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Linda Bernal
11/08/04
The requirements to obtain a grant through the National Endowment for Humanities follows the criteria of being able to develop specific standards and practices for preserving humanities collections. Through the National Endowment for Humanities the eligible activities follow a strict but not limited criteria. The eligible activities include processing archival and manuscript collections, cataloging, documentation, preservation, digitization, and development. There are several criteria that the National Library and Archives qualify for within this grant. The building is already undergoing restoration but is still in need of aid and assistance with the help of professors and scholars in this project we call “Operation Preservation I” we will create a lasting affect for the Stronger National Library and Archives. The library is in dyer need of digitalizing the catalog for future references. Several thousand manuscripts were lost due to arson and looting. Through cataloging them and converting what is left of them to the technological field. One can hope this will never happen again but if it does subsequently damage will not occur as it did before and all will not be lost. Through various willing universities throughout the country we will ask devoted Professors and Scholars in the resources and library field who desire cultural preservation and ask for their dedication in this long process of restoring one of the oldest historical buildings in the country of Iraq. Through documentation of history and cataloging through computers it will allow for history to intertwine with technology that will allow for a better future in the National Archives. Only a third of the manuscripts will still be available at the Archives and the rest taken for storage until a later date. The Manuscripts will be put into storage for more extensive research and protection. The professors and scholars with degree dealing with technology, libraries, and archaeology will combine to be one. They will begin within the archives. Beginning in the archives there will be extensive researching and doubling cataloging through digital technology. Within the digital technology they will be a specific file structure along with system capabilities and system user functions that only allow certain people to access yet only in the beginning until everything is set to its specific standard. After everything is complete, the original manuscripts will be available through computer technology and access will only be available at the National Library along with a second copy that will be stored through the Iraq government vaults. The first copy will be assessable while the second copy will remain in storage for future reference if anything were to go wrong. The professors and scholars will be working closely with the university students of Iraq, training the top students who qualify obtaining degrees in library studies and archaeology. By allowing the students to work side by side with the professors and scholars will introduce them to better technology and western ideas yet keep their culture strong and their culture alive. By creating a better future at the National Archives the people of Iraq will feel a better trust within the country knowing that their country is being put back together through the help of devoted people of other countries as well as from the people of their own country.
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