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Postage stamps and digital philately: Worldwide and Indian scenario
The International Information & Library Review (2012) 44, 28e39
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/iilr
Postage stamps and digital philately: Worldwide and Indian scenario Mangala Anil Hirwade*, Ujwala Anil Nawlakhe Department of Library and Information Science, Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, Ramdaspeth, Nagpur, Maharashtra 440010, India
KEYWORDS Stamps; Postage stamps; Philately; Digital philately; Virtual philately; WADP numbering system; WNS; Indian university stamps
Abstract ‘Postage stamps’, basically as a token for payment of postal taxes, are now being recognized as an information source and historical document in recording national achievements that visually convey four core elements: denomination, country name, graphical design, and the textual element. They are a valuable means of communication easily available anywhere to anybody. Realizing them as source of extra revenue, commemorative stamps are made available over time. The information technology (IT) wave changed the hobby of stamp collection to Digital Philately, while information and communication technology (ICT) developments accelerated the hobby further to Virtual Philately. This paper focuses on the aspects of digital and virtual philately. This study aims to evaluate The World Association for the Development of Philately (WADP) Numbering System (WNS) database, which provides free access to authentic postage stamps issued by Universal Postal Union (UPU) member countries and territories. A total of 48,159 stamps with 48 themes were found registered by 184 countries at the time of study. Indian stamps totaled 554 entries with the highest number of entries, 1258, from France, and followed by 1006 from Japan. A ranking was done using themes whereas “Fauna” was observed to be the most popular theme at 14.1% or 6800 stamps under study. For Indian stamps, politics and government, architecture and literature, press and comics are the most prevalent themes with 14.3, 9.8 and 9.8% respectively of the national contribution. The paper also presents a detailed analysis of the 15 Indian stamps commemorating the 14 Indian traditional universities issued over the 50 years of India’s independence. ª 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction Postage stamps, which are the small pieces of colorful paper issued by the government of a nation or country, are
issued with both an investment of time and care. They depict national and international achievements; commemorate institutions and personalities of national and international importance; and are used to announce both
* Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M.A. Hirwade), [email protected] (U.A. Nawlakhe). 1057-2317/$ - see front matter ª 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.iilr.2012.01.001
Postage stamps and digital philately national and international events. Primarily, they are used as a token for payment of postal taxes and support delivery of the mail and sending a message (Greenwald, 1996) due to their illustrated nature. The little piece of paper is actually an ambassador representing its country through the people, places, and history depicted on it. They are a valuable means of communication. The name stamp itself has a stamping impression on the society and is readily available anywhere to anybody. The illustration on stamps triggers a joy of understanding and a deeper understanding that can be shared by all humans without depending on a revelation. The first stamp was printed in Britain on May 06, 1840 and was used for mail; subsequently, authorities could disseminate message (information) through stamps as a medium that resulted in a source of extra revenue, thus, the first commemorative stamp was released in 1871 (Alrich & Frank, 2002). The introduction of postage stamps meant that the receipt of letters was now free of charge, whereas before stamps, it was normal for postal charges to be paid by the recipient of a letter. Over time, due to the issue of large numbers of stamps, collection activity faced a preservation problem. The information technology (IT) wave encouraged curators to think of digitization, which is resulting in Digital Philately, while accelerated information and communication technology (ICT) developments moved curators further into Virtual Philately.
Review of literature Stamps as an information source “All science is either physics or stamp collecting” Lord Rutherford stated (Wilson, 2000) at Manchester in 1962; stamp records historical facts like commemoration of events, honors individuals and institutes, and recognizes achievements. Stamps sometimes record obscure historical facts (Habashi, 2008). The records on these postal issues can be useful in overcoming the national imbalance. The history of a country, thus, can be traced with the readily available stamps. Stamps are often overlooked and read rarely and rather unusually referred to for organized knowledge; yet, stamps are still recognized worldwide for their reference value. An article, in the Journal of Recreational Mathematics (Nawlakhe, 2006) predicts the possible use of these stamps as a demonstration tool for carrying out science communication. Like any other non-book source for information such as banknotes, coins, and maps, stamps also illustrate the social, commercial, political, cultural, historical, and artistic aspects of a society in its own unique style. They use short and abstract text, color graphics and symbols on a limited surface area. Its content is the key attribute that differentiates stamps from other non-book materials. For this unique attribute, the stamp can be deemed both as a communication tool and a work of art (Hakan, 2006). Although, stamps are largely regarded as collection materials, they are a source for information. Additionally, they can be regarded as an information-recording medium and provide knowledge about the past and present efforts of
29 a nation in a variety of fields like social science, culture, politics, arts, education, tourism, sports, and economics. Visual elements of stamp Stamps bear certain visual elements. The four core elements include denomination, country name, graphical design, and textual elements (Hakan, 2006). Moreover, stamps may also contain some sort of unique and nonstandard concealed insignia. Denomination: is located at the corner of the stamp and shown in figures or Arabic numbers. Still, as the most important element, the denomination shows the commercial value of the stamp. Country name: The ‘first stamp’ carried no country name, which led to some complications, UPU acted to include the country name of the issuing country on all stamps to be printed. All Universal Postal Union (UPU) member countries and nations are required to include their names on the stamps they issue except the United Kingdom. Graphical design: The graphical design along with drawings, shapes, symbols, insignia, and numbers make up the design. Textual element: The textual element is included to elucidate the stamp theme and enhance its communication as well as to display the name of the issuing country. In addition to these required elements, invisible insignia or symbols, watermarks or holograms may be present to prevent counterfeits. Denomination on a stamp shown in numbers and/or letters may also give some information on the economy of the issuing nation. Stamp prices can change as the currency of the issuing nation changes, e.g. Old Ana system to new Paisa system in India. That marked the start of use of the new currency and stamps were reprinted according to their new value. Countries, which did not use the Latin script or only started using the Latin script at a certain point, printed their names using their original Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic, Ottoman, or Greek script. Identification of these stamps and finding the issuing country is a demanding work that requires expertise. Country names are the most important source for information on stamps. They give details on the country, region, state, city, or time period to which the stamps relate. For example, Turkish stamps since 1863 carried different textual elements based on the specific period when they were issued. They were printed in Ottoman Turkish using Arabic script during 1863e1928 and from 1928 onward they were issued in Turkish using the New Turkish Alphabet based on the Latin script. On Indian stamps one can see, Indian Postage, Republic India, India and Bharat in Devnagari Script. Graphical design on a stamp comes in four main styles. The first one is the portrait/bust illustration of the statesmen, scientists, and other leading individuals usually from the nation. For example, British stamps during 1840e1900 showed a portrait of Queen Victoria. The second style is to use the insignia comprised of flags, national symbols, the post horn, and other figures. The third is the ornament and arrangement framing the denomination. The fourth style is to illustrate anniversaries, important meetings, sports events, artworks, important days, social events, and institutions. Graphical design elements on a stamp helps to
30 provide information on its purpose, the key points it highlights, the issue the stamps is dealing with, its meaning to the community, and the message it intends to communicate. Various materials coming in a wide variety of specifications can be used to this end. Textual elements are included almost in every graphical design. Their main use is to elucidate the stamp theme and enhance its communication as well as to display the name of the issuing country. Textual elements include other components that are essential to be visible on a stamp. This includes the theme or purpose, booklet serial, and place of issue, names of the individuals, organizations or events, national mottos, and name of the stamp designer may be found on a stamp. Themes illustrated on a stamp draw public attention to items such as the Olympic Games, drug, alcohol or tobacco abuse, national days, and public awareness for certain diseases, bilateral agreements, traffic regulations, libraries and other institutions, birth or death anniversaries, institutional services, and significant technological developments. Stamps are considered to be an important source for wartime propaganda, creation of public awareness for serious diseases, promotion of artwork, fund raising for organizations (AIDS stamps), and introduction of national culture. Thus they function both as an information source and a communication tool.
Definitional analysis A stamp is a distinctive mark or impression made upon an object, a device used to make it, or a distinctive sticker applied to an object. It may also include other vouchers or records with similar purposes (The Freedictionary, 2011b). A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage (Wikipedia, 2011b). A postage stamp is a printed paper label with a gummed back for attaching to mail as an official indication that the required postage has been paid (The Freedictionary, 2011a).
M.A. Hirwade, U.A. Nawlakhe Philately is the study of stamps and its collection is considered the king of hobbies. It is equally right to say philately is a hobby of a king due to its costly nature and huge investment. Philately is perhaps the most popular pastime. Today, such a large volume of stamps is issued by the worldwide postal authorities that many prefer to concentrate on a particular theme. As a library associates with collection, philatelists like a librarian are responsible for collection development and collection management.
