Opinion on the Use and Accessibility of Manuscripts in Rampur Raza Library and Maulana Azad Library, AMU, Aligarh

Abstract

Manuscripts are essential and precious resources of a library and lot of efforts are executed to handle and preserve them not only for the present generation but also for the future generations to come. The libraries selected for the study are famous for manuscript collection and have rare of the rarest manuscripts available. So, the present study was conducted to examine the use, frequency, accessibility, and overall management of manuscripts of these two libraries and a questionnaire was designed to survey the users of these libraries. It was found that majority of library users reported visiting the library on a daily basis, with a significant number also visiting weekly. Most of the users use the manuscripts primarily for research purposes, followed by a desire to enhance their knowledge contained in them. Some of users primarily use the author and title approach for manuscript searches, while others favour the subject approach. It also found that a limited number of manuscripts are utilized by users and several factors have been identified which contribute to less usage of manuscripts including difficulty in understanding the language and script, as well as a general lack of awareness regarding the manuscripts collection and types that are accessible in the libraries.

Keywords: Manuscripts, Preservation and Conservation, Usage of Manuscripts, Maulana Azad Library, Rampur Raza Library, Aligarh Muslim University, Access and Approaches of Search

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