1) Case Study

Registration Department, Goa

Prithvi solves Goa registration departments document archival and retrieval challenge.

History

Prithvi approached the Registrar of Goa registration department and gave a presentation on document management for important documents related to this department i.e.

Death& Birth’s records, Marriage records etc. The need for preservation and easy retrieval of these records was intense and so the department took a decision of going for document management and asks Prithvi to provide a total solution to this problem. A common citizen very frequently asks these records and the easy retrieval was a must.

The Challenge

The state of Goa had very ancient documentation right from the days of Portugal rulers. All the documents needed very delicate handling since they were in very bad condition. The documents were scattered at different locations, so bringing them at one place was just impossible. Prithvi did the work actually on site. The documents were binded but it was very difficult to remove the binding & microfilm the drawings, since the papers had become lifeless. Some of the documents were even torn very badly. They needed to be pasted and then microfilmed. The cleaning work involved was also very much. The total process needed gentle handling and care taking.

The Process & Solution  

The Registration department actually needed scanning of these documents but by looking at the condition of the documents it was not possible to scan them directly. Here Prithvi decided that these documents should be first microfilmed and then scanned. The Microfilming was also not easy since many documents were torn very badly. These torn documents were then pasted by using special scotch tape & then microfilmed by using Planetary Hirakawa Camera & Kodak RVS Camera.

Results

Now, the department is in a position to give a copy from microfilm rolls to any citizen asking for records.

The Certification

Prithvi sent the sample microfilm roll for testing of archival life to the National Archives, Singapore & the results were satisfactory.

The Future

The next step Prithvi has suggested is that any person sitting at any corner in Goa should be able to get a copy of records available with Registration Department. For this Prithvi has designed & developed special archival software as per prevailing norms. Now, using Kodak IMS Scanner will scan these microfilms. After cleaning, desqueing, despecling the tiff images will be written on

CD. These CD’s will be web-enabled & will be easily hosted on Goa Government Web Site.