The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA)
1. The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA): History
The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) was established in 1987 as autonomous institution under the Ministry of Culture, as a centre for research, academic pursuit and dissemination in the field of the arts. The Arts’ encompass a wide range of subjects – from archaeology and anthropology to the visual and performing arts, enveloping them in a complementary and non-demarcated vision.
1.1 The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA): Organisational Structure
The IGNCA has a trust (Board of Trustees), which meets regularly to give general direction about the Centre’s work. The Executive Committee, drawn from among the Trustees, functions under a Chairman.
The Committee acts as a link between the Trust and the IGNCA. The Member Secretary is the Executive head of both academic and administrative divisions. The IGNCA has six functional units – Kala Nidhi, the multi-form library; Kala Kosa, devoted mainly to the study and publication of fundamental texts in Indian languages; Janapada Sampada, engaged in lifestyle studies; Kaladarsana, the executive unit which transforms researches and studies emanating from the IGNCA into visible forms through exhibitions; Cultural Informatics , which applies technology tools for cultural preservation and propagation; and Sutradhara, the administrative section that acts as a spine supporting and coordinating all the activities.
1.1.1 About Kala Nidhi
Kala Nidhi is a repository of research and reference material in Humanities and the Arts. It has built a massive collection of source material, encapsulating the entire spectrum of textual, visual and auditory data. Within the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), Kala Nidhi provides information support service for textual research undertaken by Kala Kosha; contextual research on life-style studies done by Janapada Sampada and dissemination of resultant outputs through Kala Darshana and Cultural Informatics Laboratory. Reference Library in Kala Nidhi has a rich collection of source material in Archaeology, Anthropology, Art History, Aesthetics, Crafts, Ethnology, History, Linguistics, Literary studies, Religion and Sociology. The collection consists of Printed books (1, 75,000 including 3000 rare books from the 18th and 19th Century), Journals, Slides, Microfilms, Microfiche, Manuscripts, Photographs and Audio- Video materials.
The Cultural Archives: Kala Nidhi’s Cultural Archives has collected, preserved, classified and disseminated several rare, original and secondary material on the Arts and Culture. The acquisitions in Cultural Archives are made in the categories of Literature (Sahitya), Architecture (Vastu), Sculpture (Shilpa), Painting (Chaya pata), Music (Sangita), Dance (Natya). Some rare collections of ethnography and audio-visual documentation of old masters and rare art forms are also housed in the Cultural Archives. Amongst others, these include audio cassettes of R.C. Rangra, Rabindranath Tagore’s recordings, Raja Deena Dayal’s original photographs and plates, Sambhu Saha, Sunil Janah and Henri Cartier Bresson’s photographs, Lance Dane’s collection of sculptures, D.R.D. Wadia collection of photographs, Elizabeth and Elizabeth Sass Brunner’s paintings, rare maps of R.P. Mishra and musical instruments, puppets and masks from various parts of India and the world. The ABIA Project: Kala Nidhi is associated with a project ABIA South and Southeast Asian Art & Archaeology Index. The purpose is to create an annotated bibliographic data base (the ABIA Index) for publishers, covering the subjects, – Pre and proto history, Historical archaeology, Ancient and modern art history, Material culture, Epigraphy and Numismatics. The database is freely accessible on line at http://www.abia.net. Three volumes have been published, containing more than 4000 annotated and key word- indexed references. Data base Development and Computerisation: Kala Nidhi has developed a Catalogue database of all its holdings. It is available on the web as on-line Public Access Catalogue (OPAC).
Documentation Unit: Kala Nidhi’s documentation unit has been revived. The primary objective of the unit is to collect and preserve all the material pertaining to the events or academic programmes organized by the IGNCA and to build up a reliable institutional memory. The Unit also prepares a brief write-up on various programmes and events organized by the division. It also provides content for updating the IGNCA website and publication of a bi-monthly news bulletin. Membership in the Library: Registered members of the Kala Nidhi Library can access all the resources.
1.1.2 Library of Kala Nidhi
The backbone of Kala Nidhi is its reference library that holds a carefully selected collection of about 2 lakh books. The collection comprises of updated reference books, bibliographies, monographs, conference proceedings, translations, catalogues of unpublished manuscripts of Indic and Asian origin, biographies and autobiographies, among other reference material. The library is fully automated, providing easy access to its resources through Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) terminals, and has been organized scientifically as per internationally accepted standards. While the majority of material held in the library is in English, it also allows access to books in a range of other Indian languages, such as Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Malayalam, Oriya etc. as well as to certain foreign languages such as Chinese, German, Russian, French and Japanese.
