries in India which tell how
Indian’s teaching and learning skills use to be there and how their knowledge was rooted
into their minds. There exist three kinds of libraries in India, Takshila, Nalanda Kasi, etc-
Universities and centers of learning, King’s palaces and temples in India. The author is
making an effort to refer to some of the renowned libraries in India which have
manuscripts on different subjects and rare cultural books and how these were protecting
and preserving the cultural heritage of India in electronic environment.
