Precious knowledge needs great care

be directed to getting students back into their residences and lecture theatres, the incident must serve as a spur for a national conversation on the preservation of our knowledge and history.

Libraries and museums serve as repositories of historically and culturally significant material, some of which may not be available elsewhere in the world.

They preserve knowledge accumulated by past generations, which is required to advance research and take knowledge further, and preserve heritage for future generations.

A fire or other disaster can lay waste to such documents, depriving current and future generations of their content.

Technology offers solutions which will not only ensure that information is safeguarded for future generations, but will make it far more easily and widely accessible.

The enduring allure of the printed word notwithstanding, the need for digitisation as a preservation strategy cannot be argued against.

Nearly every format held by libraries, from printed material to sound and film, can be stored in a digital format, ensuring that copies can be reproduced if the original is lost or destroyed, and that the material can be accessed from anywhere in the world.

It is imperative that funds are urgently allocated to embark on a mass project to digitally archive the country's cultural riches, before more irreplaceable material is lost in another disaster.