Programs and Projects
Department 1
Document, preserve and digitally archive ethnography and knowledge bases such as dialects, belief systems, myths, rituals, folklore, games, indigenous medicine, law and administrative systems, technologies and arts of mainstream and marginalized communities.
Department 2
Engage in and support preservation and digital archiving of written, print, multi-media and electronic resources related to Sri Lankan Tamil speaking communities.
Digital Archive of Print Publications
The Publications Archive Program digitizes all print documents which are related to Sri Lankan Tamil communities. The printed documents include Books, Magazines, Journals, Newspapers, Newsletters, Booklets, Reports, Souvenirs and Felicitations, Annual Publications, Posters, Flyers and Leaflets, Fact sheets, Invitations, Memorial Publications, Dissertations, Ephemera, Trade and Advertising Publications, and Guides and handbooks. By May 2013, Noolaham has documented 12,847 publications.
Digital Archive of Manuscripts
This program digitizes all kinds of hand written documents such as palm leaves, notebooks, letters, diaries and other hand written manuscripts. Most of these materials are unique and fragile. They need special handling and equipment to be digitized.
Multimedia Archives
This program collects and archive images, maps, video files and audio files. This program is in its initiation stage and the first phase, the Photo archive, is being developed and is expected to be online by December 2013.
Department 3
Provide knowledge and information services to ensure free and open access thereby support educational, research and development endeavors related to Sri Lankan Tamil speaking communities
Digital Library
The Digital Library program facilitates information access by users by by maintaining the information architecture of the archived information resources. Please visit www.noolaham.org to use this digital library.
Collection Development
This program focuses on creating critical mass of collections so that they can be used by students, researchers and general public to fulfill their information needs effectively. Currently four special collections and two ongoing collections are being developed by the Foundation.
Reference Collections
Noolaham aims to collect information and create in depth details about people, places, organizations and information sources. This program will be the backbone of the information architecture needed for all other programs and will become a useful reference tool. Currently information about organizations are being collected.
Pallikoodam
This is yet another ambitious program of Noolaham Foundation. This program will create comprehensive virtual learning enviornments for school and university students. This program will be implemented in 5 phases and currently the first phase, creation of a digital library for students, is being carried out.
For more details, please visit www.epallikoodam.org
Department 4
Build communities of practice, processes, technologies and standards of archival, library information sciences through communication, networking and collaboration.
Conferences and Symposiums
Conferences and Symposiums are organized to encourage inter-disciplinary research that would offer an opportunity to scholars working in the fields of history, archaeology, cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, linguistics and literary studies to draw insights from each other’s discipline in order to enhance their own research. The first project of this program TDC 2013 was held in April 2013.
Noolaham Events
Noolaham Events program focus on building volunteer communities and educating wider public on various issues including Information Literacy, Digital Library usage and digital preservation. Lectures, seminars, workshops and exhibitions will be conducted through this program. Since 2010, this program is being implemented.
Publications
Noolaham Foundation publishes books, newsletters, magazine and journal. This program is a part of the outreach strategy of the Foundation and contributes towards awareness raising and documentation as well. The first issue of Noolaham journal will be released in October 2013. Please visit Publications page to access past publications.
