To Identifying the importance of manuscripts as historical treasures, the Ministry of Heritage and Culture established a separate department to be entrusted with the task of collecting and preserving manuscripts related to history of the sultanate from sources internally and internationally. The department has been successful in collecting over 4500 manuscripts the oldest of which refers back to the Hijri year 617.
 
The Ministry is keen to vivify the Omani Cultural Heritage by way of propagating and disseminating the richness of the historical manuscripts in fields such as jurisprudence, the Arabic language, literature, medical services, astronomy and marine sciences.
 
The Ministry has resorted to conducting a systematic indexing process followed by the indexes of the historical manuscripts. The objective of this project is to categorize and muniment these manuscripts in binders to be issued within a well designed time plan.
 
Collaborative efforts between the Ministry and (SQU) have paid off in the form of 3 parts of indexes being completed. These are:

1. Part 1: Literary Artifacts 1995

2. Part II: Literary manuscripts issued in 1996

3. Part III: History, astronomy, marine sciences and arithmetic manuscripts issued in 1999

To reach a wider number of researchers, it has been decided that these indexes be published on the website of the Ministry on the internet.