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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the preservation and dissemination of women's cultural heritage in selected university libraries in Nigeria.

The descriptive survey research design using questionnaire to collect data was employed.

The study revealed that non-print materials constitute an average of about 28 per cent of the forms in which cultural heritage materials for women are obtained and preserved in some Nigerian leading academic libraries. Over 50 per cent of the respondents in their views agreed that the benefits are accruable when women's cultural heritage materials are kept including enhancement of public perception of women, improvement in accessibility to information about women, improvement in the visibility of women as essential contributors to the development of the society, fostering of tourism among others. The most prominent barrier that the respondents believed could hamper the preservation of women's cultural heritage materials was the adverse tropical climatic conditions.

It encourages information experts to engage in capacity building for effective preservation and dissemination of cultural heritage information that are gender related. It also stressed the need for networking and collaboration among information experts as an essential strategy in promoting women's cultural heritage information system. All stakeholders are urged to prioritize and demonstrate fiscal commitment towards the preservation of cultural heritage resources. This paper was presented at IFLA Women, Information and Libraries Satellite Conference, 2012.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the legal, governmental and non-governmental, academic and digital initiatives in relation to the preservation, conservation and promotion of cultural heritage in India and some of the key challenges associated with it.

The research has been carried out by reviewing various resources available on the official websites of Government of India; Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums; and cultural and memory institutions to know their various initiatives at different levels to protect, preserve and promote the cultural heritage of the country.

As of now there are various initiatives in India being carried out by the government, non-governmental organizations, cultural and educational institutions, societies, individuals, scholars and artists to safeguard and promote various cultural heritage inheritances of tangible and intangible nature. However, there is no comprehensive list of all such efforts made to understand the efforts for cultural heritage protection. Further, it has been observed from the study that the need for creating a single-window cultural heritage information system, cultural heritage directory, metadata aggregators, community participation, educational campaigns, strong policies and legislations, comprehensive heritage management programs, consistent follow-ups and establishment and promotion of financial incentives embracing of digital technologies towards sustainable preservation and better accessibility.

The study is an attempt to explore the noted initiatives of India to protect and conserve the cultural heritage properties. The study is limited to various schemes, projects and digital initiatives brought by the country for safeguarding the cultural identity at different levels. This paper can introduce the topic to those who intend to do detailed studies on different aspects of heritage conservation in the country and its problems and solutions.

This paper may be of interest to scientists, academic, historians, heritage conservationists, practitioners, archaeologists, policymakers, culture enthusiasts, researchers and the government to have a perspective on initiatives in the country in protecting the cultural heritage assets. The study can introduce the current status and outcome of the existing programs for heritage conservation to new researchers and administrators to enable them for incorporation required aspects and make necessary modifications while formulating guidelines for cultural heritage protection and management.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, there is no such summaries and general discussion on the initiatives, status, problems and technologies involved in the heritage conservation context with an integrated view in India. This short study may be of help in reviewing and analyzing the potential of the initiatives in the cultural heritage conservation scenario of India for evolving foolproof policies and also for implementing them.

This study aims to explore how indigenous knowledge, cultural heritage preservation and ethnic identity influence the production of traditional ikat textiles in northeast Thailand.

A qualitative research method used an ethnographic perspective with a realistic design. Purposive sampling was used to conduct 30 in-depth ethnographic interviews with members of Phu Thai ikat textile groups in Kalasin province. Interview transcripts were studied using thick descriptive analysis (themes, categorisation, coding and keywords).

The ethnographic study shows that natural dyeing, traditional crafts, materials, designs and patterns are used in Phu Thai ikat textile weaving. The results reveal that indigenous knowledge, cultural heritage preservation and ethnic identity are relevant to traditional ikat textiles.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study uniquely focuses on a deeper theoretical understanding of indigenous knowledge and cultural heritage preservation, to sustain traditional ikat textiles.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that those involved in cultural heritage preservation efforts must look more critically at how preconceived notions of “history” and “tradition” affect both the design and outcomes of preservation efforts. This paper also adds to the limited library and information science (LIS) discourse on the problematic nature of significance as it relates to selecting aspects of cultural heritage for preservation, which is of particular importance to LIS practitioners as they work to help others capture, preserve and represent their traditional knowledge and ways of life.

The argument is based on research carried out in rural Romania in the summer of 2007. Faculty from Ball State University with students from several US universities collected qualitative data using ethnographic methods for an ongoing historic preservation effort in the community of Viscri. In addition to the community case study, the LIS literature on the problem of assigning significance to cultural objects for preservation is reviewed.

