When he inspected IMU, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, stressed that IMU should strengthen the collection, sorting and protection of Mongolian ancient documents and tap and carry forward the thought of national unity and progress in the documents to encourage the people of all ethnic groups to get united, thrive and develop together. In order to implement the spirit of the instructions of Xi Jinping, IMU has, in collaboration with Inner Mongolian Academy of Social Sciences, launched and carried out the program supported by the Government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region(IMAR)-“Project of Digitalization of Mongolian Ancient Documents”.

On December 1, 2023, to better boost the popularization and application of the achievements of the project, the Training Symposium on the Project of Digitalization of Mongolian Ancient Documents was held in Hohhot city. The symposium was hosted by IMU, Inner Mongolian Academy of Social Sciences and the Committee on the Work of Libraries of Universities and Colleges in IMAR and organized by the National & Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Intelligent Information Processing Technology for Mongolian of IMU.

Present at the symposium were over 70 attendees including the head of the Office of the Collection of Ancient Documents of Ethnic Minority Groups in IMAR, chief librarians of the libraries of the universities and colleges in IMAR, librarians of these libraries who are in charge of ancient documents in their libraries and researchers of ancient documents. The following attendees addressed the symposium. They include Fu Yutao, investigator of the Division of Science, Technology and Informatization of the Education Department of IMAR, Dahurbayar, director of the Office of Humanities and Social Sciences of IMU, Wang Zhi, chief librarian of the Library of Inner Mongolian Academy of Social Sciences, Liu Shi, director of the Committee on the Work of Libraries of Universities and Colleges in IMAR and Feilong, deputy director of the National & Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Intelligent Information Processing Technology for Mongolian of IMU. Li Hua, deputy chief librarian of IMU Library who is now in charge of IMU Library, chaired the symposium

Group picture of the attendees of the symposium

The heads and project leaders concerned address the symposium.

The symposium invited Yao Boyue, executive vice president of the Academy of Protection and Research of Ancient Documents of Tianjin Normal University and class B Professor and PhD student supervisor of the university, Xiao Long, class B research librarian of the Library of Peking University and member of Digital Humanities and Digital Scholarship SIG of International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions and Wang Yanli, associate research librarian and director of the Special Collection Division of the Library of Chongqing University to give lectures on such topics as the current situation and future development of the cataloguing of ancient documents of libraries, the protection of cultural heritage and digitalization of ancient documents and the construction and practices in the digitalization of special collections in libraries of universities and colleges. At the symposium, the training was given in the application of the platform and hardware which are related to “the Project of Digitalization of Mongolian Ancient Documents”.

Prof. Yao Boyue gives his academic lecture.

Research Librarian Xiao Long delivers her academic lecture.

Associate Research Librarian Wang Yanli gives her academic lecture.

Training in the application of the platform of the Repository for Ancient Documents of Culture in Northern Borderland of China

The program of “Project of Digitalization Mongolian Ancient Documents” has been built into the platform of the Repository for Ancient Documents of Culture in Northern Borderland of China which stores the largest number of Mongolian ancient documents and provides the most intelligent ways for retrieval and analysis. The platform provides the important support for the rescue, protection, inheritance, development and utilization of Mongolian ancient documents and plays a significant role in enhancing the development of national culture of China, reinforcing the study of Chinese history and culture, forging a stronger sense of community for the Chinese nation, building a “model autonomous region” in all aspects and consolidating and developing national unity. The success of the symposium has laid a solid foundation for the following popularization and application of the Repository for Ancient Documents of Culture in Northern Borderland of China.

Discussions among experts

Symposium