NEWSPAPERS:

1. MEDIA ARCHIVES-CUM-NATIONAL REFERENCE LIBRARY ON THE NORTH-EAST(India):PROMOTION AND MARKETTINGProf AlakaBuragohainM A, M L I Sc, Ph DHonorary Director, Media Archives …E-mail:abghy@rediffmail.com

2. NEWSPAPERS: • Indispensable Companion, part and parcel of one’s daily life. Communicating day-to-day events to the Public. • First Draft of history, Chronicles of social, cultural and political past. Testimony of Cultural Heritages • Primary sources of Historical Information. • Serving the Public as Watchdog, investigating the public affairs. • Great Mediator between the Public and the Govt. Addressing always to large audience • Fourth Estate of Democracy.

3. Most Powerful Instrument, so to be most Responsible for Shaping Public Opinion. • No Substitute for Newspapers primarily for Local Media Materials, to be Preserved and Conserved Permanently in the Archives. A NATIONAL SEMINAR on ‘Social role of media and Building a National Information Resource Centre-cum-Archives for the North-East’ was held during 21-22 September 2004 at Guwahati, Sponsored by RRRLF, Kolkata. • Recommends strongly:

4. The Establishment of a ‘Media Archives-cum-National Reference Library on the North-East’ as an autonomous public institution for scientific preservation and servicing of the sources. • Media Trust, Assam was entrusted to submit a comprehensive project proposal. • Media Trust, the Successor of the ‘150 Years of Newspapers in Assam, Celebration Committee, • To Commemorate 150 Years of Newspapers in Assam since Arunodoi, Assamese Daily, published in 1848 from Sibsagar (Assam). ’

5. OBJECTIVES OF MEDIA ARCHIVES: The Trust submitted in 2006 the Project Proposal to the Govt of India through AASU (All Assam Students’ Union). • Under the 6th clause of the Assam Accord signed in 1985 between the Govt of India and the AASU. Clause No. 6 states: ‘Constitutional, Legislative and Administrative Safeguard as may be appropriate, shall be provided to Protect, Preserve and Promote the Cultural, Social, Linguistic Identity and Heritage of the Assamese people’. Local Newspapers and Magazines carry the Social and Cultural life, Linguistic Identity of People and the State.

6. Assamese people imply: The culture, the societies, languages and heritage of the indigenous local people of Assam including all the indigenous ethnic groups. The domicile groups also are included who have accepted and developed the culture and languages of the indigenous people in lieu of their own, may be in a modified way. • To support Healthy Growth of Mass Communication and Media in Assam and facilitate its Study and Research. • To Create a Database on the North-East with Accurate, Relevant and Exhaustive Information.

7. COVERAGE: MEDIA ARCHIVES: • To restore, preserve and conserve all the local newspapers and selected magazines in all languages of the State. • Rare and important documents and manuscripts related to journalism, Media persons of Assam in particular • Retrospective issues will be in original physical documentary form as far as possible. • Motion pictures, T V and Radio serials are to be preserved under air-conditioned environment. • Eminent Assamese writers’ (both media people and other writers) original manuscripts and handwritings deserve to be preserved.

8. One of the original manuscripts of Srimanta Sankardeva (1449-1568) in his own handwriting is in the way of destruction in Madhupur Satra in Koch Vehar (now in West Bengal, India). • Current Newspapers, News magazines and Selected Journals kept displayed for use. • Oral Collection and Record: Audio-visual and multi-media cassettes and CDs recording traditional knowledge of illiterate and semi-literate old persons along with their transcripts. • Publications on different aspects of the North-Eastern Region.

9. INFRASTRUCTURAL PROMOTION: • Administrative Block. • Exhibition Room, Reading Room, Stack, etc. • Conservation Laboratory:Newsprints are very fragile, and destroyed very soon. Assam’s climate is humid damaging newsprints. • Digital and Microfilming Unit -Reproductive conservation is a must -Newspapers become very bulky and unwieldy with daily additions; to be converted into micro form; made globally accessible and searchable -Selected ones may be micro-filmed for permanent preservation.

10. Documentation-cum-Computer Section. • Auditorium, Seminar Halls. • Research cubicles. • Institute of Mass Communication and Media. MARKETING MEANS: Collection: -Several individuals and families have donated their Preserved retrospective volumes of several local newspapers and magazines -The only available copy of The Times of Assam, dated June 15, 1929 (the first English news magazine published weekly since 1888, one more wretched copy is found available),

11. Processing: • Two bibliographical databases have been initiated one for periodicals, the other for books • Unesco’s WINISIS software is used, very powerful for information retrieval. Preservation: • Rare and specimen printed copies are to be preserved and conserved as long as possible • The media materials to be converted into micro form for permanent preservation for the posterity.

12. Digitization: Bookeye 3 A2 Colour and portable one (German), overhead scanner seems to be the one which may be purchased from a dealer based in New Delhi. • Not be much problem for the English prints as OCR (Optical Character Recognition Software) is applicable to the English word images. • OCR not applicable to the local languages. • Creation of Metadata manually with creation of record for every news-item in respective pages of respective dates of newspapers would be much time-consuming.

13. CONCLUSION; • Different from simply newspaper libraries. • Developing on various sponsorships, Central Govt approval is awaiting. • The infrastructure for on-line networking is yet to be completed. Digital Surrogates for the Printed Materials yet to be created. • First step is taken for joining a Consortium in Social Science and Humanities in India. • Experiences obtained by others in various fields would help in developing this new venture.