2.1.3 Kala Nidhi: Information and Data Bank
IGNCA has been designated as the nodal agency for all matters relating to arts, humanities and cultural heritage by the Government of India to provide computerized storage, retrieval and dissemination of information on all aspects of arts and cultural heritage. Over the years, the IGNCA has developed several unique computerized multi-media databases and information systems to preserve the vast cultural heritage in various forms and make it accessible for research and dissemination. Special efforts have been made to network these programmes with various institutions inside and outside the country. These are:
❖ LMIS (Library Management and Information System) which gives catalogue information on all books and periodicals;
❖ CATCAT (Catalogue of Catalogues) which provides information on more than 1,000 catalogues of published/unpublished manuscripts;
❖ MANUS (Manuscripts) with complete descriptive information of about 3,000 manuscripts;
❖ PICTO (Art Objects) includes information on two-dimensional and three-dimensional art objects;
❖ SOUND (Sound Recordings) comprising information on Vedic chanting of Ranayaniya and Jaiminiya Sakhas of Samaveda and Paippalada Sakha of Atharvaveda;
❖ KK TERMS (Kala Kosa Terms) comprising terms for the Kalatattvakosa project thereby facilitating scholars in preparation of comprehensive text references for each term, verification of bibliographic references and quotations and terms in different texts;
❖ BIBL (Bibliography) giving information of more than 6,000 references (monographs, books, journals, articles, etc.;
❖ THES(Thesaurus) is made up of key words in some tribal languages and dialects to identify cognate terms relating to the Five Elements. This database has been evolved for the programmes of the Janapada Sampada.
Online / Electronic Databases
Humanities International Complete: provides comprehensive coverage of the humanities with full text content for about 700 journals, books and other published sources from around the world. Includes all data from Humanities International Index (over 2,000 titles and 2 million records); Wilson Art Abstracts provides comprehensive abstracting and indexing of about 400 international art publications. The subjects covered are art and architecture and computer informatics
JSTOR: includes full text of about 2 million articles across 47 disciplines. Also includes about 1.5 million book reviews. The oldest content in the JSTOR archive was published in 1665. J-Gate, Arts and Humanities: an electronic gateway and subset of J-Gate, offering access to scholarly and technical journals. Provides seamless access to millions of journal articles available online offered by a wide range of publishers.
1.1.4 Cultural Archive
Kala Nidhi Cultural Archives focuses on the collection, classification and cataloguing of personal collections of scholars/artists who have devoted a lifetime in collecting materials pertaining to their respective areas/fields of interest. It acquires collections under the following six areas and houses them in the six sub-sections of the Archives under the following categorizations-
❖ Sahitya (Literature)
❖ VastuSilpa (Architecture & Sculptures)
❖ Chaya Pata (Photographs)
❖ Sangita (Music)
❖ Other Collection
❖ Collections of Other Divisions (Ethnographic Collection)
Audio Visual Library the Cultural Archives also house nearly 2,000 video tapes and 1,500 audio recordings in the form of tapes and spools of the various audio-visual documentation done by IGNCA. The archives also maintain films on research projects taken up by the various divisions of IGNCA. Some of these films such as YelhouTagoi by Shri AribmShyam Sharma and Wangala of the Garos by Shri Bappa Ray have won National Film Awards. Access to the Cultural Archives Each collection is organized and maintained as a totality to give an insight into the personality of the collector, which would enable scholars not only to access the material collected, but also to be guided by the special predilections of the individual collectors. In future, it is hoped that many more personal collections of artists, critics and scholars will find a place in the Cultural Archives of the IGNCA, the first resource pool of its kind in India.
Film & Video Documentation
Film & Video Acquired
Living Legend Series
Brief Report with Photogaphs (PDF) on visit by St. Mark Senior Secondary School on 24th March 2015, who were interested in exploring the paintings by Brunners available at the cultural archives of IGNCA, especially the work on ‘Two Pilgrims’.
2. The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA): Working Hours
LIBRARY TIMINGS:
Working Days: 09:00AM to 08:00PM
Saturday: 09:30AM to 05:30PM
Sundays and Holiday: Closed
3. The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA): Membership
For One Week Free of charge
Temporary Membership Rs.100/- per month
Annual Membership Rs.250/- for students; renewal charges of Rs.150/- Rs.500/- for non-students; renewal charges of Rs.300/-
Life Membership Rs.5000/- as one- time payment
4. The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA): Facilities available Reference/ Consultation/Internet/Photocopying, including colour/Microfilm-Microfische reading/Digital viewing/Audio-Video/Digital imaging/Printing
5. The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA): Library Collection
Kalanidhi Reference Library collection
Books Periodicals Bibliography &
ABIA Documentation
Non-print
Microfilm/
Microfische
Slides
The backbone of Kala Nidhi is its reference library that holds a carefully selected collection of about 2 lakh books. The collection comprises of updated reference books, bibliographies, monographs, conference proceedings, translations, catalogues of unpublished manuscripts of Indic and Asian origin, biographies and autobiographies, among other reference material. The library is fully automated, providing easy access to its resources through Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) terminals, and has been organized scientifically as per internationally accepted standards. While the majority of material held in the library is in English, it also allows access to books in a range of other Indian languages, such as Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Malayalam, Oriya etc. as well as to certain foreign languages such as Chinese, German, Russian, French and Japanese.
