Projects of Library of Alexandria to digitalize the Egyptian Documentary Heritage on the Web: An Evaluation Study in the light of The Archival criteria and Standards

Research Abstract

المُلخَّص الأجنبي Heritage is the nation’s memory, and it is this memory that links the past with the present, and upon which it depends in building the future. Therefore, nations that have an ancient past can be proud of it and offer it to future generations, to be a source and impetus for the renaissance and development of nations. The digitization of this heritage is one of the means of protecting archival documents and limiting the damage caused to them as a result of time and natural factors such as temperature, humidity and human factors as a result of unethical behavior, Lack of awareness of the nature of documentary heritage or as a result of wars or conflicts that occur between countries and security instability. The study focuses on the projects of the Alexandria Library for the digitization of the Egyptian documentary heritage and how it was dealt with it technically, as well as evaluating the technical processes in the light of the archival principles and standards and creating a guide for the stages of digitization. To fulfill this objective the following sub-goals should be achieved: 1- Shedding light on projects to digitize, protect and make available the Egyptian documentary heritage. 2- Description of the stages of pre-digitization of documents in these projects. 3- Introducing the archival principles and standards required for processing documents before digitization. 4- Analyzing and evaluating the processing of digitized documents in the light of archival principles and standards. 5- Producing a scientific suggestion for archival documents. 6- Introducing a guide for stages of Egyptian archival heritage digitization. The study was based on a descriptive and analytical approach. The Contemporary Egypt Memory project, the Suez Canal Memory website, the digital archive site for President Mohamed Naguib, the digital archive of President Gamal Abdel Nasser and the digital archive of President Mohamed Anwar Sadat were chosen. The study also depends on data collection tools such as personal interviews and list Review . The study revealed a number of results, the most important of which were: failure to adhere to archival principles and standards in arranging and describing documents, inaccuracy of some information available in projects and sites for digitizing Egyptian documentary heritage, inaccuracy of research results in digitization projects, and failure to activate advanced research in some sites. - There is a disparity and difference between the sites and projects of the Alexandria library for digitizing documentary heritage, despite the fact that they belong to the same entity. - The most important thing recommended by the study is cooperation between the National Archives and the entities and individuals who have documents, and the need for the Documentation House to obtain these documents in their possession or copies of them. The study also emphasises that the application of archival principles and standards, the standardization of work in projects and sites of Egyptian documentary heritage, must provide the same method of technical treatment in all sites, in order not to have a disparity or duplication of digitized materials and make use of experts in the field of web design.

Research Keywords

Projects of Library of Alexandria to digitalize the Egyptian Documentary Heritage on the Web: An Evaluation Study in the light of The Archival criteria and Standards