The Medical History of British Online project

Jan Usher, National Library of Scotland, , Scotland, UK

Abstract

The paper will show how we took a little-known yet rich resource and turned it into a globally available one. It will examine the origins, success and future plans for this Wellcome Trust-funded project to microfilm and digitise approximately 200 rare and vulnerable medical volumes published by the Government of India between ca1850 and 1950. These publications record the demands placed by both epidemic and endemic diseases on the colonial Indian state and its development of public health. It includes reports on army health, medicines, veterinary research, lock hospitals and medical institutes and colleges. The site can be searched by keyword, or by category (titles, contents pages, diseases and associated terms, maps, diagrams, place names, publishers, authors and year of publication). The various complexities and pitfalls in the planning process will be presented as well as some of the practical difficulties encountered, with images and descriptions of some of the material involved. Parameters essential to enable effective presentation and exploitation of the material will be discussed, including copyright issues, maintaining the site, and enabling free world-wide access. The resulting web feature will be presented along with discussion of future digitisation plans. The paper will also discuss the continuing benefits of the project, including forging successful long-term academic partnerships.

Introduction:

The story of this project began around 6 years ago, when I was asked to promote the National Library of Scotland’s Official Publication Unit’s (OPU) collections. This is huge: as a result of the 1710 Copyright Act, the Library's historical background as the library of the Faculty of Advocates, and its status as a copyright library, the NLS has collections of around 14 million items, over 2 million of which are official publications. This means OPU has comprehensive coverage of publications from the Westminster and Scottish Parliaments, together with the publications of their respective government departments and agencies. We also have extensive collections of overseas publications, including material from the United States and Commonwealth countries. The Library acts as a depository library for the United Nations as well as receiving material published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Food and Agriculture Organisation and World Health Organisation. Basically, if a publication is government-related or funded, we will probably have it. The OPU team are 10 very enthusiastic staff who are involved in all aspects of the receipt, cataloguing and maintenance of the stock. We also provide a specialist enquiry service for anyone requiring information on any aspects of the collection.

India Papers:

Amongst the OPU collection are the India Papers - around 4,200 bound volumes (ca. 40,000 individual reports) of official documents published in India. This collection is

1 unique in Scotland, and is equaled in the UK by a collection in the , which, though similar, is not identical. It includes publications of the central (or Imperial) government and of many Indian states, most, but not all of which, came under British rule. The great majority of the collection dates from the 1850s up to Independence. Most of the collection was deposited in the Library under a scheme administered by the India Office, or published in the UK on behalf of Indian governments and acquired by the Library under the terms of the Copyright Act. It has been added to over the years with other purchases and donations, especially from the Advocates’ Library. The collection covers a huge variety of subjects. It has particular strengths in the coverage of medicine, education, the military and archaeology, containing statistics, journals, memoirs, manuals, maps, surveys connected to local and national administration and institutions and the government surveys (archaeology, geology, zoology, and so on). Our first step to promote the collection was to catalogue it. The collection had previously been recorded in a hand-list, which was located in our main reading room. This was obviously inconvenient, especially as most readers search our collections through our on-line catalogue1. Certain aspects of the hand-list are useful, however, namely the subject/location guides, so we include these on our web pages2. The collection is arranged by State, and sub-divided by subject headings loosely based on Campbell3 ; they were then re-organised into a broad subject classification of 24 subjects. All shelfmarks begin with IP (India Papers), then each state is identified by a number; so, for instance, all papers of the Bengal Presidency have shelfmarks beginning IP/6. Similarly, letter codes are given for subjects, e.g. the material on famines is denoted by the code FB. This enables readers to browse the catalogue. While the collection was being catalogued we were busy promoting the collection; the Library was undergoing a change of administration at that time, and new senior staff were being appointed. A new vision and mission statement for the Library was drawn up, emphasising access for all, which chimed perfectly with our goal of promoting our collections. Dr Kevin Halliwell, co-applicant of the project and Foreign Collections curator (who was also strengthening our modern South Asian collections through purchasing and promotion), and I became the Library’s South Asian collections “team”, despite not being South Asianists. Where we needed expertise we consulted our partners at Edinburgh and Strathclyde Universities, and colleagues in the South Asia Archive & Library Group (SAALG). So we strengthened our partnerships out of necessity and began fruitful links with library, archive and academic partners. We put on some small displays in the public areas of the Library, show-casing the variety of material in the collection. This culminated in a major exhibition opened by Prince Philip in summer 2007, “Tea & Tigers: Stories of Scotland and South Asia”, which featured some of the India Papers collection as well as our South Asian rare books, maps and manuscripts.