LIS dimension e bibliophilately To generate public awareness on different issues/ themes, we observe number of dates/years. This ‘Day/ Year Syndrome’ is mainly characterized by multi-media publicity. Messages are communicated and a variety of activities like seminars, symposia, exhibitions, popular lectures and meetings on the themes are organized. These events are more popular in the educational institutions. In regards to library science we observed 2002 as International Book Year, and 23rd April as World Book & Copyright Day. Even though Libraries and librarians are not a common themes on postage stamps and library stamps continue to be relatively scarce (Wertsman, 2006), in 1977, Leona Rostenberg, a well-known antiquarian from New York, published her series of articles entitled Bibliately in The American Philatelist magazine. The term bibliately was derived from two words: bibliography and philately. The articles contain the history of a book depicted on postage stamps, beginning with the origins of writing, even along with mural drawings, through manuscripts, first printings and printers, and history of paper to literature and its authors, illustrations, press and book fairs. George Eberhart, in 1982 used for the first time the word bibliophilately in his article published in American Libraries magazine. He defines it as derived from the Greek bibliothek (library) and philately. Bibliophilately, then in 2000, was intended to be understood as a collection including philatelic material, thematically connected with books and education (Duda, 2009). Essential subthemes of bibliophilately include:
Philately Collecting is a natural need of human beings. Originally it was required simply to survive, but with the development of civilization and with growing prosperity, it gradually changed to the acquisition and interest in beautiful and rare objects, both from the natural world and man made (Alrich & Frank, 2002). Stamp collecting became popular shortly after the issue of first stamp in 1840. Philately is the collection and study of stamps, postal history and other related items. The word “philately” is the English version of the French word “philate ´lie”, coined by Georges Herpin in 1864. He took the Greek root word phil or philo, meaning an attraction or affinity for something, and ateleia, meaning “exempt from duties and taxes” to form “philatelie”. The alternative terms “timbromania”, “timbrophily” and “timbrology” gradually fell out of use as philately gained acceptance during the 1860s (Wikipedia, 2011a).
Bibliophily and bibliology Book trade, exhibitions and promotion of books Book-bindings, printer’s marks and bookplates Books as a main theme on stamps Colleges and universities Education as a subject on stamps Great people in service of a book History of print, printing offices and printers Libraries Schools Teachers and great educationists The origins and history of manuscript Writing materials and appliances
Larry T. Nix contributed to bibliophilately in ‘The Whole Library Handbook 3’ and expanded collection interests to include library covers/envelopes, postal cards, and other items that he calls postal librarian (Nix, 2009).
Postage stamps and digital philately
Philatelic libraries and depositories There are many Philatelic libraries in existence with collections of stamps either nationwide or in some cases worldwide. These libraries provide information services for historical studies through stamps. Some countries have a deposit law such as the United Kingdom, United States of America (USA), France, Canada and so forth. In the Turkish Deposit Law (1934), instead of the ‘stamp’ word directly, they used ‘valuable papers’ that includes stamps, banknotes, and debenture bonds to name a few. Accordingly, all printed papers have to send deposit libraries that are determined by law. Turkish deposit law aims to collect postal stamps apart from tax stamps and official stamps of the nation (Hakan, 2006). Some of the national libraries and museums also have important stamp collections such as the British Museum, Smithsonian Institute, National Postal Museum, Library of Congress, Postal Museum of France, National Library of Turkey, Postal Museum Turkey, and Dutch National Bibliothek.
Problems with real collection forcing toward digitization Items of philately are common with art as both are perishable; not only because of the uncontrollable nature of past events and processes, but also from present and future preservation and care by a philatelist (Stamps R Art, 2010b). Regardless of the treatment in the past, the effects of visible light, ultra violet light, temperature, humidity, pollutants, paper, plastic and the care provided in the present, determines the future of the philatelic collection. Any ignorance knowingly or unknowingly will eventually decompose and disintegrate the paper based philatelic treasures to dust. Protective steps to care for and protect the philatelic items from the environmental effects of temperature, humidity, and pollutants are: 1. Maintaining stability of the temperature at 68 degrees Fahrenheit where the philatelic and stamp items are stored and displayed; and 2. Maintaining a stable relative humidity (RH) between 30 and 55 RH, which will reduce repeated de/absorption of water vapors. The challenge of preservation is that the medium of content is vulnerable to deterioration and catastrophic loss. The paper based philatelic items are prone to deterioration in terms of brittleness and yellowness over a long period. In order to keep the record of these postal heritage or historical documents of national origin, digitization projects provide a golden path in line with the initiative of the digital library for preserving art, culture, and heritage.
Digitization benefits and risks Digitization, also known as imaging or scanning, is the means of converting hard-copy, or non-digital records into a digital format. Digital databases in general have some salient features and potential benefits (Digitization
31 Standards, 2007) like immutability of the record, interactive and instant access to the collection, fully automated indexing and intelligent retrieval, digital reading and referencing of the materials, expanded storage, high update rates, and distributed structured workflow. Because digitization of stamps focuses primarily on digitizing images, rather than text, there are some risks, such as those associated with resolution or bit depth, compression and color management.
Digital philately Digital philately is a wide and all encompassing arm of stamp collecting. It can take the form of simple checklists, database, digital literature, and scanning material for expertization purposes, electronic exhibits, web logs (blogs), websites or any other use of the computer in the hobby as a tool to benefit collection habits. In a narrower vein, it is the use of the computer’s potential to assemble information and prepare short studies on subjects. Or perhaps even expand those studies into full-blown digital philatelic references with additional information added (Vegter, 2009). Thus, the collection of information results as useful for a number of purposes as well as a teaching tool. It makes this digital philatelic reference tool classified as literature. A digital philatelic study (DPS) is, therefore, a short work on a specific facet of a subject and a digital reference is more akin to an encyclopedia on the subject. A recent development in this arena is a competition sponsored by the New York based ‘Mega-Event’ for 2006 and 2007. The ‘Mega-Event’ defines Digital Philatelic Study as an electronic file or set of files that tells a philatelic story (Adams, 2008).
Websites Joseph Luft’s Philatelic Resources provides more than 4000 links for various websites (Luft, 2009). The World Association for the Development of Philately (WADP) Numbering System (WNS) website (WNS, 2010) is one of the tools the UPU has introduced, which is helping the posts and the philatelic market as a whole. As a consequence of this insuring legitimacy and authenticity of stamps, the WNS provides other valuable benefits to the philatelic community through English and French languages. Fig. 1 shows the website home page. WNS has an internationally uniform tool to identify stamps of recent issue; it is simple and straightforward to understand; provides a clear and concise description of individual stamps along with thumbnail, low resolution, and high-resolution images of the stamp; and the website contains several indexes for user to search (Max, 2007). It is recognized, thus, as the creation of a digital library or philatelic database or similar projects for digital philately providing opportunities for research and development personnel, teachers, scholars and industries for effective preparation and presentation of information materials and comprehensive literature using printed and digital resources.
32
M.A. Hirwade, U.A. Nawlakhe
Figure 1
Homepage of WNS philatelic website.
WADP numbering system e WNS The WADP and the UPU jointly conceived and developed the WADP Numbering System, WNS, which was launched on 1 January 2002. A postage stamp is allocated a WNS number on the basis of four specific criteria: design, face value or indication of tariff, colorimetry, and format. The WNS number comprises the ISO 3166 Alpha-2 country code (two letters), a serial number (three figures) and the year of the issue (two figures), i.e., a total of eight characters including a dot; e.g., DK012.08 representing DK Z Denmark, 012 Z Serial number and .08 Z Year. When one of the above criteria differs on another postage stamp, the stamp is given a different WNS number. The date of issue and type of presentation (sheet, booklet, miniature sheet, etc.) are not taken into account while numbering.
Research method This study focuses on the current status based on the online information retrieved freely. For the present study, a ‘descriptive’ type of research methodology is used, with a ‘survey’ as the research technique. A survey of existing and accessible WNS website and its database related to philately is carried out followed by a detailed analysis and interpretation of facts observed. The data for this paper has been collected from the search facility of the database accessed during January 2011. The paper is largely based on the review of online and print literature.
Observations WNS’ objective is to create a database of authentic postage stamps issued on or after 1 January 2002 by the UPU member countries and territories. The WNS database yields a treasure trove of information and images regarding
stamps (D-Lib Magazine, 2010) issued by 191 UPU member countries and territories (UPU, 2011). Since its beginning until today, the database has more than 48,000 entries.
Year wise analysis Table 1 represents the year wise registered stamps in the database for the nine year period of 2002e2010. Initiating with 5548 stamps from 141 countries, the database has reached a handsome figure of 48,159 stamps at the end of 2010 with average registration of 5351 stamps per year. Year 2007 had a maximum contribution of 13% (6282) while 2010 had minimum of 6.2% (2967), which may be due to ‘awaiting stamps for registration’ from many countries. Table 2 details the year wise registration of 554 stamps for India, showing maximum registration of 108 (19.5%) stamps and minimum 51 (9.2%) for 2005 with an average registration of 69 per year up to 2009; while it is ‘awaiting stamps for registration’ for 2010 even after a month lapse after the end of the year.
Table 1 Year
Year wise registration of stamps e world status. Number of stamps registered in WNS database
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
5548 5116 5504 5413 5903 6282 5811 5635 2967
Total
48,179
% 11.5 10.6 11.4 11.2 12.3 13 12.1 11.7 6.2 100
Postage stamps and digital philately Table 2
33
Year wise registration of stamps e Indian status.
Table 3
Country wise registrations in WNS database.
