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Orient Digital

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.

Project activities and results

Qalamos Portal

Conferences

  • “The Critical Link?” An workshop on Authority Control and Oriental Manuscripts in Libraries and Digital Humanities Projects held from 27 to 29 October 2021 at the State Library of Berlin.
  • Launch of the Qalamos database (28 June 2022)
  • International conference on “Oriental Manuscripts in Germany” (29 June to 1 July 2022)


Publications

  • Larissa Schmid: Die Entwicklung von Qalamos – das neue Portal für Handschriften aus asiatischen und afrikanischen Schrifttraditionen, in: Bibliotheksdienst 56.9 (2022), pp.  507–519, doi: 10.1515/bd-2022-0082.

Project Information

Organization
Gotha Research Library

Project Management
PD Dr. Monika E. Müller
Dr. Feras Krimsti

Project Participants
Wael Abbas

Project Partners

  • Orientabteilung der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz
  • Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München
  • IT-Abteilung des Universitätsrechenzentrums Leipzig


Duration
06/2020–05/2022

Funding
German Research Foundation


Citation link
https://gotha.digital/en/sammlungen/collection-insights/collections-detail/content/30/2?cHash=e3aad705d02cc4a077dc94014e5d9cf6
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