Cultural preservation efforts tend to rely on legitimate lay understandings of history, tradition and culture that, in turn, inform social life in a community. Such limited understandings influence the program choices and resource allocations made in cultural preservation efforts. It also tends to finesse the role the elite and powerful have over these programs. Viscri provides a real‐world example that illustrates some lessons to be learned about how the LIS community thinks about tradition and modernity and the relationship both have to cultural heritage preservation.

The argument rests on a single community study. However, a literature review and an in‐depth analysis of a particular historical preservation effort strengthen the paper's argument.

In order for preservation efforts to more equitably preserve cultural heritage, the LIS community has to ask more analytic questions about what history and tradition are in the context of the communities it serves. Those involved in cultural preservation efforts must bring to their work an awareness of the consequences of selecting certain aspects of culture and heritage over others have for preservation efforts.

Despite various comparative studies in the field of cultural heritage protection in the world, there is still a significant lack of comparative research on policies related to the legal system of countries' governance. The purpose of this study is to address the comparative policies in Iran and Italy, with a particular focus on the results of the executive experiences of two different types of policies in the cities of Oroumieh (North-West of Iran) and Turin (in North-West of Italy).

Utilising the comparative, analytical, bibliographic and descriptive historical research methodology, which is based on the study of the local, national and international comprehensive review of regulations and policy-making of cultural heritage preservation policies in Iran and Italy. In this research, the related documents in three languages (Persian, Italian and English) have been examined to compare profoundly and comprehensively the policies and regulations adopted in these two countries to be able to analyze the national and transnational regulations and local policies in the cultural heritage sector.

In addition to many cultural similarities and numerous commonalities, especially in the multiplicity of urban cultural heritage in historical centers, the results suggest that the legislation structure in Iran is much more centralized than in Italy. Also, the findings suggest that Italy focuses on aligning its previously centralized national legislative system in line with contemporary European heritage and preservation policies.

The paper outlines how to use historical and cultural similarities through comparative study to benefit the experiences of two historical countries in urban heritage conservation and policy-making part despite their differences.

The purpose of this paper is to overview the current state of affairs of the Indian heritage treasures, which are being identified, restored, preserved and promoted by various organizations at national and international levels with an emphasis on its documentation aspect. Lack of information about the heritage sites, structures and its significance, especially unprotected and unidentified, leads to its permanent loss. One of the prominent measures to safeguard from such irrevocable cultural deprivation is its documentation. Further, the study aims to examine the significant challenges associated with identifying unrevealed heritage assets of the country in the context of its preservation, documentation and promotion. As a suggestive measure, the study aims to propose the need for developing a comprehensive cultural heritage register assisted with technological aids focusing on community participation in taking stock of the heritage items they possess and enable them to effectively document.

The present study extracts the cultural heritage data available with the UNESCO belongs to Indian heritage assets inscribed in its World Heritage portal. The collected data has been analyzed and interpreted to overview the country's recognition at the global level. The data collected from the official portal is further explored and customized to have a lucid account. The details about the organizations and institutions working on heritage conservation and preservation activities in India are also collected. A review of published literature on the related areas has also been performed to identify the issues and challenges associated with the documentation of heritage assets to support this study. The study also included the researcher’s experience in working with cultural heritage documentation.

India holds a substantial quantity of cultural as well as natural heritage items. However, an exhaustive effort to document them at the national level is not being accomplished to its full potential. Many of the assets, inheritances or sites of cultural importance have not been fully identified, preserved or documented; hence, it is unrecalled forever once lost. Some organizations and individuals working on cultural heritage lack clarity in its function and do not follow any common standards in its documentation. For any conservation activity, documentation is prime, and the local community's support is also essential. Means of international collaboration for managing and promoting the heritage are required to be encouraged. Findings of the study demand the need for utilizing digital technologies to assist the documentation process. It emphasizes the requirement of having a web-based single window online gateway where an individual or community can dispense the knowledge and resources they possess hence contributing to heritage conservation, preservation and sustainability.

The study limited to Indian scenario and the data on the heritage sites are collected from UNESCO's World Heritage portal. Only the documentation and promotional aspects of the cultural heritage are discussed. There are many lesser-known and unprotected cultural heritage in different parts of the country with artistic value. The unique characteristics that have not been recorded anywhere are to be documented systematically to reduce the frequency and severity of losses. The implication of the study highlights the present scenario of cultural heritage documentation in India and the need for a comprehensive heritage information gateway supported with a register facility to precisely document and retrieve.

Aspects of culture which are inherited from the past to the present are to be preserved for future generations. Digital archives of cultural heritage and the use of digital tools to document them are effective mechanisms to protect and store the data on endangered heritage items. For any such conservation effort, documentation is its first step. Developing and facilitating access to an exclusive database of cultural heritage at risk boast its sustainability and can be enriched by the involvement of local communities. Public access to such a database would greatly support administrators, tourist departments, culture departments, development administration and conservation activists to gather the details of unprotected heritage items of the country, its present condition, risk of damage, etc. which further helps in its preservation, conservation, sustainability and promotion in a constructive manner.