Year
Number of stamps registered in WNS database
%
Stamp issuing country
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
54 71 55 51 64 72 79 108 Awaiting stamps for registration
9.8 12.8 9.9 9.2 11.5 13 14.3 19.5 e
Afghanistan (AF) Agion Oros Athos (XK) Aland Islands (AX) Algeria (DZ) Andorra (F) (XD) Andorra (Spanish) (XC) Angola (AO)
82 55 138 263 103 84 158
Total
554
100
Anguilla (AI) Argentina (AR)
66 612
Armenia (AM) Aruba (AW) Australia (AU) Australian Antarctic Territory (XA) Austria (AT)
240 32 954 35 533
Azerbaijan (AZ) Azores (XE) B & H e Republic of Srpska (XH) B & H Croatian Post Mostar (XJ) Bahamas (BS)
292 76 274 73 153
Bahrain (BH)
144
Bangladesh (BD) Barbados (BB) Belarus (BY) Belgium (BE) Benin (BJ)
37 166 410 994 112
Bermuda (BM) Bolivia (BO) Bosnia & Herzegovina (BA) Botswana (BW) Brazil (BR)
188 276 286 175 418
British Indian Ocean Territories (IO) Bulgaria (BG) Burkina Faso (BF) Burundi (BI)
239 100 58 107
Country wise analysis Contribution of 184 countries is tabulated in Table 3 with an alphabetical listing along with the WNS code for the country. The database also provides links to stamp issuing authorities of 84 countries. Table 4 gives detailed information by the top ten contributing countries. France is leading with 1258 stamps and Romania stands in tenth position with 846. All top ten countries started their registration in 2002. Surprisingly, Japan as the second rank holder with 1106, the USA as the third rank holder with 1096, and Great Britain with 987 stamps and holding the sixth position amongst the top ten have no links provided in the database to the stamp issuing authority.
Theme wise analysis The registered stamps of the database are cataloged within 48 main themes and each theme is further divided into subthemes. Table 5 provides information on theme wise distribution of database entries with percentage shared by each of them listed alphabetically. The top ten contributing themes are shown in Table 6. The ‘fauna’ theme seems to be most popular with 14.1% (6800 stamps) followed by ‘architecture’ (3610 stamps) with 7.5%, ‘flora’ (3550 stamps) with 7.4%, and ‘fine arts’ (3490 stamps) with 7.3%. These themes are followed by ‘politics and government’ with 4.9% and ‘literature, press and comics’ at a 4.3% share standing ninth and tenth in ranking.
Analysis on Indian status Theme wise Indian status is presented in Table 7 for registration of stamps in the WNS database with all 48 available themes listed alphabetically along with respective percentage shares. The theme wise numbers totals to 697 against 554 entries registered for India clearly meaning some stamps are cataloged under multiple themes. Eight themes have zero entries. The top ten theme rankings are in Table 8. ‘Politics and government’ top with 79 stamps sharing 14.3% followed
Cambodia (KH)
Number of stamps registered in WNS database
36
Cameroon (CM) Canada (CA) Cape Verde (CV) Chad (TD)
14 580 103 57
Chile (CL)
311
China (People’s Rep) (CN) Christmas Island (CX) Cocos (Keeling) Islands (CC) Colombia (CO) Comoros (KM)
282 183 49 233 31
Congo (Republic) (CG) Costa Rica (CR) Cote D’Ivoire (CI) Croatia (HR)
39 156 84 365 (continued on next page)
34
M.A. Hirwade, U.A. Nawlakhe
Table 3 (continued )
Stamp issuing country
Table 3 (continued ) Number of stamps registered in WNS database
Cyprus (CY)
204
Czech Republic (CZ)
253
Lithuania (LT) Luxembourg (LU)
274 307
Macao, China (MO)
521
Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) FYROM (MK) Madagascar (MG) Madeira (XB) Malawi (MW)
256
Malaysia (MY)
386
285 473 1258 261
Maldives (MV) Mali (ML) Malta (MT) Mauritania (MR) Mayotte (YT) Mexico (MX) Moldova (MD) Monaco (MC) Montenegro (XI)
314 17 446 42 106 403 149 428 82
166
Montserrat (MS)
381
Morocco (MA) Mozambique (MZ) Myanmar (MM) Namibia (NA)
207 666 34 81
Nauru (NR)
115 184 266 736 83 42
Democratic Republic of Congo (CD) Denmark (DK) Djibouti (DJ) Dominican Republic (DO) East Timor (TL)
297 14 21 8
Ecuador (EC)
529
Eritrea (ER) Egypt (EG) Estonia (EE) Ethiopia (ET)
317 17 166 77
Faroe Islands (FO)
290
Fiji (FJ) Finland (FI) France (FR) French Polynesia (PF)
Stamp issuing country
2
French Southern and Antarctic Territories(TF) Gabon (GA) Georgia (GE) Gibraltar (GI) Great Britain (GB) Greece (GR)
36 184 69 987 153
Greenland (GL) Guatemala (GT) Haiti (HT) Hong Kong (PRC) (HK) Hungary (HU)
163 7 7 516 915
Nepal (NP) New Caledonia (NC) New Zealand (NZ) Nicaragua (NI) Niger (NE)
Iceland (IS)
263
Nigeria (NG)
India (IN) Iran (IR) Indonesia (ID) Israel (IL) Italy (IT) Jamaica (JM) Japan (JP) Kazakhstan (KZ) Kenya (KE)
Number of stamps registered in WNS database
554 458 259 427 482 171 1106 312 74
Kiribati (KI)
229
Korea Republic (KR) Kyrgyzstan (KG) Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (LA) Latvia (LV)
514 90 26 214
Lesotho (LS)
148
Liberia (LR) Libyan Jamahiriya (LY) Liechtenstein (LI)
76 25 297
Niuafo’ou (XG) Norway (NO) Oman (OM) Pakistan (PK) Panama (PA)
73 79 64
59 35 233 150 217 60
Paraguay (PY) Peru (PE) Poland (PL) Portugal (PT) Qatar (QA)
186 598 555 1029 173
Romania (RO)
846
Ross Dependency (XF) Russian Federation (RU) Rwanda (RW) Saint Lucia (LC)
36 672 4 100
Saint Pierre and Miquelon (PM)
226
San Marino (SM) Saudi Arabia (SA)
463 180
Postage stamps and digital philately
35
Table 3 (continued )
Stamp issuing country
Table 4 Number of stamps registered in WNS database
Top ten countries contributing the database.
Stamp issuing country
Number of stamps registered in WNS database
Senegal (SN) Serbia (RS)
166 185
1. France (FR) 2. Japan (JP)a
1258 1106
SerbiaeMontenegro (CS)
216
Seychelles (SC) Sierra Leone (SL) Singapore (SG) Slovakia (SK) Slovenia (SI)
64 155 391 237 342
3. United States of America (US)a 4. Portugal (PT) 5. Belgium (BE)
1096 1029 994
Solomon Islands (SB) South Africa (ZA) Spain (ES) Sri Lanka (LK) St Helena (SH) Sudan (SD)
43 184 849 284 240 96
Swaziland (SZ) Sweden (SE) Switzerland (CH) Syrian Arab Republic (SY) Tajikistan (TJ)
114 524 407 237 342
Tanzania (TZ)
488
Thailand (TH) Togo (TG) Tonga (TO) Tunisia (TN)
687 9 58 219
Turkey (TR)
502
Turks & Caicos (TC) Uganda (UG) Ukraine (UA) United Arab Emirates (AE)
109 271 664 312
United Nations (UN)
516
United States of America (US) Uruguay (UY) Uzbekistan (UZ) Vanuatu (VU) Vatican (VA)
1096 131 412 34 148
Viet Nam (VN)
350
Wallis & Futuna Islands (WF) Western Samoa (WS) Yemen (YE) Zambia (ZM)
164 4 77 209
Zimbabwe (ZW)
203
Total 184 countries
48,159
by ‘architecture’ and ‘literature, press and comics’ both contributing 9.8% (54). Ninth is ‘education’ at 4.7% and ‘theater and cinema’ with 22 entries stands tenth in the list.
6. Great Britain (GB)a
987
7. Australia (AU) 8. Hungary (HU) 9. Spain (ES) 10. Romania (RO)
954 915 849 846
a Countries without link on WNS database to the stamp issuing authority.
Indian stamps on Indian universities The theme ‘education’ has three subthemes namely schools, teachers and universities. Since the WNS database provides information from 2002, out of 554 total registrations, the search for university stamps in the database with Indian issues shows only two useful entries. Thus, other resources (India Picks, 2010; Sundar, 2010) providing information with complete reference and an online catalog on Indian stamps issued from its independence were used. All countries around the globe, whether large or small, take pride in their cultural and educational heritages. Universities share information and co-operation in the field of education, culture, sports and allied areas. They may include traditional universities, open universities, professional universities, institutes of national importance, and deemed-to-be universities. During 2008, India had 413 universities and 251 of which are state universities, 24 Central universities, 100 deemed universities, five are institutions established under state legislation, and 33 institutes of national importance which were established by an Act of Parliament. In addition, there are 20,677 colleges including 2166 that are women-only colleges (Chand & Arora, 2008). Today more than 430 universities of different categories, along with their colleges, cater to the study and research needs of India (Tikekar, 2009). Of these, 162 are traditional universities. The central universities work under the purview of the government of India’s Ministry of Human Resources Development. Despite the merits and achievements of universities in academic fields over the years, as well as the role of stamps in displaying national achievements and culture, it is very surprising to discover a lack of university themes on postage stamps. Out of thousands of stamps issued by India after independence; only a few have been issued with noted universities and not with the frequency of other topics for their philatelic repertoire. Below in Table 9, are the universities that have appeared on postage stamps, issued by India after independence with date in which they appeared.
36
M.A. Hirwade, U.A. Nawlakhe Table 6
Top ten themes contributing the WNS database.
