KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 18 — A total of 10 million document images and 2,746 hours of audio-visual materials that are stored in the National Archives of Malaysia (ANM) have been transferred into digital form since 2013.
Its director-general, Datuk Azemi Abdul Aziz said the materials that were turned into digital versions could be accessed online through ofa.arkib.gov.my, thus enabling researchers and the public to access records and materials kept by ANM no matter where they are.
“We encourage them to use digital materials because we want to reduce damage to the original materials. The distribution of materials can also be done wider because the digital version can be accessed from anywhere, ” he told Bernama.
Azemi said ANM is also actively making copies of documents about the country that are kept abroad before they are to be converted to digital format.
“Currently, we are working with archives in the United Kingdom by making copies so that researchers do not have to go abroad to examine the documents,” he said.
Azemi said a total of 400 terabytes (TB) of digital content in various formats has been transferred to the Disaster Recovery Centre (DRC) which will be fully operational this October.
DRC is the physical infrastructure that replaces the Data Centre in the event of a disaster.
”It is equipped with hardware, software, application systems, and networks that resemble a major data center to ensure continuity of services in the event of a disaster on information and communication technology (ICT) application systems.
“Data replication from the ANM Main Data Centre to the DRC will be done according to schedule and automatically. We are also implementing the DRC simulation activities to ensure that the data and digital content available at the ANM Main Data Centre is successfully replicated to the ANC DRC, ”he added.
He said through the DRC project, all ANM critical application systems can always be accessed online.
“All information stored in digital format will always be preserved and can be accessed by the public at all times, thus ensuring the delivery of ANM services to the people can be provided continuously,” he added.
Meanwhile, Azemi said the collection of personal historical documents belonging to 570 personalities from various professions, such as Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid, Prof Datuk Dr. Awang Sariyan, Datuk Seri Ahmad Khan Nawab Khan, Datuk Wira Dr. Maznah Hamid, Datuk Sudirman Arshad, and Tan Sri P.Ramlee had been handed over to ANM.
The materials included records of various types, including personal correspondence, diaries, notebooks, films, tape recordings, etc that were obtained or produced by the professionals concerned.
“Every material that is informed to us, we will identify and check it. If there is historical significance then we will save and preserve it, “he added.
Sources: BERNAMA