Dr. Claudia Fabian 27th June 2013 Piloting a National Programme for the Digitisation of Medieval Manuscripts in Germany y

Medieval manuscripts in Germany Of the medieval manuscripts preserved in German libraries only (7.5 %) have been digitized so far

Key role of the DFG Academic cataloguing of manuscripts – Manuscripta Mediaevalia Digitization of cultural heritage material

Piloting a National Programme – Background of the Initiative

Piloting a National Programme – Background of the Initiative Development of a national framework: masterplan Pilote phase of two years (2013 – 2015) – main phase Backbone: National bibliographies VD 16 and VD 17 Manuscripta Mediaevalia: central national database for manuscripts Various digitization projects for manuscripts

DFG Programme: Digitization of printed books described in the national bibliography VD 16

DFG Programme: Digitization of printed books described in the national bibliography VD 17 - Masterplan

VD 18: national bibliography and digital library

Digitization of Incunabula at the BSB

DFG – Practical Guidelines

Piloting a National Programme – Background of the Initiative

Piloting a National Programme – Background of the Initiative

New programme for manuscript digitization Know-how of other digitization projects Manuscripta Mediaevalia as central – DFG funded – database Manuscript digitization already achieved: –Research background –Digitization on demand –Boutique digitization –Virtual exhibit ions –Larger scale projects:

New programme for manuscript digitization Know-how of other digitization projects Manuscripta Mediaevalia as central – DFG funded – database Manuscript digitization already achieved: –Research background –Digitization on demand –Boutique digitization –Virtual exhibit ions –Larger scale projects:

Piloting a National Programme – Background of the Initiative

Piloting a National Programme – Project Approach Project Partners: Five German Manuscripts Cataloguing Centres: Staatsbibliothek Berlin, Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, München Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel The board of Manuscripta Mediaevalia Bildarchiv Foto Marburg Staatsbibliothek Berlin Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München

New funding programme Masterplan for the digitization of all medieval manuscripts in Germany 50 % DFG : incentive funding Priorities in collections Other resources for funding Open issues for digitizing manuscripts: individual, material specific standards Provision of services for smaller institutions: cataloguing and digitization Coherent access to digitized manuscripts via Manuscripta Mediaevalia

Pilote phase Eight collections Coordination of the pilote: BSB Number of manuscripts to be digitized: 891 Total number of image scans: ca

Piloting a National Programme – Project Approach Five case groups: Collections currently being catalogued BSB: St Emmeram, Ratisbon UB Leipzig: Scattered holdings around Leipzig Well-documented collections HAB Wolfenbüttel: Manuscripts of the Lüneburg Library BSB: vernacular mss. from the Munich court library (Cgm) Stuttgart: Codices biblici in folio Collections not adequately described SB Berlin: Manuscripta germanica UB Leipzig: Ms Projects induced by research interests HAB Wolfenbüttel: Gudiani latini in folio in each project: manuscripts difficult to digitize

Issues Different levels of cataloguing within or outside Manuscripta Mediaevalia Different ways of accessing the digital copy within or outside Manuscripta Mediaevalia

Questions of Priorisation - Results Priority to unknown collections or well catalogued collections? Priority to small, scattered collections - middle size collections - parts of large collections? Priority to manuscripts difficult to access? Priority to illuminated manuscripts? –100 images per day vs. 250 images per day –Impact on finances: VD17: 77 cent per image; VD18: 55 cent per image Priority to public-private-partnerships? Priority for libraries with digitization centres? Results: Catalogue record in Manuscripta Mediaevalia - access to digital copy Transfer of concise metadata to other portals Interaction between description in Manuscripta Mediaevalia and digital copy (structural metadata)

German cataloguing rules shelf mark general header heading: material, format, extent, place and date of origin codicological description collation watermarks paleographic description decoration binding history of the manuscript (provenance, acquisition etc. ) literature description of content with text incipits and explicits bibliography, entries in repertories

Piloting a National Programme – The Role of Manuscripta Mediaevalia Manuscripta Mediaevalia will provide: Basic information up to full-text academic metadata, digital images of –printed catalogues, –manuscripts and links to bibliographies and internal databases for each manuscript. Digital images with structural metadata

Developments within Manuscripta Mediaevalia Format aligning Transfer of concise manuscript information Aggregator of manuscript information Access to DFG viewer: METS / TEI Standardization of data: creation of authorized access points: Authority files for works and subjects adaptation of RDA‘s "primary relationships" (work – expression – manifestation – item) for medieval manuscripts Uniform Titles ? „Works“ Unique identifier for each manuscript = unique (art) object?

Manuscripta Mediaevalia and digital copies Perspectives: user feedback and contributions (Web 2.0 technologies), transcriptions of texts and online editions, Integration of specialized databases (watermarks, bindings, research documentation Other issues Presentation of the digital copy: zoom, turning pages, apps, 3-D-presentation Image search Virtual desktop

,,,

Similarity based image search