Though I do not work on mss myself, I know how important this kind of work is for the whole scholarly community. So why not try to get some result through a petition as suggested by Dominik? I for one would certainly sign it.

The petition should probably be worded in such a way as not to make the SBL staff feel threatened or singled out; in this context the theft risks mentioned by Prof Cardona could be mentioned as understood and relevant. A programme of digitalisation could also be suggested, pointing out that it would resolve the problem of theft risks. A good project for the Indian Ministry of Culture itself or for some foreign body, or for a cooperation? Who knows - a petition may stimulate the National Mission on Libraries, a fairly recent institution, to focus some of their attention and energies on the SBL...

Greetings to all,

Elizabeth De Michelis

Independent scholar

On Wednesday, 5 February 2014, 14:56, Martin Gansten <martin.gansten@pbhome.se> wrote:

Perhaps obviously, I'd be all for such an initiative...

Martin

Dominik Wujastyk skrev 2014-02-04 17:05:
> Nowadays, online tools make it possible to compile an international
> petition.  See, e.g., change.org <http://change.org>, etc. What do we
> think as a community about raising a petition to the minister of culture
> (see their National Mission on Libraries <http://www.nmlindia.nic.in/>)
> about the inaccessibility of MSS at the SBL and the damage done thereby
> to national and international scholarship on the history of Indian culture?
>
> Best,
> Dominik

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