Orient Digital

The project “Orient Digital” is a collaborative initiative between the Berlin State Library, the Gotha Research Library, the IT department of the University Computer Centre in Leipzig and the Bavarian State Library in Munich. The aim of the project is to establish a comprehensive union catalog and portal for oriental manuscripts in Germany, including those in Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman. The three libraries in Berlin, Gotha and Munich have the largest collections of oriental manuscripts nationwide. The project is designed as a standard-setting infrastructure measure to fundamentally improve the information supply for oriental manuscripts. Libraries in Germany house extensive and diverse collections of oriental manuscripts, which constitute an invaluable part of the written heritage and whose importance as primary sources for research cannot be overstated. However, the cataloging situation is extremely heterogeneous, and the outstanding, partially digitized collections are inadequately known to the international academic community. Limited access to both historical and recently printed catalogs, isolated records in local library systems, and single database applications hinder modern research approaches. This project will integrate metadata of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish manuscripts from 20 collaborating institutions into “Orient Digital” and establish links to digitized copies. This will include almost all collections in Germany regarding the language groups mentioned above.