Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 15, No. 141.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
<http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>
[1] From: Dominik Wujastyk <ucgadkw@ucl.ac.uk> (100)
Subject: manuscript catalogues and on-line databases
[2] From: Dominik Wujastyk <ucgadkw@ucl.ac.uk> (48)
Subject: manuscript catalogues and on-line databases
[3] From: Dominik Wujastyk <ucgadkw@ucl.ac.uk> (65)
Subject: manuscript catalogues and on-line databases
--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2001 15:37:41 -0500 (EST)
From: Dominik Wujastyk <ucgadkw@ucl.ac.uk>
Subject: manuscript catalogues and on-line databases
Dear Dominik,
I have read with great interest a message you posted to humanist discussion
group. The issues you discuss directly concern my work on the development
of an electronic catalogue of medieval manuscripts at the Bodleian library.
I am not on humanist (your message was forwarded to me) but would very much
like to know whether you received any interesting replies on or off the
list. [...]
Best wishes,
Elizabeth
Dr. Elizabeth Solopova
Department of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts
Bodleian Library
Broad Street
Oxford OX1 3BG
Tel.: +44 (0)1865-277073
E-mail: es@bodley.ox.ac.uk
Internet:
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 10:50:36 +0100 (GMT Daylight Time)
From: Elizabeth Solopova <elizabeth.solopova@bodley.ox.ac.uk>
To: Dominik Wujastyk <ucgadkw@ucl.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: manuscript catalogues and on-line databases
Dear Dominik,
Thank you for your reply and forwarding the messages. I believe it is
difficult to answer your question, of whether the electronic form is
suitable for catalogues of medieval MSS, because as you pointed out
yourself, such catalogues are often somewhere in between a reference book
or a finding aid, and a research monograph. Reference books (such as
dictionaries or encyclopedias, for example) are now routinely published in
electronic form, or both in printed and electronic forms, whereas academic
books are still published in printed form because it is more convenient
for reading. A catalogue lends itself to both uses - it is likely to be
both searched and read as a book.
There is also a problem of authority of a catalogue and making it to
conform to what is required from a searchable finding aid: brevity, highly
consistent, unambiguous and structured presentation of uptodate
information. Where in a traditional library catalogue we find plainly
stated 'hard facts', in a catalogue of early MSS there are theories,
opinions and discussion of dates, origin, stemmatic relationship,
authorship and so on. These theories and opinions are likely to change,
but only slowly. They are also likely to preserve their conjectural
status, so that even if the 'generally accepted opinion' has changed, it
may be still important to know what a respected paleographer who produced
a catalogue thought about a manuscript. Because of this we chose a middle
way with our electronic catalogue: it will function as a finding aid (with
updatable entries for each manuscript containing searchable descriptions),
but we will also provide links to scanned page images of existing major
printed catalogues, whose integrity we would like to keep, and whose
authority we believe will not be entirely superseded by updating. Scholars
will be able to read them on-line (or more likely print out and read) and
quote exactly even after the electronic searchable catalogue will become
our 'official catalogue' with most uptodate information.
Electronic format offers numerous advantages of course: the information can
be quickly searched and reused, it can be illustrated (without having to
worry about space) and linked to other resources. I believe more discussion
is necessary of how catalogues can be best presented in electronic form.
I was employed by the Bodleian in early May this year to supervise this
project. My background is in medieval literature, particularly Chaucer,
linguistics and textual criticism. I worked on several projects
which involved the use of computers for textual and manuscript research.
[...]
Best wishes,
Elizabeth
Dr. Elizabeth Solopova
Department of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts
Bodleian Library
Broad Street
Oxford OX1 3BG
Tel.: +44 (0)1865-277073
E-mail: es@bodley.ox.ac.uk
Internet:
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/
--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2001 15:38:10 -0500 (EST)
From: Dominik Wujastyk <ucgadkw@ucl.ac.uk>
Subject: manuscript catalogues and on-line databases
I am most interested by all your comments and observations. The issue of
authority and its relationship to conjecture is of course vital, and you
are right to raise it. The typical OPAC for printed materials provides no
mechanism for either of these scholarly attributes. But for the working
scholar they are vital.
Another point one might raise is the issue of globalization. It is fine
for us, sitting in our industrialized democracies, at tables with
high-bandwidth data links, to talk about easy access, interesting links,
and so forth.
However, the vast majority of people, including the vast majority of
scholars, do not have easy access to these highly-developed electronic
tools. Print is long-established, cheap, portable, and durable. It can
reach the scholar in a provincial town in India, China, or South America.
Or even in Malta, Sicily, Spain, Italy, Greece, Poland, Slovakia, etc.
etc. I think that there may be some arguments about technology and
epistemological neo-colonialism or implicit disenfranchisement that are
relevant here. We should think very carefully about the ability of our
audiences to access our finding aids and cataloguing information. This
has always been an issue, of course. The card index was a severe handicap
to scholars who could not travel easily to the library. "Publication" is,
in a very real sense, an act of making public, and publication in print is
unparalleled as a means of reaching a wide audience who may not have
access to wealth or technology.
Best,
Dominik
PS, may I forward your last message to HUMANIST? I'm sure others would be
interested.
--[3]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2001 15:39:32 -0500 (EST)
From: Dominik Wujastyk <ucgadkw@ucl.ac.uk>
Subject: manuscript catalogues and on-line databases
From: Ambrogio M. Piazzoni <piazzoni@vatlib.it>
To: ucgadkw@ucl.ac.uk
Subject: manuscript catalogues and on-line databases
Dear Mr. Wujastyk,
Thank you for the Humanist Discussion Group email message requesting input
regarding manuscript catalogues and on-line databases. In response to your
questions, I would like to underline four points:
1. The electronic systems that give content to (make up the content of) the
OPACs are optimal in their function of providing "access" to information,=
=20
and an "electronic index" is much better than a printed index. [That is,=20
assuming that the electronic index is well done, that the authority file is=
=20
will checked, that cross references exist; otherwise it is easier to find=
=20
Augustinus even if I'm looking for Augustine or Agostino flipping through a=
=20
printed index]
2. The printed catalogues usually offer more information on a specific
manuscript and are, above all, much more convenient for finding information
on an entire collection. To read an entire catalogue of manuscripts may be
a good opportunity to broaden our minds.
3. Looking to have the advantage of both systems, the Vatican Library made
the "political" decision to continue to publish the manuscript catalogues=
=20
in printed books (both in detailed catalogue form, and in summary catalogue
form) and soon we will begin to put the primary data (author, title, dates,
origins, codicologic information, etc.) into electronic form (which will=20
then become available on OPAC) using the DTD worked out by TEI - Working
Group for the description of manuscripts.
4. In conclusion, and for the sake of offering the best possible service to
scholars we would like to:
=B7 Publish new catalogues in printed form; and
=B7 Publish "legacy data"(from previous printed catalogues, or card=20
catalogues, or indexes or other sources) in electronic form (OPAC).
Thank you for inquiring.
With warm regards,
Ambrogio M. Piazzoni
Ambrogio M. Piazzoni
Vice Prefetto
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
V-00120 Citta' del Vaticano
tel: +39 06.698.79441
fax: +39 06.698.85327
net: piazzoni@vatlib.it
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