To the authors' best knowledge, no such single and comprehensive mechanism in the country allow the individuals to contribute to the inventory list holding information about the identified, unprotected and unidentified heritage assets which are having a risk of damage, threat, decay, vulnerable, neglect, lack of use or inappropriate maintenance and development. Developing such a system with technological and data infrastructure helps to pool all the cultural heritage resources under one umbrella. It imparts the value and significance of protecting and promoting heritage inheritances and a safe haven of them from the risk of its chronic loss. The system can also support all the activities related to heritage protection and bring the local community to timely support and initiate such heritage conservation activities.

This paper aims to explore a theoretical and methodological approach to preservation management in libraries, relying on the basic presumption that preservation is a complex and comprehensive process that involves many different and seemingly diverse aspects whose efficiency lies in preservation management.

Using a case study of Croatia, the paper describes a methodology for exploring the general preservation management context and presents a preservation management model that comprises five key components.

The paper offers insight into preservation management issues in a specific national context.

Although this paper focuses primarily on written heritage in libraries, it is applicable to other types of heritage and to other types of information institutions.

The theoretical and methodological approach presented in this paper and described in the example of Croatia can be useful for exploring similar issues in other countries. It can be expanded to other types and forms of heritage and heritage institutions.

The paper describes a model of organising preservation activities into an efficient and successful preservation system, and establishes a methodology for exploring diverse preservation issues on national and institutional levels.

There is a wealth of value hidden in regional cultural heritage, but its preservation status is not optimistic. This study introduces a method that focuses on the inherent cultural value of regional cultural heritage to preserve it by value construction and release.

Based on the great value of regional cultural heritage due to spatial adjacency and temporal continuity, this paper focuses on its inherent cultural value to explore the preservation path and chooses Shichahai cultural heritage digital resources for a case study. This paper draws lessons from the narrative method of ancient Chinese historiography, constructs a cultural space and tells cultural stories. A linked data organization model for digital resources is created to construct a conceptual cultural space. Then, the space is materialized by linked dataset creation. The authors tell cultural stories discovered from the space, which are presented by various user interfaces using visualization technologies.

A cultural space promotes the development of a fine-grained description of regional cultural heritage and aids in relationship discovery to enhance the value construction ability. Additionally, storytelling via interactive user interfaces is helpful in the utilization and dissemination of knowledge extracted from a cultural space and enhances the value release of regional cultural heritage. In this way, a path with the inherent cultural value of regional cultural heritage as the core is established, and preservation is achieved.

This study focuses on the inherent cultural value of regional cultural heritage and proposes a new path to preserve these resources. This approach will enrich research on the preservation of regional cultural heritage and contribute to the construction and release of its cultural value.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the scope, issues and challenges in conceptualizing a comprehensive cultural heritage information system (CHIS) in the Indian context and examines the feasibility of designing such a system with the support of advanced conservation strategies and technological aids.

As the conservation efforts and its sustenance requires the support of a knowledge base cum digital archiving tool, comprehensions on the availability and usage of different software tools are indispensable. Assessing the availability of controlled vocabularies, ontology frameworks, metadata standards, classification schemes and architectural designs, language compatibility for implementing cultural heritage system is inevitable for developing CHIS. The present study examines the availability of such schemes and systems and emphasis the need for developing a reliable information system.

A comprehensive system at the country level to efficiently document, manage and update the knowledge on cultural heritage is required. CHIS created can be engaged in visualizing the cultural heritages of the country and can act as an interactive multimedia documentation system. The virtual recreation of cultural heritage in a holistic manner can also ensure its long-term sustainability.

The digital archive of different expressions will be a rich source of data for research, administration and development. The archive developed should cover the cultural heritage depicted in the form of published documents, images, audios and videos, documents and visuals on performing arts, buildings, sculptures, ecosystem, monuments, utensils, etc. and the history and knowledge pertaining to them and any other property belonging to the heritage.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of libraries in access to, and preservation of, cultural heritage in concert with a wide range of other cultural institutions.

Considers a contest of values and the devaluation of reading and of the print culture as a feature of this contest. Rejects the values of information technology and scientific management and calls for their replacement by the humanistic values of libraries as one of a range of cultural institutions.

Relates “cultural heritage” records to a variety of cultural institutions who could be allies with libraries within a shared culture.

Calls for a structure and agreements between libraries and other cultural institutions aimed at pooling resources and harnessing energy and expertise to achieve cultural goals – particularly the organization, preservation, and transmission of the human record and the cultural heritage that it embodies.