Medieval History
Cambridge University Library has announced visionary plans to become a digital library for the world - following a £1.5m lead gift pledged by Dr Leonard Polonsky.
Home to more than seven million books and some of the greatest collections in existence, including those of Newton and Darwin, the Library will begin digitising its priceless treasures to launch its Digital Library for the 21st Century.
University Librarian Anne Jarvis said: "Our library contains evidence of some of the greatest ideas and discoveries over two millennia. We want to make it accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world with an internet connection and a thirst for knowledge. This will not only make our collections available to the world; it will also initiate a global conversation about them.
"At the click of a mouse, students or scholars of divinity or politics, history, physics, medieval languages or the history of medicine, will be able to plunge into the worlds of Mediterranean Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities of the 11th Century, or into the minds of Isaac Newton and his contemporaries."
Dr Polonsky's generous gift will allow the University Library to set up the essential infrastructure required for this sophisticated digitisation project.
The first collections to be digitised will be entitled The Foundations of Faith and The Foundations of Science. The goal for both is that they become 'living libraries' with the capacity to grow and evolve.
The Library's faith collections are breathtaking. They include some of the oldest and most significant Qur'ans ever to be uncovered, as well an Eighth Century copy of Surat al-Anfal. The Library also holds the world's largest and most important collection of Jewish Genizah materials, including the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Collection - 193,000 fragments of manuscripts as significant as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Its Christian holdings include an incomparable collection of manuscripts including the Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis (one of the most important Greek New Testament manuscripts), the Book of Deer and the Book of Cerne.
The University Library also holds some of the world's most important records of the development of modern science - including the most comprehensive collection of Newton's papers (heavily annotated copies of Principia, lectures as Lucasian Professor and proofs of Opticks), and those of John Flamsteed and Edmond Halley, contemporaries of Newton, with whom he corresponded.
If the project proves successful (further funding is needed and other donors are being sought), the collections of scientific giants such as Charles Darwin, James Clerk Maxwell, and Stephen Hawking could also be digitised, along with other major collections in the fields of humanities and social sciences.
Jarvis added: "Faith and science will be the two cornerstones of the project, both of fundamental importance in our quest to understand the world and our place in it.
"Thanks to Dr Polonsky, we are at the start of what we believe will be an incredible journey into the digital future. Hopefully his generosity will encourage others to follow his lead so we can make one of the world's great libraries available, literally, to anyone around the world."
Dr Polonsky said: "As reading and research become increasingly electronic, my hope is that this grant will serve as a catalyst for the digitisation and linking of the great libraries of the world so that their riches can be enjoyed by a global public."
Source: University of Cambridge
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Medieval History
University of Cambridge to create Digital Library for the 21st Century
Home to more than seven million books and some of the greatest collections in existence, including those of Newton and Darwin, the Library will begin digitising its priceless treasures to launch its Digital Library for the 21st Century.
University Librarian Anne Jarvis said: "Our library contains evidence of some of the greatest ideas and discoveries over two millennia. We want to make it accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world with an internet connection and a thirst for knowledge. This will not only make our collections available to the world; it will also initiate a global conversation about them.
"At the click of a mouse, students or scholars of divinity or politics, history, physics, medieval languages or the history of medicine, will be able to plunge into the worlds of Mediterranean Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities of the 11th Century, or into the minds of Isaac Newton and his contemporaries."
Dr Polonsky's generous gift will allow the University Library to set up the essential infrastructure required for this sophisticated digitisation project.
The first collections to be digitised will be entitled The Foundations of Faith and The Foundations of Science. The goal for both is that they become 'living libraries' with the capacity to grow and evolve.
The Library's faith collections are breathtaking. They include some of the oldest and most significant Qur'ans ever to be uncovered, as well an Eighth Century copy of Surat al-Anfal. The Library also holds the world's largest and most important collection of Jewish Genizah materials, including the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Collection - 193,000 fragments of manuscripts as significant as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Its Christian holdings include an incomparable collection of manuscripts including the Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis (one of the most important Greek New Testament manuscripts), the Book of Deer and the Book of Cerne.
The University Library also holds some of the world's most important records of the development of modern science - including the most comprehensive collection of Newton's papers (heavily annotated copies of Principia, lectures as Lucasian Professor and proofs of Opticks), and those of John Flamsteed and Edmond Halley, contemporaries of Newton, with whom he corresponded.
If the project proves successful (further funding is needed and other donors are being sought), the collections of scientific giants such as Charles Darwin, James Clerk Maxwell, and Stephen Hawking could also be digitised, along with other major collections in the fields of humanities and social sciences.
Jarvis added: "Faith and science will be the two cornerstones of the project, both of fundamental importance in our quest to understand the world and our place in it.
"Thanks to Dr Polonsky, we are at the start of what we believe will be an incredible journey into the digital future. Hopefully his generosity will encourage others to follow his lead so we can make one of the world's great libraries available, literally, to anyone around the world."
Dr Polonsky said: "As reading and research become increasingly electronic, my hope is that this grant will serve as a catalyst for the digitisation and linking of the great libraries of the world so that their riches can be enjoyed by a global public."
Source: University of Cambridge
- Anglo-saxon Treasures Revealed By Parker Library Website
One of the most important collections of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts ? for centuries kept at Corpus Christi College ? has been entirely digitised, making it the first research library to have every page of its collection captured. The Parker Library was entrusted...
- Google To Digitize A Million Books From Italy
Google and the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage today announced a partnership to scan up to a million out-of-copyright Italian books from the National Libraries at Rome and Florence, making them available to readers around the world. For the first...
- Bodleian Library Unveils Plans For Renovation Of New Bodleian
Oxford University?s world-famous Bodleian Library has unveiled its plans for the restoration and renovation of the New Bodleian library building. The long-awaited project has been designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects; planning permission and Listed Building...
- Manchester Middle English Manuscripts Conference
In 2008 the John Rylands University Library, The University of Manchester, received funding from the UK's Joint Information Systems Committee to digitise its important collection of over forty Middle English manuscripts, including literary texts by...
- Parker Library Symposium
Parker Library Symposium On 6 - 7 September 2007, the Parker Library ("one of the most important small collections of English medieval manuscripts ever assembled") is hosting a Symposium on the topics of preservation ? digitisation ? scholarship ? public...