Abstract:
The long-standing dream and ambition of the library of Eastern University, Sri Lanka
[EUSL] are to establish and maintain a museum to conserve and preserve the valuable
traditional and heritable materials of the Batticaloa district. The museum at the EUSL
library was established under the Conservation and Preservation Unit [CPU] of the
library. The CPU aims to acquire, preserve and provide access to rare and unique
materials of the cultural and historical value of the Batticaloa district and also the library,
EUSL provides entity to document and care of cultural heritage materials collected across
the Eastern Province. The established library museum comprises of varietal collections of
rare materials such as utensils of our ancestors, some paintings, materials used by farmers
and other people, palm leaf manuscripts, ancient coins of Sri Lanka and details of
worldwide library science pioneers with their statues. This article is providing useful
information about ongoing work related to the development of the Digital Museum
Collection with open sources software Islandora. The Islandora is a flexible, customizable
digital repository system for the entire institution, not just the library. Therefore, Islandora
is decided to use for the museum collections as it is an open-source digital asset
management system based on Fedora, Drupal, and Solr applications. With temporary
UBUNTU server Islandora was installed and customized for the museum requirements.
Till today, the CPU team transferred 50% of museum collection into a repository and it
delivering services to the library user via the local area network of the library, EUSL. In
conclusion, this new approach will be the long-term preservation of the EUSL museum
collection and suggested as a new way to other museums in Sri Lanka as well.
Keywords: Digitization, Islandora, Museum, Rare Collection, Repository, Open source