Theme
Number of stamps registered in WNS database
%
1. Fauna 2. Architecture 3. Flora 4. Fine arts 5. Holy days & celebrations 6. Mankind 7. History 8. Sport 9. Politics & government 10. Literature, press & comics
6800 3610 3550 3490 2840 2560 2559 2490 2350 2080
14.1 7.5 7.4 7.3 5.9 5.3 5.3 5.2 4.9 4.3
Table 5 Theme wise registration of stamps in WNS database. Theme
Number of stamps registered in WNS database
%
Agriculture and food Architecture Astronomy and space Aviation Circus Economy and industry Education Energy Engineering Environment & conservation EUROPA Exhibitions, fairs and carnivals Explorers & navigation Famous people Fauna Fine arts Flora Folklore & mythology Games & toys Geography & metereology History Holy days & celebrations International organizations Literature, press & comics Mankind Medicine Meteorology Military Mineralogy & geology Music & dance National symbols Nobel prize winners Olympic games Politics & government Post & philately PUASP Religions & beliefs Royalty & monarchies Science & technology Scouting Sport Telecommunications Theater & cinema Tourism Transportation (rail) Transportation (road) Transportation (ships & navigation) United Nations
1386 3610 610 770 115 1497 626 258 500 1040 773 329 235 388 6800 3490 3550 481 445 1720 2559 2840 395 2080 2560 689 121 900 883 940 1710 75 906 2350 1770 102 1710 1240 790 321 2490 192 786 930 466 637 1190
2.9 7.5 1.3 1.6 0.2 3.1 1.3 0.5 1 2.2 1.6 0.7 0.5 0.8 14.1 7.3 7.4 1 0.9 3.6 5.3 5.9 0.8 4.3 5.3 1.4 0.3 1.9 1.8 2 3.6 0.2 1.9 4.9 3.7 0.2 3.6 2.6 1.6 0.7 5.2 0.4 1.6 1.9 1 1.3 2.5
233
0.5
Total 48 themes
After independence, India Issued three stamps in 1957 to mark the centenary of Bombay University, Calcutta University, and Madras University. Stamps are issued to mark the 50th Anniversaries of Jamia Milia Islamia (1970), Osmania University (1969), Kashi Vidyapith University (1971) and Viswabharati University and Rabindranath Tagore (1971). For the 98th anniversary, Aligarh Muslim University (1875) and Syed Ahmed Khan (1973) stamps were issued. Stamps of Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey (SNDT) Women’s University, Bombay (1976) marked their 60th Anniversary. To mark the centenary of Allahabad, University (1887), and the 40th anniversary of Panjab University, Chandigarh (1947), stamps were issued in 1989. While to mark the 75th anniversary of Benaras Hindu University and Madan Mohan Malaviya, stamps were issued in 1991. University of Roorkee (1997) and Jadavpur University got stamped in 2005 for their 53rd anniversaries and Madras University is the only university to have stamps for a second time in 2006. It took almost ten years to issue first stamp commemorating any university; however, it came out with three stamps on three universities simultaneously in 1957; then it took about twelve years (1969) for a second when it issued one stamp for a university. Thereafter, it became quite regular (still not every year) to issue stamps with university themes with issues in 1970, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1997, 2005, and 2006. Thus, after 50 years of independence, the total number of universities commemorated on stamps in any way was only 14, as is shown in Table 10. Today, the educational services of only 14 universities are commemorated by the issue of 15 stamps. It comprises one fully devoted to women and five are central universities. Looking at Table 10 showing the type of commemoration, it is observed that Indian postal services have no specific policy on stamp issues in commemoration of universities: out of 15 university stamps five are representing 50th anniversary, four are representing centenary celebration and one each for 150th, 98th, 75th, 60th, 53rd and 42nd anniversaries. Table 11 shows almost all university stamps that depict university buildings, while founders of three universities also appear and educational tools, apart from related logos and graphics, are found on one stamp. One university,
Postage stamps and digital philately
Table 7
37 Table 8 Top ten themes contribution to Indian share in WNS database.
Theme wise registration of stamps for India.
Theme
Number of stamps registered in WNS database
%
Theme
Number of stamps registered in WNS database
%
Politics & government Architecture Literature, press & comics Fauna Religions & beliefs Mankind Economy and industry Military Education Theater & cinema History Music & dance Fine arts Famous people Science & technology Aviation Flora Post & philately Environment & conservation Geography & meteorology e correct to meteorology Holy days & celebrations Sport Medicine Energy Transportation (ships & navigation) Agriculture and food Exhibitions, fairs and carnivals Transportation (rail) Mineralogy & geology Engineering Astronomy and space Olympic games Royalty & monarchies National symbols International organizations Explorers & navigation Games & toys Scouting Telecommunications United Nations Circus EUROPA Folklore & mythology Meteorology Nobel prize winners PUASP Tourism Transportation (road)
79 54 54 48 39 34 32 30 26 22 21 19 18 17 17 16 15 15 14 14
14.3 9.8 9.8 8.7 7 6.1 5.8 5.4 4.7 4 3.8 3.4 3.3 3.1 3.1 2.9 2.7 2.7 2.5 2.5
1. Politics & government 2. Architecture 3. Literature, press & comics 4. Fauna 5. Religions & beliefs 6. Mankind 7. Economy and industry 8. Military 9. Education 10. Theater & cinema
79 54 54 48 39 34 32 30 26 22
14.3 9.8 9.8 8.7 7 6.1 5.8 5.4 4.7 4
12 12 11 9 9
2.2 2.2 2 1.6 1.6
8 8
1.4 1.4
8 7 6 5 4 4 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1.4 1.3 1.1 0.9 0.7 0.7 0.5 0.4 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 48 themes
Table 9
Indian stamps on Indian universities.
S.N.
University
Yr. of establishment
Yr. of issues
1. 2. 3 4. 5. 6.
Bombay University Calcutta University Madras University Osmania University Jamia Milia Islamiaa Kashi Vidyapith University Viswabharati Universitya Aligarh Muslim Universitya S.N.D.T. Women’s University Allahabad Universitya Panjab University Benaras Hindu Universitya University of Roorkee Jadavpur University
1857 1857 1857 1919 1920 1921
1957 1957 1957, 2006 1969 1970 1971
1921
1971
1875
1973
1916
1976
1887 1947 1915
1987 1989 1991
1947 1952
1997 2005
7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. a
Central universities.
Table 10
Indian universities commemoration on stamps.
S.N.
Type of commemoration
Number of universities
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
150th Anniversary Centenary celebration 75th Anniversary 60th Anniversary 50th Anniversary
01 04 01 01 05
38
M.A. Hirwade, U.A. Nawlakhe
Table 11
Depiction on the university stamps.
S.N.
University
Commemoration
Depiction
1. 2. 3 4. 5. 6.
Bombay University Calcutta University Madras University Osmania University Jamia Milia Islamia Kashi Vidyapith University Viswabharati University Aligarh Muslim University S.N.D.T. Women’s’ University Allahabad University Panjab University Benaras Hindu University University of Roorkee Jadavpur University
Centenary Centenary Centenary 50th Anniversary 50th Anniversary 50th Anniversary
Building Building Building Building Building Building
50th Anniversary
60th Anniversary
Building & founder Building & founder Building
Centenary
Building
42nd Anniversary 75th Anniversary
Building Building & founder Building
Madras University
150th Anniversary
7. 8. 9.
10. 11. 12. 13. 14.
15.
98th Anniversary
50th Anniversary 53rd Anniversary
Building & edu. tools Building
University of Madras, has been commemorated twice depicting its building on both stamps.
Conclusion On the Internet, collectors can tap into a world of stamp collecting information and resources. It provides the opportunities to conduct every facet of the hobby. The Internet, on one hand, makes it easier to acquire stamps and discuss them with fellow collectors to zip through the Internet to scout for what they want; on the other hand, if one cannot afford the actual stamps for collection, good scans can be found for cyber/virtual collecting through the Internet. The IT era has evolved the formatting of philately with tools such as graphic software, audio-visual, digital exhibits, and literature. The WNS can be viewed as an international initiative in the building of an authentic database of digitized stamp images. The ICT development accelerates the evolution of philately from format of real collection to digital and then to virtual; still keeping the passion as the other in their own. The nature of philately is undergoing its most dramatic change in history. This new electronic world is making philately more exciting and enjoyable than ever before! Even though universities are recognized for their valuable role in educating young generations of citizens of the nation and the importance of such institutions in the shaping of a national culture is well accepted, the fact remains that universities are not adequately represented on postal stamps, not issued regularly, and not an important subject
on the agendas of postal administrations. Universities on stamps are relatively rare compared to other topics, issued irregularly, and in many years, even decades, entirely remain absent from the Indian philatelic repertoire. We urge the postal administrations to include university publications like books, journals/periodicals, university related buildings that may include university libraries, university colleges, educational tools and university related personalities like university founders or academicians for depiction while issuing commemorative stamps. The postal administrations are further requested to have specific policies on their schedules and issue university stamps on a regular basis. These topics are the pride of a culture and heritage preservation, thus, they deserve much more attention. UNESCO should have the same agenda and energetically lobby for the above cause. Let us hope our aim will be achieved in the not-too-distant future.
References Adams, F. (2008). Digital philately. Viewed 04.01.10.. Duda, J. (2009). Bibliofilatalia. Viewed 18.12.09. . Greenwald, R. A. (1996). The postage stamp: carrying the mail and carrying the message. Available online at . Habashi, F. (2008). Postage stamps: Metallurgy, art and history. Sainte Foy, Canada: Metallurgie Extractive Quebec. India Picks. (2010). . Luft, J. (2009). Philatelic resources. . Nix, L. T. (2009). Postal librariana. Viewed 18.12.10. . Stamps R Art. (2010). Viewed 08.01.10. . Max, S. (2007). The WADP numbering system (WNS). Philatelic Graphics, 29(2), 17e19. Sundar, R. (2010). India stamps from 1947 to 2010: India yearwise stamps. . The Freedictionary. (2011a). Postage stamp definition. Accessed 31.01.11. The Freedictionary. (2011b). Stamp definition. Accessed on 31.01.11. Tikekar, A. C. (2009). Towards 21st century academic libraries and librarianship. ICAL 2009 e vision and roles of the future academic libraries (pp. 45e50).
