Presentation at "Insel der Information

Presentation at "Insel der Information", November 25th, 2008:
Bettina Wagner (SL: Bettina Ethaniel):
Incunable digitization at Munich: From the Gutenberg Bible to mass
digitization

We would like to invite you to the SIM of the Bavarian State Library
for a talk with the title "Incunable digitization at Munich: From
the Gutenberg Bible to mass digitization".
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Insel%20der%20Information/132/23/22.
The presentation will be held on 25/Nov/08, at 6pm CET, 9:00 AM SLT
by Dr. Bettina Wagner in English and follows up a symposium organized
by the Humanities Media Interface Project, Keio University, Tokyo, on
22 November in London, UK.
Abstract:
The talk will demonstrate how the Munich Gutenberg Bible is presented
online and how users can search for descriptive information in the
electronic catalogue, thus placing the Bible in various contexts,
e.g. of 15th-century Bible production, of incunable illumination or
of provenance. In addition, access points for printed illustrations
in incunabula will be shown.

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich holds the world*s largest
collection of incunabula, which currently amounts to c. 20.000 copies
of c. 9700 editions. The Munich copy of the Gutenberg Bible is one of
the most important treasures of the library. In cooperation with the
HUMI team, the Bible was digitized in October 2005 and was made
accessible freely on the internet.
In Munich, digitization of incunables and online access to the
catalogue descriptions have proceeded in close parallel. The first
digitization project started already in 1998 and focussed on
illustrated incunabula; a project for the digitization of broadsides
followed in 2000. At the same time, the printed incunable catalogue
was converted into a database and made accessible online in 2004. The
catalogue database serves as central access point to incunables and
integrates all digital images as well as additional metadata
generated in such projects. In 2008, a project for the complete
digitization of the collection was begun, and eventually, as a
complete electronic facsimile will be generated for every
15th-century edition now held in Munich. The results are not only
made accessible through the incunable catalogue database, but also
through the Bavarian union catalogue and the ISTC and GW databases.