The project:

1 http://main-cat.nls.uk/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First. 2 http://www.nls.uk/collections/officialpublications/collections/india-catalogue-guide.html 3 Campbell, Frank. Index-catalogue of Indian official publications in the Library, British Museum. London, 1900.

2 Over this period, our academic partners advised us that the medical material in the India Papers collection was a rich resource, revealing of the role of government and law and the operation of colonial power in a medical context, with detailed information on colonial medicine with drawings, maps, charts, graphs, illustrations and photographs. In addition, it was difficult to get access to these publications in India, because even where libraries have them, readers cannot gain access because they are too fragile to issue and/or because of distances involved, i.e. India is a huge country, so travelling round all the relevant libraries is not only time-consuming but costly. In some cases there are no easily available catalogues.

The collection is comprised of brittle paper, so any promotion would encourage use (desirable) leading to damage (undesirable). Digitisation was the obvious route. Our aim was to produce preservation microfilm copies of the material as well as digital images, and to provide access to texts through a web-based feature that would enable keyword searching and searching by title, author, subject category, publication date and location. The Library would benefit by getting digital surrogates that didn’t need to be handled (and therefore compromise the preservation of the volumes), and would enable to exploit it fully on a global scale. Again, we drew on our partnerships to provide in-depth text for the site.

Digital and database rights:

All the material was classed as crown copyright, but most of the material was out of copyright in any case. Works that are created by servants of the Crown or Government departments and agencies, and works that have been commissioned by the Crown are classed as crown copyright. The duration of copyright in crown copyright material differs from that of other material (50 rather than 70 years after death, for example). Electronic “copyright” is not a legal term, but protection is still afforded to digital images and databases selected and created by an “author” for a particular purpose. However, the NLS’s aim with this project is to spread the content as widely as possible, as well as the preservation and promotion of the collection.

Complexities and pitfalls:

We approached the Wellcome Trust, which, as well as funding biomedical research, also has a Research Resources in Medical History grant scheme. Our successful application to them described our collection and its significance and also its value to historians and researchers. The collection was too large to digitise all at once (the Trust limits each award to ca. £100,000), so we started modestly, with 44 volumes relating to disease control. The Library is fortunate to have in-house digital experts, conservators, reprographics and web staff who could advise us on the practicalities of the project which enabled us to compile a list of procedures:

• 1. Cataloguing • 2. Conservation preparation • 3. Initial conservation work • 4. Creation of project records (metadata)

3 • 5. Preparation for microfilming • 6. Microfilming • 7. Automated scanning of greyscale text and illustrations • 8. Manual scanning of pages containing colour elements • 9. Creation of searchable text using OCR software and Photoshop • 10. Storage of digital surrogates • 11. Website design and creation • 12. Long-term preservation of digital images • 13. Maintenance of website • 14. Final conservation work

It’s a long list. But each one was important, and each had to be costed, timescales drawn up, and impacts on workloads measured, as we had not attempted exactly this kind of project before. Some of the work could be provided in house (cataloguing, conservation preparation and initial and final conservation work, manual scanning of colour images, digital storage, long term preservation, and the maintenance of the website). Some had to be bought in, including the microfilming preparation, creation of metadata (for microfilm and digital images), microfilming, digitisation from microfilm, and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) work (done, appropriately enough, in Mumbai) We encountered problems such as delays to the metadata creation, and also the OCR work had to be re-done as it did not meet our standard of 99.9% accuracy. Some of the large page fold-outs proved problematic to scan, and had to be done in sections. The web design had to be out-sourced because our in-house team was extremely busy at that time. And meantime, Kevin and I had to get on with our day to day jobs.