Postage stamps and digital philately UPU. (2011). Member countries. Accessed on 31.01.11. Wertsman, V. F. (2006). Multicultural postage librariana, part II: libraries and archives on stamps around the globe. Multicultural Review, Spring, 46e49. Wikipedia. (2011a). Philately. Accessed on 24.01.11.
39 Wikipedia. (2011b). Postage stamp definition. Accessed on 24.01.11. Wilson, R. J. (2000). Stamping through mathematics. Springer. WNS Web Site. (2010). English language. .
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/iilr
Postage stamps and digital philately: Worldwide and Indian scenario Mangala Anil Hirwade*, Ujwala Anil Nawlakhe Department of Library and Information Science, Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, Ramdaspeth, Nagpur, Maharashtra 440010, India
KEYWORDS Stamps; Postage stamps; Philately; Digital philately; Virtual philately; WADP numbering system; WNS; Indian university stamps
Abstract ‘Postage stamps’, basically as a token for payment of postal taxes, are now being recognized as an information source and historical document in recording national achievements that visually convey four core elements: denomination, country name, graphical design, and the textual element. They are a valuable means of communication easily available anywhere to anybody. Realizing them as source of extra revenue, commemorative stamps are made available over time. The information technology (IT) wave changed the hobby of stamp collection to Digital Philately, while information and communication technology (ICT) developments accelerated the hobby further to Virtual Philately. This paper focuses on the aspects of digital and virtual philately. This study aims to evaluate The World Association for the Development of Philately (WADP) Numbering System (WNS) database, which provides free access to authentic postage stamps issued by Universal Postal Union (UPU) member countries and territories. A total of 48,159 stamps with 48 themes were found registered by 184 countries at the time of study. Indian stamps totaled 554 entries with the highest number of entries, 1258, from France, and followed by 1006 from Japan. A ranking was done using themes whereas “Fauna” was observed to be the most popular theme at 14.1% or 6800 stamps under study. For Indian stamps, politics and government, architecture and literature, press and comics are the most prevalent themes with 14.3, 9.8 and 9.8% respectively of the national contribution. The paper also presents a detailed analysis of the 15 Indian stamps commemorating the 14 Indian traditional universities issued over the 50 years of India’s independence. ª 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction Postage stamps, which are the small pieces of colorful paper issued by the government of a nation or country, are
issued with both an investment of time and care. They depict national and international achievements; commemorate institutions and personalities of national and international importance; and are used to announce both
* Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M.A. Hirwade), [email protected] (U.A. Nawlakhe). 1057-2317/$ - see front matter ª 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.iilr.2012.01.001
Postage stamps and digital philately national and international events. Primarily, they are used as a token for payment of postal taxes and support delivery of the mail and sending a message (Greenwald, 1996) due to their illustrated nature. The little piece of paper is actually an ambassador representing its country through the people, places, and history depicted on it. They are a valuable means of communication. The name stamp itself has a stamping impression on the society and is readily available anywhere to anybody. The illustration on stamps triggers a joy of understanding and a deeper understanding that can be shared by all humans without depending on a revelation. The first stamp was printed in Britain on May 06, 1840 and was used for mail; subsequently, authorities could disseminate message (information) through stamps as a medium that resulted in a source of extra revenue, thus, the first commemorative stamp was released in 1871 (Alrich & Frank, 2002). The introduction of postage stamps meant that the receipt of letters was now free of charge, whereas before stamps, it was normal for postal charges to be paid by the recipient of a letter. Over time, due to the issue of large numbers of stamps, collection activity faced a preservation problem. The information technology (IT) wave encouraged curators to think of digitization, which is resulting in Digital Philately, while accelerated information and communication technology (ICT) developments moved curators further into Virtual Philately.
Review of literature Stamps as an information source “All science is either physics or stamp collecting” Lord Rutherford stated (Wilson, 2000) at Manchester in 1962; stamp records historical facts like commemoration of events, honors individuals and institutes, and recognizes achievements. Stamps sometimes record obscure historical facts (Habashi, 2008). The records on these postal issues can be useful in overcoming the national imbalance. The history of a country, thus, can be traced with the readily available stamps. Stamps are often overlooked and read rarely and rather unusually referred to for organized knowledge; yet, stamps are still recognized worldwide for their reference value. An article, in the Journal of Recreational Mathematics (Nawlakhe, 2006) predicts the possible use of these stamps as a demonstration tool for carrying out science communication. Like any other non-book source for information such as banknotes, coins, and maps, stamps also illustrate the social, commercial, political, cultural, historical, and artistic aspects of a society in its own unique style. They use short and abstract text, color graphics and symbols on a limited surface area. Its content is the key attribute that differentiates stamps from other non-book materials. For this unique attribute, the stamp can be deemed both as a communication tool and a work of art (Hakan, 2006). Although, stamps are largely regarded as collection materials, they are a source for information. Additionally, they can be regarded as an information-recording medium and provide knowledge about the past and present efforts of
29 a nation in a variety of fields like social science, culture, politics, arts, education, tourism, sports, and economics. Visual elements of stamp Stamps bear certain visual elements. The four core elements include denomination, country name, graphical design, and textual elements (Hakan, 2006). Moreover, stamps may also contain some sort of unique and nonstandard concealed insignia. Denomination: is located at the corner of the stamp and shown in figures or Arabic numbers. Still, as the most important element, the denomination shows the commercial value of the stamp. Country name: The ‘first stamp’ carried no country name, which led to some complications, UPU acted to include the country name of the issuing country on all stamps to be printed. All Universal Postal Union (UPU) member countries and nations are required to include their names on the stamps they issue except the United Kingdom. Graphical design: The graphical design along with drawings, shapes, symbols, insignia, and numbers make up the design. Textual element: The textual element is included to elucidate the stamp theme and enhance its communication as well as to display the name of the issuing country. In addition to these required elements, invisible insignia or symbols, watermarks or holograms may be present to prevent counterfeits. Denomination on a stamp shown in numbers and/or letters may also give some information on the economy of the issuing nation. Stamp prices can change as the currency of the issuing nation changes, e.g. Old Ana system to new Paisa system in India. That marked the start of use of the new currency and stamps were reprinted according to their new value. Countries, which did not use the Latin script or only started using the Latin script at a certain point, printed their names using their original Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic, Ottoman, or Greek script. Identification of these stamps and finding the issuing country is a demanding work that requires expertise. Country names are the most important source for information on stamps. They give details on the country, region, state, city, or time period to which the stamps relate. For example, Turkish stamps since 1863 carried different textual elements based on the specific period when they were issued. They were printed in Ottoman Turkish using Arabic script during 1863e1928 and from 1928 onward they were issued in Turkish using the New Turkish Alphabet based on the Latin script. On Indian stamps one can see, Indian Postage, Republic India, India and Bharat in Devnagari Script. Graphical design on a stamp comes in four main styles. The first one is the portrait/bust illustration of the statesmen, scientists, and other leading individuals usually from the nation. For example, British stamps during 1840e1900 showed a portrait of Queen Victoria. The second style is to use the insignia comprised of flags, national symbols, the post horn, and other figures. The third is the ornament and arrangement framing the denomination. The fourth style is to illustrate anniversaries, important meetings, sports events, artworks, important days, social events, and institutions. Graphical design elements on a stamp helps to
30 provide information on its purpose, the key points it highlights, the issue the stamps is dealing with, its meaning to the community, and the message it intends to communicate. Various materials coming in a wide variety of specifications can be used to this end. Textual elements are included almost in every graphical design. Their main use is to elucidate the stamp theme and enhance its communication as well as to display the name of the issuing country. Textual elements include other components that are essential to be visible on a stamp. This includes the theme or purpose, booklet serial, and place of issue, names of the individuals, organizations or events, national mottos, and name of the stamp designer may be found on a stamp. Themes illustrated on a stamp draw public attention to items such as the Olympic Games, drug, alcohol or tobacco abuse, national days, and public awareness for certain diseases, bilateral agreements, traffic regulations, libraries and other institutions, birth or death anniversaries, institutional services, and significant technological developments. Stamps are considered to be an important source for wartime propaganda, creation of public awareness for serious diseases, promotion of artwork, fund raising for organizations (AIDS stamps), and introduction of national culture. Thus they function both as an information source and a communication tool.
Definitional analysis A stamp is a distinctive mark or impression made upon an object, a device used to make it, or a distinctive sticker applied to an object. It may also include other vouchers or records with similar purposes (The Freedictionary, 2011b). A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage (Wikipedia, 2011b). A postage stamp is a printed paper label with a gummed back for attaching to mail as an official indication that the required postage has been paid (The Freedictionary, 2011a).
M.A. Hirwade, U.A. Nawlakhe Philately is the study of stamps and its collection is considered the king of hobbies. It is equally right to say philately is a hobby of a king due to its costly nature and huge investment. Philately is perhaps the most popular pastime. Today, such a large volume of stamps is issued by the worldwide postal authorities that many prefer to concentrate on a particular theme. As a library associates with collection, philatelists like a librarian are responsible for collection development and collection management.
