Old But Gold: Your Valuable Sources From The Past

Rare books, manuscripts and special collection have significantly recorded historical documents of the country. This is why rare books, manuscripts and special collection are considered to be extremely important as a primary source of our history and events. It is also considered as a national heritage and witness of our civilization. Many of the most significant events and history have associations with this collection. Preserving and promoting this collection helps us to comprehend important societal ideals and traditions. The library, as a guardian of this collection, not only just preserve, but has to promote the special collections to the society, especially the younger generation and must not consider special collections as mere ornaments of the library. This is will make special collections feel like an empty victory despite all the effort to preserve it. In Malaysia, many still do not realize the existence and the value of the special collection. To ensure the Malaysian society recognize the importance and the existence of a special collection, the National Library of Malaysia has taken various efforts and initiatives to promote the special collection to the public. The National Library of Malaysia holds approximately 2,623 of rare books and 4,884 of Malay manuscripts. One of the Malay manuscripts titled Hang Tuah is in the UNESCO Memorial of the World Register 2001. The National Library of Malaysia is determined to not just display rare books and Malay manuscripts as museum pieces but as a usable collection and accessible to all.