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ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 50| April 2001


Preserving Palm Leaf Manuscripts

Aung Ye Htut & Jan Fullerton

The Director-General, Jan Fullerton with Mr Aung Ye Htut.
Photograph: Greg Pook

Aung Ye Htut, Assistant Librarian at the Universities Historical Research Centre in Yangon, Myanmar, completed a two-week training course in Preservation and Conservation at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), followed by a three-week placement at the National Library’s Preservation Services Branch from 19 February to 9 March 2001.

Funding for Aung’s preservation training was provided as part of the Library’s commitment to IFLA PAC (Preservation and Conservation) activities. The course work at the UNSW aimed to teach basic preservation and conservation concepts, while the work placement helped Aung to see how these concepts were applied in a working environment. He also had the opportunity of participating in three lectures and practicals in Conservation at the University of Canberra.

Aung Ye Htut works at the Universities Historical Research Centre microfilming palm leaf manuscripts, handmade paper manuscripts called parabaik, and paper documents. This microfilming is done both at the institution and in the field at various monasteries around Myanmar. He uses a portable 35mm microfilming camera to carry out this work.

With this in mind, Aung spent a few days in our reformatting section with Deirdre Burgess and Trish Crampin discussing microfilming standards, targets, quality assurance and other preservation issues. He then visited Hermes Precisa, a microfilming bureau in Fyshwick, and spent a few days with Ewan Maidment at the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau. Ewan and Aung found many similarities in the type of work they carry out in the field, and found they used the same type of microfilm camera. Visits to the conservation laboratories of the Australian War Memorial and the National Archives of Australia provided an overview of other collections and their preservation programs.

Other operational areas of Preservation Services provided information on the Library’s environmental monitoring program, the disaster plan and stores in the building and the materials used in preservation. Aung carried out some basic repair and cleaning of maps in the collection, and also enjoyed making boxes and learning about bookbinding. Box making is a necessity in his institution, as they cannot afford to purchase ready-made boxes.

During his placement, Aung visited all collection managers at the Library to gain an overall picture of our collections and the type of preservation issues we deal with. The Asian Collections was of particular interest to Aung, who was very pleased at the size of our Burmese collection. His fluent Japanese was a bit of a hit with staff in the section too!

While in Canberra, Aung was able to attend a barbecue by the lake, visit the National Botanic Gardens, take in the view from Telstra Tower, watch the hot air balloons take off (not a common sight in Myanmar), see some kangaroos, and visit Old and New Parliament Houses.

Aung would like to thank the Library for providing this training opportunity. Thanks go to Danielle Freeman and Carolyn Stammers for arranging his visit and Preservation Services staff for organising his program and providing an enjoyable as well as educational time. Special thanks to all staff at NLA and other cultural institutions and the University of Canberra who took time to talk to Aung about their work.
—Jennifer Anderson

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