LIS dimension e bibliophilately To generate public awareness on different issues/ themes, we observe number of dates/years. This ‘Day/ Year Syndrome’ is mainly characterized by multi-media publicity. Messages are communicated and a variety of activities like seminars, symposia, exhibitions, popular lectures and meetings on the themes are organized. These events are more popular in the educational institutions. In regards to library science we observed 2002 as International Book Year, and 23rd April as World Book & Copyright Day. Even though Libraries and librarians are not a common themes on postage stamps and library stamps continue to be relatively scarce (Wertsman, 2006), in 1977, Leona Rostenberg, a well-known antiquarian from New York, published her series of articles entitled Bibliately in The American Philatelist magazine. The term bibliately was derived from two words: bibliography and philately. The articles contain the history of a book depicted on postage stamps, beginning with the origins of writing, even along with mural drawings, through manuscripts, first printings and printers, and history of paper to literature and its authors, illustrations, press and book fairs. George Eberhart, in 1982 used for the first time the word bibliophilately in his article published in American Libraries magazine. He defines it as derived from the Greek bibliothek (library) and philately. Bibliophilately, then in 2000, was intended to be understood as a collection including philatelic material, thematically connected with books and education (Duda, 2009). Essential subthemes of bibliophilately include:
Philately Collecting is a natural need of human beings. Originally it was required simply to survive, but with the development of civilization and with growing prosperity, it gradually changed to the acquisition and interest in beautiful and rare objects, both from the natural world and man made (Alrich & Frank, 2002). Stamp collecting became popular shortly after the issue of first stamp in 1840. Philately is the collection and study of stamps, postal history and other related items. The word “philately” is the English version of the French word “philate ´lie”, coined by Georges Herpin in 1864. He took the Greek root word phil or philo, meaning an attraction or affinity for something, and ateleia, meaning “exempt from duties and taxes” to form “philatelie”. The alternative terms “timbromania”, “timbrophily” and “timbrology” gradually fell out of use as philately gained acceptance during the 1860s (Wikipedia, 2011a).
Bibliophily and bibliology Book trade, exhibitions and promotion of books Book-bindings, printer’s marks and bookplates Books as a main theme on stamps Colleges and universities Education as a subject on stamps Great people in service of a book History of print, printing offices and printers Libraries Schools Teachers and great educationists The origins and history of manuscript Writing materials and appliances
Larry T. Nix contributed to bibliophilately in ‘The Whole Library Handbook 3’ and expanded collection interests to include library covers/envelopes, postal cards, and other items that he calls postal librarian (Nix, 2009).
Postage stamps and digital philately
Philatelic libraries and depositories There are many Philatelic libraries in existence with collections of stamps either nationwide or in some cases worldwide. These libraries provide information services for historical studies through stamps. Some countries have a deposit law such as the United Kingdom, United States of America (USA), France, Canada and so forth. In the Turkish Deposit Law (1934), instead of the ‘stamp’ word directly, they used ‘valuable papers’ that includes stamps, banknotes, and debenture bonds to name a few. Accordingly, all printed papers have to send deposit libraries that are determined by law. Turkish deposit law aims to collect postal stamps apart from tax stamps and official stamps of the nation (Hakan, 2006). Some of the national libraries and museums also have important stamp collections such as the British Museum, Smithsonian Institute, National Postal Museum, Library of Congress, Postal Museum of France, National Library of Turkey, Postal Museum Turkey, and Dutch National Bibliothek.
Problems with real collection forcing toward digitization Items of philately are common with art as both are perishable; not only because of the uncontrollable nature of past events and processes, but also from present and future preservation and care by a philatelist (Stamps R Art, 2010b). Regardless of the treatment in the past, the effects of visible light, ultra violet light, temperature, humidity, pollutants, paper, plastic and the care provided in the present, determines the future of the philatelic collection. Any ignorance knowingly or unknowingly will eventually decompose and disintegrate the paper based philatelic treasures to dust. Protective steps to care for and protect the philatelic items from the environmental effects of temperature, humidity, and pollutants are: 1. Maintaining stability of the temperature at 68 degrees Fahrenheit where the philatelic and stamp items are stored and displayed; and 2. Maintaining a stable relative humidity (RH) between 30 and 55 RH, which will reduce repeated de/absorption of water vapors. The challenge of preservation is that the medium of content is vulnerable to deterioration and catastrophic loss. The paper based philatelic items are prone to deterioration in terms of brittleness and yellowness over a long period. In order to keep the record of these postal heritage or historical documents of national origin, digitization projects provide a golden path in line with the initiative of the digital library for preserving art, culture, and heritage.
Digitization benefits and risks Digitization, also known as imaging or scanning, is the means of converting hard-copy, or non-digital records into a digital format. Digital databases in general have some salient features and potential benefits (Digitization
31 Standards, 2007) like immutability of the record, interactive and instant access to the collection, fully automated indexing and intelligent retrieval, digital reading and referencing of the materials, expanded storage, high update rates, and distributed structured workflow. Because digitization of stamps focuses primarily on digitizing images, rather than text, there are some risks, such as those associated with resolution or bit depth, compression and color management.
Digital philately Digital philately is a wide and all encompassing arm of stamp collecting. It can take the form of simple checklists, database, digital literature, and scanning material for expertization purposes, electronic exhibits, web logs (blogs), websites or any other use of the computer in the hobby as a tool to benefit collection habits. In a narrower vein, it is the use of the computer’s potential to assemble information and prepare short studies on subjects. Or perhaps even expand those studies into full-blown digital philatelic references with additional information added (Vegter, 2009). Thus, the collection of information results as useful for a number of purposes as well as a teaching tool. It makes this digital philatelic reference tool classified as literature. A digital philatelic study (DPS) is, therefore, a short work on a specific facet of a subject and a digital reference is more akin to an encyclopedia on the subject. A recent development in this arena is a competition sponsored by the New York based ‘Mega-Event’ for 2006 and 2007. The ‘Mega-Event’ defines Digital Philatelic Study as an electronic file or set of files that tells a philatelic story (Adams, 2008).
Websites Joseph Luft’s Philatelic Resources provides more than 4000 links for various websites (Luft, 2009). The World Association for the Development of Philately (WADP) Numbering System (WNS) website (WNS, 2010) is one of the tools the UPU has introduced, which is helping the posts and the philatelic market as a whole. As a consequence of this insuring legitimacy and authenticity of stamps, the WNS provides other valuable benefits to the philatelic community through English and French languages. Fig. 1 shows the website home page. WNS has an internationally uniform tool to identify stamps of recent issue; it is simple and straightforward to understand; provides a clear and concise description of individual stamps along with thumbnail, low resolution, and high-resolution images of the stamp; and the website contains several indexes for user to search (Max, 2007). It is recognized, thus, as the creation of a digital library or philatelic database or similar projects for digital philately providing opportunities for research and development personnel, teachers, scholars and industries for effective preparation and presentation of information materials and comprehensive literature using printed and digital resources.
32
M.A. Hirwade, U.A. Nawlakhe
Figure 1
Homepage of WNS philatelic website.
WADP numbering system e WNS The WADP and the UPU jointly conceived and developed the WADP Numbering System, WNS, which was launched on 1 January 2002. A postage stamp is allocated a WNS number on the basis of four specific criteria: design, face value or indication of tariff, colorimetry, and format. The WNS number comprises the ISO 3166 Alpha-2 country code (two letters), a serial number (three figures) and the year of the issue (two figures), i.e., a total of eight characters including a dot; e.g., DK012.08 representing DK Z Denmark, 012 Z Serial number and .08 Z Year. When one of the above criteria differs on another postage stamp, the stamp is given a different WNS number. The date of issue and type of presentation (sheet, booklet, miniature sheet, etc.) are not taken into account while numbering.
Research method This study focuses on the current status based on the online information retrieved freely. For the present study, a ‘descriptive’ type of research methodology is used, with a ‘survey’ as the research technique. A survey of existing and accessible WNS website and its database related to philately is carried out followed by a detailed analysis and interpretation of facts observed. The data for this paper has been collected from the search facility of the database accessed during January 2011. The paper is largely based on the review of online and print literature.
Observations WNS’ objective is to create a database of authentic postage stamps issued on or after 1 January 2002 by the UPU member countries and territories. The WNS database yields a treasure trove of information and images regarding
stamps (D-Lib Magazine, 2010) issued by 191 UPU member countries and territories (UPU, 2011). Since its beginning until today, the database has more than 48,000 entries.
Year wise analysis Table 1 represents the year wise registered stamps in the database for the nine year period of 2002e2010. Initiating with 5548 stamps from 141 countries, the database has reached a handsome figure of 48,159 stamps at the end of 2010 with average registration of 5351 stamps per year. Year 2007 had a maximum contribution of 13% (6282) while 2010 had minimum of 6.2% (2967), which may be due to ‘awaiting stamps for registration’ from many countries. Table 2 details the year wise registration of 554 stamps for India, showing maximum registration of 108 (19.5%) stamps and minimum 51 (9.2%) for 2005 with an average registration of 69 per year up to 2009; while it is ‘awaiting stamps for registration’ for 2010 even after a month lapse after the end of the year.
Table 1 Year
Year wise registration of stamps e world status. Number of stamps registered in WNS database
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
5548 5116 5504 5413 5903 6282 5811 5635 2967
Total
48,179
% 11.5 10.6 11.4 11.2 12.3 13 12.1 11.7 6.2 100
Postage stamps and digital philately Table 2
33
Year wise registration of stamps e Indian status.
Table 3
Country wise registrations in WNS database.
