Issues of Preserving Rare Books in the Museum Context: The Case of the State Museum of History of Uzbekistan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17605/cajssh.v7i2.1316Keywords:
Rare Books, Museum Collections, Collection Formation, Documentation System, Cataloguing, Provenance Research, Collection Management, Cultural Heritage, Digitization, Conservation, Archival Documents, State Museum of History of UzbekistanAbstract
This study analyzes the process of managing and preserving rare books collections as a complex system developed through the interrelationship between collection formation, documentation, and preservation practices. The research is conducted on the case of the State Museum of History of Uzbekistan and examines the historical sources of the fund’s formation, the level of documentation, and the institutional characteristics of preservation strategies. The methodology of the study is based on a qualitative approach and relies on the analysis of archival documents, fund materials, and practical observations. The empirical materials include archival sources dating from the 1920s to the 1950s, as well as data related to contemporary fund activities. The findings show that the rare books fund was formed mainly as a result of systematic transfers, donor activity, and centralization policy, and that this process generated typological diversity in the composition of the fund as well as uneven levels of registration and documentation. Since the initial inventory systems did not fully comply with the requirements of scholarly cataloguing, many fund units remained insufficiently described and were not fully integrated into scholarly circulation. The study also identifies a direct relationship between the level of documentation, provenance information, and preservation strategies. Objects with low-quality metadata remain less visible in scholarly circulation. Although digitization has expanded access and use, it is also creating new hierarchies within the collection depending on the existing level of documentation. This study substantiates the need to interpret the rare books collection as a historically formed and institutionally managed system and demonstrates the necessity of developing documentation, provenance research, and preservation strategies in an integrated manner in working with museum collections.
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