1. Techniques of preserving Bengali Newspapers available both in electronic and print version with special reference to West Bengal Pritam Gurey Professional Assistant Visva-Bharati, Central Library, Santiniketan E-mail: pritam.vb@gmail.compritam.vb@gmail.com

2. ‘A good newspaper is a nation talking to itself ’ – Arthur Miller (1915-2005)

3. Introduction: Preservation is the oldest and most fundamental function of libraries and archives. Preservation is concerned with evidence embedded in the intellectual content of objects and in the objects themselves. Preservation of newspapers is utmost necessary in order to retrieve the correct information of past.

4. Importance of Newspaper Preservation: as news become history, as to improve access, as daily important facts are found, Newspaper may perish but not the news they contain.

5. Overview of Bengali Newspapers in West Bengal NamePrint On-lineWebsite Aajkaal Y Y http://www.aajkaal.net Absar N Y http://www.abasar.net Amader Malda N Y http://www.ndparking.com/amadermalda.com Anandabazar Patrika Y Y http://www.anandabazar.com Bangla Ganashakti Y Y http://bangla.ganashakti.co.in Bartaman Patrika Y Yhttp://bartamanpatrika.com Century Sangbad NYhttp://www.suprovat.com Dainik StatesmanYN Ek DinYN Gold NewsNY http://www.goldnewsindia.com Sambad Pratidin Y Yhttp://www.sangbadpratidin.net Uttar Banga Sambad Y Y http:// www.uttarbangasambad.com

6. History: NameOwnerYr. printYr. Online AajkaalAbhik Kr. Ghosh19812004 Anandabazar Patrika ABP Pvt. Ltd.19222001 Bartaman Patrika Bartaman Pvt. Ltd.19842002 GanashaktiCPMI, WBSC19672004 Sangbad Pratidin Swapan Sadhan Basu 19922003 Uttarbanga Sambad Uttarbanga Sambad Pvt. Ltd. 19802003

7. Preservation Methods: Different methods are used for - ◦ Hardcopy ◦ Hard to softcopy ◦ Softcopy (Born digital)

8. In case of Hardcopy: Newspaper clippings / Press Clippings Bound Volume / Binding Encapsulation Lamination

9. In case of hard to soft copy Microform: film / fiche Digitising

10. In case of Softcopy (born digital): Digital Preservation

11. Problems: Bengali newspapers have the following problems – ◦ Binding ◦ Space ◦ Searching and indexing ◦ Image storing ◦ Bit stream UNICODE

12. Conclusion: Preservation of newspaper is utmost necessary. Converting hardcopy archives to digital resources, digital preservation in terms of preventing paper deterioration as well as full utilization of the archives can be possible.

13. Digital storage may have low to high risk as hardware and software changes very frequently and life expectancy of the formats are still not known. Functionality of microfilm is uncompromised but when compared to digital storage as it provides more easy access to the desired information.

14. Microfilm shows very low risk if proper film base, processing, and physical environment are maintained. Financial support & technologically experienced person is required for proper preservation of these Bengali Newspapers.