The Register of Slovenian-Language Manuscripts from the 17th and 18th Centuries: Repository, Digital Library and Research Environment

Abstract

EXTENDED ABSTRACT:The paper gives a thorough examination of the Register of Slovenian-language manuscripts from the 17th and 18th centuries from different points of view: it is presented as a digital repository in humanities disciplines available for searching (digital library) and as a methodological framework of further scholarly research and discoveries in the field. Manuscripts, especially the manuscripts of Slovenian literature, have not been sufficiently taken into consideration so far. They have always been given but a sketchy treatment serving merely to illustrate the general outlines of the nation’s literary and cultural development. They have rarely been dealt with in specialised studies or scientific publications. This is the reason why they have not been registered and recorded in archival and library collections. Different guides to manuscripts offer only basic and limited information from which it is often impossible to identify the language, the content, and the history of a manuscript. With regard to the state-of-the- art of Slovenian manuscript research in the field of Slavic studies, archival studies and codicology, it was indispensable to thoroughly record and research the preserved manuscripts by the use of a uniform, rational and consistent method. In reference to these premises a new research project has been started resulting in accurate, thorough and rigorously structured descriptions of manuscripts. The idea of Slovenian manuscript register was developed comprising manuscript descriptions complemented by digital images or facsimiles thus visually presenting the manuscripts and facilitating further research in the field.The 3-year work resulted in the portal: Unknown Slovenian-language manuscripts from the 17th and 18 th centuries. The main project result was the register of Slovenian-language manuscripts from the 17th and 18th centuries. To date, it contains detailed descriptions of the first 100 manuscripts and over 7,000 digital facsimiles. The decisive selection criterion for inclusion in the Register was that the majority of the manuscript should be written in Slovenian. The aim of the project was to register manuscripts kept in institutions in the central Slovenian region and gradually add manuscripts from other regions. One of the first was the region of Carinthia with the longest and specific manuscript tradition in Slovenia. As the general methodological framework the TEI Guidelines P5, in particular the Module for Manuscript Description was used. The encoding scheme was built upon XML standards which are typically used by similar projects in other countries. The TEI Guidelines unite several European doctrines on the subject. The TEI guidelines were strictly used without any modifications. A rich subset of TEI descriptions elements was used enabling detailed and systematic description of the materials: the content and history of a manuscript or codicological metadata on the date of the origin for a manuscript and the place of the origin for a manuscript. The XML encoding for each manuscript description was divided into four standard blocks. The XML based application was designed to enable users to access digitised manuscripts on the web. For on-line searching and reading an on-line portal was developed using the Fedora Commons server. Fedora Commons was chosen as it implements an XML-based digital document repository. The Fedora Commons server is based upon open standards and allows for construction of a repository conforming to the concept of an open archival information system. It has been widely used and has become a de-facto standard for digital archives, collections and libraries.