The National Virtual Cultural Library of India has documented over 2.98 lakh of digital artifacts and over 34 lakh of bibliographic entries. This national digital repository project was implemented by the government in collaboration with IIT Bombay, Mumbai.
Aiming to provide a platform for the “digital preservation of various cultural objects and to create awareness and a sense of collective ownership among citizens about their common heritage”, the Indian Culture Portal is also available as a ‘application.
As Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy explained in the Lok Sabha yesterday (April 4), the portal contains a collection of rare books, e-books, archives, paintings, stories, excerpts , historic towns and forts, etc. under 28 categories.
According to the release, the portal is a one-stop source of information related to history, heritage and culture and hosts culturally significant data from various repositories and institutions across India and has been developed “ recognizing the ongoing need to position for the digital future’.
As noted by Reddy, it is an all-inclusive digital platform for accessing multiple cultural resources such as national and state archives, libraries, and district gazetteers that appeal to all sections of society. Its main features, depending on the version, are as follows:
The data was collected from various organizations under the Ministry of Culture and stored, then collected in a common repository. The portal allows free access to resources and archive documents and easy navigation of the portal allows the user to achieve the desired result more quickly.
The portal has specific features and functionalities that allow the visually impaired to read and access the portal without difficulty. Faceted search allows the user to browse the different layers of the portal using filters. Advanced search allows searching for books and other resources using specific fields such as author name, title, etc.
The portal is bilingual and is available in English and Hindi.
The Digital Flipbook for Rare Books and E-books is a exclusive feature and is available for all books on the portal. Rare books on the portal are also downloadable.
Content related to history, heritage and culture is written in an easy-to-read format to meet the needs of people from all walks of life.
Data on the portal can be easily shared using unique QR codes. Once scanned, the desired page is easily accessible on the phone and other devices.
The portal is constantly expanding with new content and curated data. The portal hosts hundreds of thousands of data in the form of books, manuscripts, archival documents, images, videos and other resources.
Currently, the following categories are available on the portal – Rare Books, E-Books, Archives, Gazettes and Gazetteers, Manuscripts, Museum Collections, Paintings, Audios, Intangible Cultural Heritage, Photographic Archives, Images, Videos, Content of UNESCO, Research Documents, Indian National Bibliography, Reports and Proceedings, Union Catalogs and other collections, etc.
Stories, Clips, Photo Essays, Forts of India, Textiles and Fabrics of India, Historic Cities of India, Musical Instruments of India, Food and Culture, Virtual Tours and Freedom Archives – Unsung Heroes , etc
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