For years, Sikh studies scholar Madanjit Kaurs vast collection lay stacked in a storeroom in her Mohali house. Little did she realise that the guard had been selling the priceless heritage she had collected over years, bit by bit. As age caught up, she worried about what would happen to the treasure trove of knowledge. Around this time, she came to know of the Panjab Digital Library (PDL), which had been digitising manuscripts. Realising that if whatever remained of her books, manuscripts, coins, photographs and paintings was digitised in time, all knowledge might not be lost.
PDL turns 20 this month and has digitally preserved over 65 million pages, a monumental achievement towards safeguarding Punjabs memory for future generations. Among those whose collections have been digitised are poet Harnam Singh Shan, Dr Gurdev Singh Sidhu, Gurdarshan Singh Dhillon, photographer SB Durga, Giani Gurdit Singh, Bhai Sikander Singh, Kulwant Singh Musafir and many more.