To develop and promote access to the National Resource in Palaeography and Western manuscript studies by a range of initiatives:
The Thesaurus for Manuscript Studies comprises terms used to describe the manuscript book in all its aspects. It is a prototype stand-alone electronic tool that provides researchers everywhere with a controlled vocabulary of specialised terms, arranged hierarchically. It serves primarily as a searchers’ thesaurus by offering an intellectual map of the field of Manuscript Studies, keywords for constructing search strategies, and scope notes to each term. The Thesaurus can also be used as an indexing thesaurus to enhance traditional subject indexes based on the Library of Congress Subject Headings. In order to maximise its effectiveness for end-user searching and retrieval the Thesaurus will be recommended as a standard for subject indexing in this field.
Work on the Thesaurus for Manuscript Studies is researcher-led and, through our distinguished body of expert advisors and the dissemination strategy, currently receiving much positive feedback and support from a wide international audience.
The thesaurus construction and content is in line with the standards ISO 2788-1986 and BS 5723:1987, Establishment and Development of Monolingual Thesauri, and takes into account the newer American standard ANSI/NISO 239.19-1993, Guidelines for the Construction, Format, and Management of Monolingual Thesauri.
Retroconversion work at the three partner libraries has been completed. The prototype Palaeography Online Bibliography provides a platform for unified searches on manuscripts-related resources across the catalogues of the University of London Library, and the Universities of Durham and Liverpool. We are testing a powerful meta-search engine (Cheshire) at the University of Liverpool aiming to make other contributory databases and resources, such as the HUMBUL catalogue for example, searchable in this distributed environment.
As part of the Project’s exit strategy, the University of London Library proposes to develop an innovative resource discovery and retrieval service for the researchers of manuscripts everywhere - an International Portal for Manuscript and Book Studies.
The Portal will be developed as a collaborative effort with partner institutions and will be firmly grounded in the hybrid environment of the University of London Library. The subject coverage will include access to manuscript resources that facilitate the study of medieval/early modern history, palaeography, codicology, art history, iconography, diplomatic, history of the book, history of libraries, local and family history, genealogy and literature.
This unique virtual research environment will offer:
The Project Officer and others have been active in disseminating information about the Project. Recent activities include:
Project updates posted regularly to the Project Website.
Seminar entitled The Manuscript Book and Its Study: Enhancing Subject Access organised by the Project Officer at the RBMS Pre-Conference of the ALA Annual Meeting; San Francisco, June 2001.
Lecture entitled Standards and Vocabularies for Indexing and Retrieval: Manuscripts and Archival Materials given by Dr Patricia Harpring (Getty Research Institute), followed by a discussion panel, including the Project Officer, Louise Craven (Public Record Office), and Leonard Will (Willpower Information); University of London Library, October 2001.
Project presentation to the Consortium for European Research Libraries (CERL) pre-AGM seminar given by the Project Manager; Lyon, November 2001.
Project presentation to the Centre for Palaeography Advisory Board Meeting given by the Project Officer; Senate House, University of London, December 2001.
International Symposium entitled The Future of Manuscript Studies in a Switched-on World organised jointly by the University of London Library, the Centre for Palaeography and the Institute of English Studies (University of London), held at the Senate House, University of London, 18 March 2002, attended by over 100 delegates.
The speakers were: Dr Ian Doyle (Durham University), Ms Elizabeth Danbury (SLAIS, University College London), Ms Mura Ghosh (University of London Library), Dr Peter Orth (University of Erlangen, Germany), Dr Oliver Pickering (Brotherton Library, Leeds University), Dr Peter Robinson (De Montfort University), Professor Toshiyuki Takamiya (Keio University, Japan), and Professor Linda Voigts (University of Missouri at Kansas City). The sessions were chaired by Dr Julia Walworth (Merton College, Oxford), Professor Susan Hockey (SLAIS, University College London), and Ms Pamela Robinson (Centre for Palaeography, University of London).
Finally, a focus group to evaluate the Project, moderated by Dr Patricia Harpring and Jennifer Goodell (Getty Research Institute), was held at the University of London Library on 19 March 2002.
Retroconversion of palaeography collections at University of London Library, University of Durham and University of Liverpool
Records loaded on COPAC
Prototype Thesaurus for Manuscript Studies
Prototype Palaeography Online Bibliography
Position paper on cataloguing MS facsimiles
Position paper on MS citation forms
Final report on subject enhancement
Final report on exit strategy and continuing funding
University of London Library (lead site)
University of Durham Library
University of Liverpool Library
Project Manager
Christine WiseTel: 020 7862 8471
Fax: 020 7862 8480
E-mail: cwise@ull.ac.uk
Project Officer
Mura GhoshTel: 020 7862 8475
Fax: 020 7862 8480
E-mail: mghosh@ull.ac.uk
Content: Gill Davenport
Last updated 3 July 2002