We had monthly meetings with stakeholders: the Project Manager (Head of Official Publications who had overall curatorial responsibility), Reprographics supervisor (to supervise microfilming and scanning), Digitisation officer (to supervise scanning and OCRing), Conservation Manager (to supervise conservation work and handling and storage of material) and the project cataloguer (who also ended up creating microfilming and digitisation metadata). However, the end result is a website with full text searching, with browsing available by title, location, subject (e.g.) disease, publisher and author. Pdfs can be created4, tables can be manipulated and there is a map browsing facility with a zoom feature.

Success:

Our second successful application to the Trust (phase 2) included all the reports on army health, lock hospitals, medical colleges and medicines. We spent more time on research of this material, as, this time around, we could not rely on our academic partners for all out web text. The material, as in phase 1, was fascinating. Lock hospitals were specialised places for the treatment of venereal diseases, and a key part of disease control following the Indian Contagious Diseases Acts of 1864

4 At the time of writing, this can only be done one page at a time. This will be rectified in the next few months.

4 and 1868. As the government depended greatly on the British soldier to maintain imperial authority it obviously needed men to be as healthy as possible. But also to cater to all their needs it provided Indian women as prostitutes, many of whom were driven to prostitution by poverty. They were viewed as a commodity for the army, rather like blankets and food, and they were regulated and checked for signs of disease. There are also some notable reports, such as the Hyderabad Chloroform Commission, which concluded that deaths resulting from the use of chloroform were due to respiratory failure. We also have the extremely detailed Indian Hemp Drugs Commission report. The Commission was formed in 1893 after a question was raised in the House of Commons about hemp production and its use in Bengal. The government commissioned a thorough investigation of hemp drugs. The resulting report is compiled from the answers to 70 questions asked all over India to military personnel, missionaries, cultivators of hemp, traders and many others. The report is still cited today as a landmark text on cannabis production and use. As far as we are aware, the National Library of Scotland has the only copy that contains photographs: 16 sepia-toned pictures of the cultivation of the crop, cannabis users (of varying degrees) and cannabis traders. For phase 2 we employed a digitisation manager for the project, and as this phase was much larger, we had to learn all about European Union procurement processes, writing tender documents, making site visits to microfilming companies, and filling in lots of forms. As interest in the website grew, and we started to get lots of feedback from users, we applied for funds for phase 3 (veterinary reports). This part of the collection is rich in material relating to the practice of veterinary medicine in colonial India, and is especially important for the study of the interaction of health, medicine and the environment. Most of the reports date from a significant period in veterinary history in India, when emphasis changed from military supplies (horses, oxen) to livestock, after outbreaks of cattle disease in the 1860s. One consequence was the establishment of veterinary colleges, schools and laboratories.

Partnerships:

As we have seen, expert advice from South Asianists at local universities has had a tremendous impact on the development of the project. After phase 1, all our applications have had the help of an academic advisor, who writes a detailed letter of support on the resource, its importance and relevance to researchers. In-depth text for the website is provided by experts in this field, though this service is not always available. This is partly due to the uncertainty of the outcomes of applications to the Trust, and consequences on time commitments of partners. However, their advice on the significance of various parts of the collection has been invaluable. Existing partnerships have also led to other developments. With our academic partners at Strathclyde, we applied for an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Collaborative Doctoral Award, and our post-graduate student, Chris Gill, is now working on the veterinary reports for his PhD, “The Civil Veterinary Departments of British India 1876-1947: science, medicine and power in a colonial context”, and he will be contributing to the website text. Our collaborative work with Strathclyde on the project played a significant role in helping us to achieve this.