Year
Number of stamps registered in WNS database
%
Stamp issuing country
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
54 71 55 51 64 72 79 108 Awaiting stamps for registration
9.8 12.8 9.9 9.2 11.5 13 14.3 19.5 e
Afghanistan (AF) Agion Oros Athos (XK) Aland Islands (AX) Algeria (DZ) Andorra (F) (XD) Andorra (Spanish) (XC) Angola (AO)
82 55 138 263 103 84 158
Total
554
100
Anguilla (AI) Argentina (AR)
66 612
Armenia (AM) Aruba (AW) Australia (AU) Australian Antarctic Territory (XA) Austria (AT)
240 32 954 35 533
Azerbaijan (AZ) Azores (XE) B & H e Republic of Srpska (XH) B & H Croatian Post Mostar (XJ) Bahamas (BS)
292 76 274 73 153
Bahrain (BH)
144
Bangladesh (BD) Barbados (BB) Belarus (BY) Belgium (BE) Benin (BJ)
37 166 410 994 112
Bermuda (BM) Bolivia (BO) Bosnia & Herzegovina (BA) Botswana (BW) Brazil (BR)
188 276 286 175 418
British Indian Ocean Territories (IO) Bulgaria (BG) Burkina Faso (BF) Burundi (BI)
239 100 58 107
Country wise analysis Contribution of 184 countries is tabulated in Table 3 with an alphabetical listing along with the WNS code for the country. The database also provides links to stamp issuing authorities of 84 countries. Table 4 gives detailed information by the top ten contributing countries. France is leading with 1258 stamps and Romania stands in tenth position with 846. All top ten countries started their registration in 2002. Surprisingly, Japan as the second rank holder with 1106, the USA as the third rank holder with 1096, and Great Britain with 987 stamps and holding the sixth position amongst the top ten have no links provided in the database to the stamp issuing authority.
Theme wise analysis The registered stamps of the database are cataloged within 48 main themes and each theme is further divided into subthemes. Table 5 provides information on theme wise distribution of database entries with percentage shared by each of them listed alphabetically. The top ten contributing themes are shown in Table 6. The ‘fauna’ theme seems to be most popular with 14.1% (6800 stamps) followed by ‘architecture’ (3610 stamps) with 7.5%, ‘flora’ (3550 stamps) with 7.4%, and ‘fine arts’ (3490 stamps) with 7.3%. These themes are followed by ‘politics and government’ with 4.9% and ‘literature, press and comics’ at a 4.3% share standing ninth and tenth in ranking.
Analysis on Indian status Theme wise Indian status is presented in Table 7 for registration of stamps in the WNS database with all 48 available themes listed alphabetically along with respective percentage shares. The theme wise numbers totals to 697 against 554 entries registered for India clearly meaning some stamps are cataloged under multiple themes. Eight themes have zero entries. The top ten theme rankings are in Table 8. ‘Politics and government’ top with 79 stamps sharing 14.3% followed
Cambodia (KH)
Number of stamps registered in WNS database
36
Cameroon (CM) Canada (CA) Cape Verde (CV) Chad (TD)
14 580 103 57
Chile (CL)
311
China (People’s Rep) (CN) Christmas Island (CX) Cocos (Keeling) Islands (CC) Colombia (CO) Comoros (KM)
282 183 49 233 31
Congo (Republic) (CG) Costa Rica (CR) Cote D’Ivoire (CI) Croatia (HR)
39 156 84 365 (continued on next page)
34
M.A. Hirwade, U.A. Nawlakhe
Table 3 (continued )
Stamp issuing country
Table 3 (continued ) Number of stamps registered in WNS database
Cyprus (CY)
204
Czech Republic (CZ)
253
Lithuania (LT) Luxembourg (LU)
274 307
Macao, China (MO)
521
Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) FYROM (MK) Madagascar (MG) Madeira (XB) Malawi (MW)
256
Malaysia (MY)
386
285 473 1258 261
Maldives (MV) Mali (ML) Malta (MT) Mauritania (MR) Mayotte (YT) Mexico (MX) Moldova (MD) Monaco (MC) Montenegro (XI)
314 17 446 42 106 403 149 428 82
166
Montserrat (MS)
381
Morocco (MA) Mozambique (MZ) Myanmar (MM) Namibia (NA)
207 666 34 81
Nauru (NR)
115 184 266 736 83 42
Democratic Republic of Congo (CD) Denmark (DK) Djibouti (DJ) Dominican Republic (DO) East Timor (TL)
297 14 21 8
Ecuador (EC)
529
Eritrea (ER) Egypt (EG) Estonia (EE) Ethiopia (ET)
317 17 166 77
Faroe Islands (FO)
290
Fiji (FJ) Finland (FI) France (FR) French Polynesia (PF)
Stamp issuing country
2
French Southern and Antarctic Territories(TF) Gabon (GA) Georgia (GE) Gibraltar (GI) Great Britain (GB) Greece (GR)
36 184 69 987 153
Greenland (GL) Guatemala (GT) Haiti (HT) Hong Kong (PRC) (HK) Hungary (HU)
163 7 7 516 915
Nepal (NP) New Caledonia (NC) New Zealand (NZ) Nicaragua (NI) Niger (NE)
Iceland (IS)
263
Nigeria (NG)
India (IN) Iran (IR) Indonesia (ID) Israel (IL) Italy (IT) Jamaica (JM) Japan (JP) Kazakhstan (KZ) Kenya (KE)
Number of stamps registered in WNS database
554 458 259 427 482 171 1106 312 74
Kiribati (KI)
229
Korea Republic (KR) Kyrgyzstan (KG) Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (LA) Latvia (LV)
514 90 26 214
Lesotho (LS)
148
Liberia (LR) Libyan Jamahiriya (LY) Liechtenstein (LI)
76 25 297
Niuafo’ou (XG) Norway (NO) Oman (OM) Pakistan (PK) Panama (PA)
73 79 64
59 35 233 150 217 60
Paraguay (PY) Peru (PE) Poland (PL) Portugal (PT) Qatar (QA)
186 598 555 1029 173
Romania (RO)
846
Ross Dependency (XF) Russian Federation (RU) Rwanda (RW) Saint Lucia (LC)
36 672 4 100
Saint Pierre and Miquelon (PM)
226
San Marino (SM) Saudi Arabia (SA)
463 180
Postage stamps and digital philately
35
Table 3 (continued )
Stamp issuing country
Table 4 Number of stamps registered in WNS database
Top ten countries contributing the database.
Stamp issuing country
Number of stamps registered in WNS database
Senegal (SN) Serbia (RS)
166 185
1. France (FR) 2. Japan (JP)a
1258 1106
SerbiaeMontenegro (CS)
216
Seychelles (SC) Sierra Leone (SL) Singapore (SG) Slovakia (SK) Slovenia (SI)
64 155 391 237 342
3. United States of America (US)a 4. Portugal (PT) 5. Belgium (BE)
1096 1029 994
Solomon Islands (SB) South Africa (ZA) Spain (ES) Sri Lanka (LK) St Helena (SH) Sudan (SD)
43 184 849 284 240 96
Swaziland (SZ) Sweden (SE) Switzerland (CH) Syrian Arab Republic (SY) Tajikistan (TJ)
114 524 407 237 342
Tanzania (TZ)
488
Thailand (TH) Togo (TG) Tonga (TO) Tunisia (TN)
687 9 58 219
Turkey (TR)
502
Turks & Caicos (TC) Uganda (UG) Ukraine (UA) United Arab Emirates (AE)
109 271 664 312
United Nations (UN)
516
United States of America (US) Uruguay (UY) Uzbekistan (UZ) Vanuatu (VU) Vatican (VA)
1096 131 412 34 148
Viet Nam (VN)
350
Wallis & Futuna Islands (WF) Western Samoa (WS) Yemen (YE) Zambia (ZM)
164 4 77 209
Zimbabwe (ZW)
203
Total 184 countries
48,159
by ‘architecture’ and ‘literature, press and comics’ both contributing 9.8% (54). Ninth is ‘education’ at 4.7% and ‘theater and cinema’ with 22 entries stands tenth in the list.
6. Great Britain (GB)a
987
7. Australia (AU) 8. Hungary (HU) 9. Spain (ES) 10. Romania (RO)
954 915 849 846
a Countries without link on WNS database to the stamp issuing authority.
Indian stamps on Indian universities The theme ‘education’ has three subthemes namely schools, teachers and universities. Since the WNS database provides information from 2002, out of 554 total registrations, the search for university stamps in the database with Indian issues shows only two useful entries. Thus, other resources (India Picks, 2010; Sundar, 2010) providing information with complete reference and an online catalog on Indian stamps issued from its independence were used. All countries around the globe, whether large or small, take pride in their cultural and educational heritages. Universities share information and co-operation in the field of education, culture, sports and allied areas. They may include traditional universities, open universities, professional universities, institutes of national importance, and deemed-to-be universities. During 2008, India had 413 universities and 251 of which are state universities, 24 Central universities, 100 deemed universities, five are institutions established under state legislation, and 33 institutes of national importance which were established by an Act of Parliament. In addition, there are 20,677 colleges including 2166 that are women-only colleges (Chand & Arora, 2008). Today more than 430 universities of different categories, along with their colleges, cater to the study and research needs of India (Tikekar, 2009). Of these, 162 are traditional universities. The central universities work under the purview of the government of India’s Ministry of Human Resources Development. Despite the merits and achievements of universities in academic fields over the years, as well as the role of stamps in displaying national achievements and culture, it is very surprising to discover a lack of university themes on postage stamps. Out of thousands of stamps issued by India after independence; only a few have been issued with noted universities and not with the frequency of other topics for their philatelic repertoire. Below in Table 9, are the universities that have appeared on postage stamps, issued by India after independence with date in which they appeared.
