On the morning of July 23, the "third training course on digital theory and practice of ancient books", which was sponsored by the National Center for the Protection of Ancient Books and the Culture Department of Tibet Autonomous Region and organized by Tibet Library, was held in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. More than 30 employees from key national ancient book collection institutions such as municipal libraries, libraries of colleges and universities, libraries of scientific research institutions, Potala Palace, Norbulingka, Jokhang Temple, Drepung Temple, Sakya Temple, Tashilhunpo Monastery, Sera Monastery and so on attended the training.

As one of the important means to protect and inherit precious ancient books, digitalization of ancient books is an indispensable part of digital cultural service system and an important part of digital library construction. It can not only effectively solve the contradiction between the protection and utilization of ancient books, but also has important significance for inheriting and carrying forward the fine traditional Chinese culture and safeguarding the security of China's cultural resources.

Zhuang Xiufen, research staff of the National Center for the Protection of Ancient Books, introduces that the state has always attached great importance to the protection of ancient Tibetan books. To promote the census of ancient books, the National Center for the Protection of Ancient Books has provided Tibet with 116 sets of equipment for the sensus and restoration of ancient books which are worth 1.1 million yuan RMB. At the same time, in order to cultivate talents, four training courses on the survey of ancient books in Tibetan have been held, with 167 participants, laying a foundation for the promotion of the survey of ancient books in Tibet.

Palbar Tsering, associate librarian of Tibet Library, says that at present, 217 ancient books in Tibet have been included in the "national list of precious ancient books". The Archives Bureau (Museum) of Tibet Autonomous Region, Potala Palace, Tibet Museum and Norbulingka have been named as "national key ancient books protection units". "Tibet library has done some digitizing work on ancient books before, but it has not formed a database, so it cannot carry out extensive promotion and service work. At present, the second batch of digitization of precious ancient book resources in the collection is being carried out. Although the quantity is not large, after the digitization, readers can search, download and browse online," says Palbar Tsering.

The census and registration of ancient books in Tibet has come to an end, and the protection work will be carried out in an all-round way. Digitization is an important part of the protection work of ancient books, and Tibet will constantly strengthen relevant work.

Palbar Tsering says that the training is an important professional training held in the closing stage of the census of ancient books in Tibet. Experts on digitization of documents and information resources of the National Library of China, experts on digitization of ancient Tibetan books, experts from the protection center of ancient books of Tibet Library and experts in related fields are invited. The training content includes the advances and assumptions of the digitization of ancient books, preservation and service of digital resources, digital processing technology and application demonstration of Tibetan ancient books and documents, cataloging of ancient Tibetan books and so on. At the same time, trainees are arranged to participate in the digital practice of ancient books to lay a good theoretical and practical foundation for the collection units of ancient books.

The successful holding of the training will certainly effectively promote the protection, arrangement and utilization of ancient Tibetan books, effectively boost the utilization, research and development ability of key ancient books collection units and libraries at all levels, and provide a powerful platform for training and strengthening professionals in digitizing ancient Tibetan books.