5.1 Print Media
❖ Books:
▪ General Collection – Kala Nidhi Reference Library houses a collection of over 2.5 lac print and Non-Print material. This section not only has books on arts but with every aspect of Indology. Books on Masks, Religion and Philosophy and Arts &History are the finest collection of its kind.
▪ Rare books – The library houses over 1000 volume of rare publications, some even from the 18th and 19th century. Mostly written by members of British army and navy, surveyors, engineers, travelers etc. These books give a firsthand account of their travels and observations of India.
▪ Personal collection – Kala Nidhi was fortunate to have received the personal collections of ten eminent Indian scholars and artists. These books have been kept separately, properly classified and catalogued in the mezzanine floor of the library.
▪ Area collection – This collection is the outcome of various research and cultural exchanges held with South-East Asia, East Asia and Eurasia.
▪ Series and catalogues – The library is building a complete corpus of printed material on Catalogue of manuscripts of Indic and Asian origin published in all parts of the world.
❖ Periodicals
▪ Journals – The library has a regular subscription to top Indian and foreign scholarly and technical journals.
▪ Online/ electronic databases – Comprehensive online database like EBSCO, JSTOR and J- Gate (Arts and Humanities Index) are available at the library
▪ Bibliography – A special endeavor of the library is to compile bibliographies of particular scholars especially whose works are multi-disciplinary and multi-lingual
▪ Documentation – This section of the library focuses on collecting and preserving all the material pertaining to the events or academic programmer organized by the IGNCA.
5.2 Non-Print Material
The Reference Library has a vast collection of Non- Print Material comprising of slides, microfilms and microfiche. The collection is generated and maintained by the Slide unit and the Reprography unit of IGNCA. The manuscript microfilming programmer at the IGNCA is a landmark project which was formed to encompass and preserve valuable unpublished Indian manuscripts that are lying scattered or fragmented in both Indian and foreign collection. At present, the reprography unit is in possession of a rich collection of more than 2.5 lacs manuscripts in more than 21500 microfilm rolls. The entire collection has also been digitized.
❖ Manuscripts Collection in Microfilm/ Microfiche It is estimated that India possesses more than five million manuscripts, making her the largest repository of manuscript wealth in the world. Though our ancestors had tried to preserve these manuscripts, thousands of such valued unpublished Indian manuscripts on varied subjects are scattered across Indian and foreign collections, making them inaccessible to scholars. This invaluable and unique pool of knowledge is under threat and manuscripts are disappearing at an alarming rate. Recognizing the need to encompass and preserve these knowledge resources and to make them accessible to scholars and researchers, Kala Nidhi Reprography Unit has initiated a manuscript- microfilming programmer a few years back. The IGNCA has approached many of the private and public institutions and individuals who are in possession of valuable manuscripts, preferably in Sanskrit, and has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with each of them for microfilming their manuscripts. So far, the Reprography Unit has microfilmed over 2.78 lakh manuscripts in 21722 microfilm rolls. All the rolls have been duplicated, digitized and catalogued.
❖ Slides Collection and Other Visual Resources
The prime aim of collecting materials on Indian Art was approached meticulously and a special collection in reprographic form (slides) was built up on the history of Indian art. The process started fifteen years ago has yielded great results. At present our collection has not only grown in quantity but also in content and quality. With our present infrastructure of slide production, duplication and scanning and with the introduction of computerized information. The slide unit of the Kala Nidhi Reference Library has been in existence since 1989 and over the years it has acquired and generated over one lakh carefully selected slides from 17 centers in India and 16 centers abroad. The growth rate of the collection is approx. 3,000 slides per year. In addition to slides, there are more than 2270 photonegatives on Himachal Pradesh (Land and people), monuments of Sri Lanka and museums in Jammu &Kashmir. The slide unit of the IGNCA has the largest collection of slides on Indian art viz painting, sculpture, architecture, illustrated manuscripts, and performing arts in India. It is also the only library in India which is equipped with the proper infrastructure for archival storage, computerization of data, duplication and scanning of slides.
References
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