5 Very timeously, the Scottish Government (SG) now have an “India Plan” as part of their International Framework which aims to develop scientific, trade, tourism, educational and cultural links between Scotland and India:” We will in particular look to further work we can do to strengthen links with India, recognising its tremendous potential research ability and capability that exists within this developing economy and the strong and growing educational links between Scotland and India. [1]“ Contact between the SG and relevant ministries in India with regard to drawing up a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) would significantly aid partnerships with institutions in India, and these negotiations will take place soon. A NLS representative recently attended a high-level meeting at the Scottish Government to discuss possible collaborative projects. One of these will be a partnership between the National Library of Scotland and the National Library of India (NLI). The NLI is well aware of the fragility of their collections, and is scanning English books and documents published before 1900 and Indian publications before 1920. One of the ways we could collaborate might be to scan their medical archives and publications and add these to our Medical History website. We have sent a proposal to the Wellcome Trust that we send a team comprising curator(s), conservator, and an academic advisor to the NLI in Kolkata to collect detailed information on their medical holdings. At present, they have no online catalogue and are relying on out- dated British Museum catalogues. They have advised us that some of the material is in a poor state (book worm, damp, etc.) and so this partnership project will not only add valuable complementary material to the website, but will preserve at risk collections.

Other plans:

The project is featured in various blogs and portals (e.g. SARAI: South Asia Resource Access on the Internet, and also academic websites, including Harvard, Columbia and McGill universities. The website has a good profile on the Internet, and we have an informative and colourful leaflet. The project was heavily promoted during the 2009 Kolkata Book Fair. We will continue with promotional activities, including presentations at conferences.

More plans for the future of the project include digitising the remainder of the medical material, and then adding complementary NLS manuscripts (doctor’s diaries, letters, etc.) and rare books to the website. As we identify further partners and collections, we will seek further additions to the site. These may include collections elsewhere in India, such as the National Archives in Delhi, and the Grant Medical College in Mumbai. An exhibition on “Plagues & Pandemics” is also planned, which will draw on material in the database.

References:

[1] Scottish Government. International Framework. [monograph on the Internet]. 2008. Available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/221041/0059464.pdf

Bibliography:

6 Bala, Poonam. Medicine and medical policies in India: social and historical perspectives. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books; 2007.

Crawford, Dirom Grey. A History of the Indian Medical Service, 1600-1913. Calcutta: Thacker; 1914.

Desotwitz, Robert S. The Capers. NY: WW Norton; 1991.

Harrison, Mark. Public health in British India: Anglo-Indian preventive medicine 1859-1914. Cambridge: CUP; 1994.

Hodges, Sarah. ‘Looting’ the Lock Hospital in Colonial Madras during the famine years of the 1870s. Social History of Medicine, 2005; 18(3):379-398.

Imperial Library. Catalogue of the Imperial Library, part IV: catalogue of Indian Official Publications. Vol. I, A-L. Calcutta: 1909.

Jaggi, O.P. Medicine in India: modern period. New Delhi: OUP; 2000.

Kumar, Anil. Medicine and the Raj: British medical policy in India, 1835-1911. New Delhi: Sage; 1998.

Library of Congress. International study on the impact of copyright law on digital preservation: a joint report of the Library of Congress National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, JISC, the Open Access to Knowledge (OAK) Law Project, the SURFfoundation [monograph on the Internet]. September, 2008 [cited 2009 March 10th]. Available from: http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/library/resources/pubs/docs/digital_preservati on_final_report2008.pdf

Mills, James H. Cannabis Britannica: empire, trade, and prohibition, 1800-1928. Oxford: OUP; 2003.

Padfield, Tim. Copyright for archivists and records managers. 3rd ed. London: Facet; 2007.

Varatharajan, V. and Chandrashekara, M. Digital library initiatives at higher education and research institutions in India. Library Philosophy and Practice [serial on the Internet]. 2007 Dec; [cited 2009 March 19th]. Available from: http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~mbolin/vara-chandra.pdf

Youngs, Karla. Managing the digitisation of library, archive and museum materials. London: National preservation Office; 2001. Online resources:

Medical History of British India web feature at: http://www.nls.uk/indiapapers/index.html

Official Publications Unit at: http://www.nls.uk/collections/officialpublications/index.html

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India Papers at: http://www.nls.uk/collections/officialpublications/collections/india_papers.html

NLS OPU blog at: http://nlsopublog.blogspot.com/

SAALG at: http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/bldept/apac/saalg/index.html

JISC Digital Media at: http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/

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