Comments on: Discussion Session Proposal: A Worldcat for Manuscripts?

By: Marlon

Marlon — Thu, 24 May 2012 00:58:51 +0000

My library just aepdtod Omeka but it has not yet been put into practice. I will probably be the first to it use for an upcoming library exhibit but have never worked with Omeka. I am hoping to have a good general over view from which new ideas can spring. Additionally, as the first user I will probably take on some training responsibilities at my institution- either student staff or other librarians.

By: katherinemcnamara.writer

katherinemcnamara.writer — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 01:05:31 +0000

May I remark on the beauty of your area’s Web site? St Gall itself has fascinated me (in pictures) for its beauty; and I’ve entered glorious monastic libraries. “Carolingian Culture at Reichenau and St Gall” is a delight for the complete non-specialist I am, for its images and guiding essays. How very nice this must be for you.

By: Ethan Gruber

Ethan Gruber — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:37:38 +0000

Cool. I’m not a manuscript specialist by any means, but I’ll look forward to talking more with you about linked data next weekend. The same methods can apply across all facets of cultural heritage.

By: jwestgard

jwestgard — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:43:35 +0000

Thank you, Ethan, for this helpful reply. I had not previously encountered the OAI-PMH initiative (for others who may read this, www.openarchives.org). You’re right, this looks like exactly the sort of thing I will need. On the other hand, I did have some familiarity with papyri.info, which is aiming for something very similar to what I would hope to achieve. The papyrologists have a leg up on my field in that they have certain databases like the Heidelberger Gesamtverzeichnis that at least come close to providing a comprehensive overview of the material. For medieval Latin manuscripts, there is pretty good coverage through the 9th century in three repertories. But after 900 there’s really nothing even close to comprehensive (and beginning in the 11th/12th centuries there’s a significant uptick in the amount of material). I hope I’ll have a chance at the camp to learn more about what you’re doing with the coins.

By: Ethan Gruber

Ethan Gruber — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 03:44:56 +0000

I think you’re right that linked data will play an integral role in the development of major networks of related objects. I don’t know the extent of linked data in papyri.info/ (a major portal for papyrology), but at the American Numismatic Society, we are building tools to support coin catalogs and working on defining numismatic concepts with URIs. Currently, we are working on a catalog of Roman Imperial coin-types (an intellectual concept in numismatics), which can link to physical specimens in various collection.

I think that you can improve access of medieval manuscripts, first, by encouraging collections to provide access to their resources with stable URIs. Second, encourage them to create an OAI-PMH service which will allow you to gather a list of URIs for their manuscripts using a harvester. This data that you gather can be used to create a portal. The technical barriers are not difficult to overcome, but collections may have varying access restrictions.