Meghna Dhar
Books formed of paper are the most remarkable creation of man. Books and other media are the record of human civilization. These are considered as treasure trove of knowledge which keeps the past account of old generations. It is the most significant means of storing and communicating the ever growing knowledge .It has always been considered a special place for reading, study or reference in a library . The past records are indispensable to the present generation as well as the generations to come. These are such great treasures which help us to study a civilization and unfold so many truths related to them and also carry us to the past, enabling the coming generations to discover the footprints of our fore-fathers besides keeping us aware of various aspects of human lives and educate us in so many fields . So it is the prime duty of every citizen to help in preserving these treasures of our society.
23rd April the World Book and Copyright Day, also known as International Day of the Book is celebrated every year in order to promote the reading, publishing and the protection of intellectual property through copyright among the public worldwide. World Book Day celebrations were started by the UNESCO first time on 23rd April 1995. In 1995, UNESCO decided that on this date the World Book and Copyright Day should be celebrated because of the Catalonian festival and for the reason that the date is also the birth and death anniversary of well known English author ,William Shakespeare (April 23, 1564 – April 23, 1616) and some other authors. Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive right to it, usually for a limited time. It is “the right to copy”, but also gives the copyright holder the right to be credited for the work and other, related rights. It is an intellectual property form. This day is generally celebrated by the authors, illustrators, and libraries to encourage reading among common public. More than 100 countries around the world celebrate this day. In Jammu the World Book Day is celebrated at Shri Ranbir Library ,Kachi Chowni on 23rd April every year, by organizing book exhibition of rare books and manuscripts.
Human desire to preserve the knowledge gained and to transmit it for next coming generations gave rise to the concept document. This desire made another effort and shaped it in script language of written form with a view to preserve for future generation. From centuries man has recorded the whole gamut of knowledge in the written form, whatever may be the surface of record, whatever may be the method of writing and whatever may be the document produced. Today libraries acquire the different types of documents for use. With the art of writing, from the times immemorial man has been recording his ideas, feelings, emotions, sentiments, dreams, convictions and faith, daily incidents of life and a host of other things in various ways that is on wooden planks, bark of trees, clay tablets, polished stones, papyrus rolls, palm leaves, vellum and parchment, bones, skin of animals, ivory, tortoise shells, iron, copper, brass, silk, cotton cloth, metal plates etc. which was later on substituted by the paper the new writing material accepted by the world as a universal medium for all reading material. All the documents have been preserved for the advancement of knowledge; it can be grouped in four broad categories, Conve-ntional, Neo-Conventional, Non-Conv entional and Meta Document.
The most popular kind of documents is books. Books formed of paper are the most remarkable creation of man. Books and other media are the record of human civilization. Books are considered as treasure trove of knowledge which keeps the past account of old generations. It is the most significant means of storing and communicating the ever growing knowledge .It has always been considered a special place for reading, study or reference in a library. The past records are indispensable to the present generation as well as the generations to come. These are such great treasures which help us to study a civilization and unfold so many truths related to them and also carry us to the past, enabling the coming generations to discover the footprints of our fore-fathers besides keeping us aware of various aspects of human lives and educate us in so many fields .
From the days of cave life to the present post-industrial society, the horizon of knowledge is continuously ever-expanding and ever-changing in a dynamic, multi-dimensional and multi-directional continuum, giving rise to new disciplines and new areas of study. In the recent past there has been tremendous growth of knowledge.
Knowledge is continuously expanding at a faster speed. New knowledge is always being added to old knowledge so that the user’s inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary requirements are fulfilled. It has been estimated that about 3000 pages or 250 million words are being printed every minute at the global level. The growth rate of books and journals especially in Science and Technology is three times greater than the world population. About 10,000 books are published every year that is one book is published every hour. Near about 100,000 new English language novels are published every year in every 30 seconds. The growth rate of information and knowledge is faster than ever before and is still accelerating. The destiny of growing knowledge lies in its preservation, organization and dissemination.
From times immemorial, the hands that used to harden the clay tablets for writing purpose was latter on substituted by the paper –the new writing material accepted by the world as a universal medium for all writing and reading material has today undergone a major change by creating an environment of digitization(electronic copying). With the advent of Information Technology the traditional ways of publishing books and periodicals have been now available in electronic format like e-books, e-journals, e-newspapers and e-references. Today Internet is not only a medium for digital communication but also world’s largest repository of information. But, Clarence Day Jr has rightly said, that, the world of books is the most remarkable creation of man. Man is mortal but the knowledge of the mankind is immortal.
Nothing else that he builds ever lasts; monuments fall, nations perish, civilizations grows old and die out and after an era of darkness, new races build others. But the worlds of books are volumes that have seen this happen again and again and yet, live on, still young, still as fresh as the day they were written, still telling men’s hearts of the hearts of men centuries dead”. So it is the prime duty of every citizen to help in preserving these treasures of our society. Emilie Poulsson has righty said, that,
“Books are keys to wisdom treasure;
Books are gates to lands pleasure;
Books are paths that upward lead;
Books are friends come let us read.”
(The Author is working as Assistant Professor in University of Jammu, Jammu.)
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