36
M.A. Hirwade, U.A. Nawlakhe Table 6
Top ten themes contributing the WNS database.
Theme
Number of stamps registered in WNS database
%
1. Fauna 2. Architecture 3. Flora 4. Fine arts 5. Holy days & celebrations 6. Mankind 7. History 8. Sport 9. Politics & government 10. Literature, press & comics
6800 3610 3550 3490 2840 2560 2559 2490 2350 2080
14.1 7.5 7.4 7.3 5.9 5.3 5.3 5.2 4.9 4.3
Table 5 Theme wise registration of stamps in WNS database. Theme
Number of stamps registered in WNS database
%
Agriculture and food Architecture Astronomy and space Aviation Circus Economy and industry Education Energy Engineering Environment & conservation EUROPA Exhibitions, fairs and carnivals Explorers & navigation Famous people Fauna Fine arts Flora Folklore & mythology Games & toys Geography & metereology History Holy days & celebrations International organizations Literature, press & comics Mankind Medicine Meteorology Military Mineralogy & geology Music & dance National symbols Nobel prize winners Olympic games Politics & government Post & philately PUASP Religions & beliefs Royalty & monarchies Science & technology Scouting Sport Telecommunications Theater & cinema Tourism Transportation (rail) Transportation (road) Transportation (ships & navigation) United Nations
1386 3610 610 770 115 1497 626 258 500 1040 773 329 235 388 6800 3490 3550 481 445 1720 2559 2840 395 2080 2560 689 121 900 883 940 1710 75 906 2350 1770 102 1710 1240 790 321 2490 192 786 930 466 637 1190
2.9 7.5 1.3 1.6 0.2 3.1 1.3 0.5 1 2.2 1.6 0.7 0.5 0.8 14.1 7.3 7.4 1 0.9 3.6 5.3 5.9 0.8 4.3 5.3 1.4 0.3 1.9 1.8 2 3.6 0.2 1.9 4.9 3.7 0.2 3.6 2.6 1.6 0.7 5.2 0.4 1.6 1.9 1 1.3 2.5
233
0.5
Total 48 themes
After independence, India Issued three stamps in 1957 to mark the centenary of Bombay University, Calcutta University, and Madras University. Stamps are issued to mark the 50th Anniversaries of Jamia Milia Islamia (1970), Osmania University (1969), Kashi Vidyapith University (1971) and Viswabharati University and Rabindranath Tagore (1971). For the 98th anniversary, Aligarh Muslim University (1875) and Syed Ahmed Khan (1973) stamps were issued. Stamps of Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey (SNDT) Women’s University, Bombay (1976) marked their 60th Anniversary. To mark the centenary of Allahabad, University (1887), and the 40th anniversary of Panjab University, Chandigarh (1947), stamps were issued in 1989. While to mark the 75th anniversary of Benaras Hindu University and Madan Mohan Malaviya, stamps were issued in 1991. University of Roorkee (1997) and Jadavpur University got stamped in 2005 for their 53rd anniversaries and Madras University is the only university to have stamps for a second time in 2006. It took almost ten years to issue first stamp commemorating any university; however, it came out with three stamps on three universities simultaneously in 1957; then it took about twelve years (1969) for a second when it issued one stamp for a university. Thereafter, it became quite regular (still not every year) to issue stamps with university themes with issues in 1970, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1997, 2005, and 2006. Thus, after 50 years of independence, the total number of universities commemorated on stamps in any way was only 14, as is shown in Table 10. Today, the educational services of only 14 universities are commemorated by the issue of 15 stamps. It comprises one fully devoted to women and five are central universities. Looking at Table 10 showing the type of commemoration, it is observed that Indian postal services have no specific policy on stamp issues in commemoration of universities: out of 15 university stamps five are representing 50th anniversary, four are representing centenary celebration and one each for 150th, 98th, 75th, 60th, 53rd and 42nd anniversaries. Table 11 shows almost all university stamps that depict university buildings, while founders of three universities also appear and educational tools, apart from related logos and graphics, are found on one stamp. One university,
Postage stamps and digital philately
Table 7
37 Table 8 Top ten themes contribution to Indian share in WNS database.
Theme wise registration of stamps for India.
Theme
Number of stamps registered in WNS database
%
Theme
Number of stamps registered in WNS database
%
Politics & government Architecture Literature, press & comics Fauna Religions & beliefs Mankind Economy and industry Military Education Theater & cinema History Music & dance Fine arts Famous people Science & technology Aviation Flora Post & philately Environment & conservation Geography & meteorology e correct to meteorology Holy days & celebrations Sport Medicine Energy Transportation (ships & navigation) Agriculture and food Exhibitions, fairs and carnivals Transportation (rail) Mineralogy & geology Engineering Astronomy and space Olympic games Royalty & monarchies National symbols International organizations Explorers & navigation Games & toys Scouting Telecommunications United Nations Circus EUROPA Folklore & mythology Meteorology Nobel prize winners PUASP Tourism Transportation (road)
79 54 54 48 39 34 32 30 26 22 21 19 18 17 17 16 15 15 14 14
14.3 9.8 9.8 8.7 7 6.1 5.8 5.4 4.7 4 3.8 3.4 3.3 3.1 3.1 2.9 2.7 2.7 2.5 2.5
1. Politics & government 2. Architecture 3. Literature, press & comics 4. Fauna 5. Religions & beliefs 6. Mankind 7. Economy and industry 8. Military 9. Education 10. Theater & cinema
79 54 54 48 39 34 32 30 26 22
14.3 9.8 9.8 8.7 7 6.1 5.8 5.4 4.7 4
12 12 11 9 9
2.2 2.2 2 1.6 1.6
8 8
1.4 1.4
8 7 6 5 4 4 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1.4 1.3 1.1 0.9 0.7 0.7 0.5 0.4 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 48 themes
Table 9
Indian stamps on Indian universities.
S.N.
University
Yr. of establishment
Yr. of issues
1. 2. 3 4. 5. 6.
Bombay University Calcutta University Madras University Osmania University Jamia Milia Islamiaa Kashi Vidyapith University Viswabharati Universitya Aligarh Muslim Universitya S.N.D.T. Women’s University Allahabad Universitya Panjab University Benaras Hindu Universitya University of Roorkee Jadavpur University
1857 1857 1857 1919 1920 1921
1957 1957 1957, 2006 1969 1970 1971
1921
1971
1875
1973
1916
1976
1887 1947 1915
1987 1989 1991
1947 1952
1997 2005
7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. a
Central universities.
Table 10
Indian universities commemoration on stamps.
S.N.
Type of commemoration
Number of universities
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
150th Anniversary Centenary celebration 75th Anniversary 60th Anniversary 50th Anniversary
01 04 01 01 05
38
M.A. Hirwade, U.A. Nawlakhe
Table 11
Depiction on the university stamps.
S.N.
University
Commemoration
Depiction
1. 2. 3 4. 5. 6.
Bombay University Calcutta University Madras University Osmania University Jamia Milia Islamia Kashi Vidyapith University Viswabharati University Aligarh Muslim University S.N.D.T. Women’s’ University Allahabad University Panjab University Benaras Hindu University University of Roorkee Jadavpur University
Centenary Centenary Centenary 50th Anniversary 50th Anniversary 50th Anniversary
Building Building Building Building Building Building
50th Anniversary
60th Anniversary
Building & founder Building & founder Building
Centenary
Building
42nd Anniversary 75th Anniversary
Building Building & founder Building
Madras University
150th Anniversary
7. 8. 9.
10. 11. 12. 13. 14.
15.
98th Anniversary
50th Anniversary 53rd Anniversary
Building & edu. tools Building
University of Madras, has been commemorated twice depicting its building on both stamps.
Conclusion On the Internet, collectors can tap into a world of stamp collecting information and resources. It provides the opportunities to conduct every facet of the hobby. The Internet, on one hand, makes it easier to acquire stamps and discuss them with fellow collectors to zip through the Internet to scout for what they want; on the other hand, if one cannot afford the actual stamps for collection, good scans can be found for cyber/virtual collecting through the Internet. The IT era has evolved the formatting of philately with tools such as graphic software, audio-visual, digital exhibits, and literature. The WNS can be viewed as an international initiative in the building of an authentic database of digitized stamp images. The ICT development accelerates the evolution of philately from format of real collection to digital and then to virtual; still keeping the passion as the other in their own. The nature of philately is undergoing its most dramatic change in history. This new electronic world is making philately more exciting and enjoyable than ever before! Even though universities are recognized for their valuable role in educating young generations of citizens of the nation and the importance of such institutions in the shaping of a national culture is well accepted, the fact remains that universities are not adequately represented on postal stamps, not issued regularly, and not an important subject
on the agendas of postal administrations. Universities on stamps are relatively rare compared to other topics, issued irregularly, and in many years, even decades, entirely remain absent from the Indian philatelic repertoire. We urge the postal administrations to include university publications like books, journals/periodicals, university related buildings that may include university libraries, university colleges, educational tools and university related personalities like university founders or academicians for depiction while issuing commemorative stamps. The postal administrations are further requested to have specific policies on their schedules and issue university stamps on a regular basis. These topics are the pride of a culture and heritage preservation, thus, they deserve much more attention. UNESCO should have the same agenda and energetically lobby for the above cause. Let us hope our aim will be achieved in the not-too-distant future.
References Adams, F. (2008). Digital philately. Viewed 04.01.10.
Postage stamps and digital philately UPU. (2011). Member countries.
39 Wikipedia. (2011b). Postage stamp definition.