Three-day workshop on museum documentation by UNESCO

The workshop by UNESCO emphasised on digital cataloguing of museum objects.Cultural Correspondent

A three-day workshop titled, "Theoretical and Practical Aspects of Inventorying and Documentation of Museum Collection," ended at the Poet Sufia Kamal Auditorium, Bangladesh National Museum yesterday. UNESCO Dhaka Office was the organiser of the workshop.

"The workshop emphasised on digital cataloguing of museum objects," informed Swadhin Sen, Assistant Professor, Department of Archaeology, Jahangirnagar University. Sen along with Md. Ziaul Bashar, IT programming officer, Bank Al Falah, were the resource persons at the workshop.

"At present, digital cataloguing is one of the most essential components of museum management. Detailed documentation and cataloguing of the objects collected, displayed and stored at museums are usually done to safeguard and manage the valuable objects. However, in our country none of the state-run and private museums have employed this advanced technique," Sen said.

Recently a project on such detailed digital listing of relics and other objects at Dinajpur Museum has been launched on the Web. The catalogue, first of its kind in Bangladesh, is titled "Anukramanika," and is funded by UNESCO. The catalogue can be accessed at www.unescodhaka.org.

At the three-day workshop, 19 representatives from 11 museums and institutions learned the basics of digital cataloguing. Participating organisations were Bangladesh National Museum, Deptartment of Archaeology, Barendra Research Museum, Bangladesh National Herbarium, National Museum of Science and Technology, Liberation War Museum, Dinajpur Museum, Bhasha Andolon Museum and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Museum.

Noted personalities attended the inauguration of the workshop on March 16. Mohammad Humayun Kabir, joint secretary, Ministry of Cultural Affairs was the chief guest. Among others, Alam Ara Begum, director general of Bangladesh National Museum and Abdul Khaleque, director general, Department of Archaeology were also present. Malama Meleisea, UNESCO representative in Bangladesh, chaired the programme.