{"id":24,"date":"2014-01-13T21:26:09","date_gmt":"2014-01-13T21:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biblionalia.info\/leah\/?p=24"},"modified":"2014-01-13T21:37:39","modified_gmt":"2014-01-13T21:37:39","slug":"searching-for-digitized-manuscripts-the-british-library-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.biblionalia.info\/leah\/blog\/2014\/01\/13\/searching-for-digitized-manuscripts-the-british-library-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Searching for Digitized Manuscripts: The British Library, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Psst! You can find part 1 here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

So the British Library is in the process of phasing out one database of digitized manuscripts, \u00a0Digitized Manuscripts site (DM)<\/a>, in favor of another, \u00a0Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts (CIM)<\/a>. \u00a0This post is going to focus on searching the DM.<\/p>\n

Before we get too far in here, remember that you\u2019re not going to find everything in the DM. \u00a0The only things that can be found here reliably are the Cotton manuscripts – that is, any manuscript with the word \u201cCotton\u201d in the shelfmark. So, the Lindisfarne Gospels, AKA Cotton MS Nero D.IV, are going to be in the DM. \u00a0Also note that the DM is being tinkered with because it is going away, so don\u2019t be surprised if things don\u2019t load correctly or you get an error.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/a>

The British Library DM: Simple Search<\/h2>\n

This search method isn’t labeled “simple search” like it is in CIM. Rather, it’s just the simple search box that’s on the first page of the DM.\"\"<\/p>\n

If you know the shelfmark designation, you can throw it in here. \u00a0Otherwise you could search for a keyword. \u00a0I don\u2019t really recommend using this keyword function the same way you would when searching the CIM, since it\u2019s basically a full-text search of a manuscript\u2019s metadata – you know, that big long block of text that covers the language, physical description, ownership, and bibliography. \u00a0Not everything has specific descriptions of images or features, so don\u2019t think of it that way. \u00a0Instead, think of using it as the \u201ccommon name\u201d search for a manuscript.<\/p>\n

When I think of the Lindisfarne Gospels, I don\u2019t say in my head, \u201cOh! That\u2019s Cotton MS Nero D.IV!\u201d \u00a0I think of them as the Lindisfarne Gospels, or else, \u201cthe Hiberno-Saxon gospels with the fun initials and display text.\u201d If I just type \u201cLindisfarne\u201d in the keyword search, I\u2019m going to get anything with Lindisfarne as part of it\u2019s data. This is going to be more than just the Lindisfarne Gospels that I want, so I could also narrow it down by date range, or just pay attention to my search results.\"\"<\/p>\n

Each result is going to have the shelfmark, a brief description which often includes the common name, and a date or date range of creation. \u00a0You can narrow your results significantly if you know the shelfmark of an item.<\/p>\n

Clicking on the result takes me to the Manuscript Display page. \u00a0This details all the fun information about the manuscript that the library has. \u00a0Below this is the meat of the thing – the digitized manuscript itself. \u00a0Because of the way manuscript images are scanned and stored in the DM, the folios are often divided up into sections. You can still leaf through the whole manuscript in one smooth go, but if you\u2019re looking for a specific folio, you can click directly on the section that has it to save you some clicking time.\"\"<\/p>\n

I have to say, I love the viewer that the DM has. You get a full page, or a full page spread, or a folio, and you can really zoom in to see detail. \u00a0There\u2019s no easy way to save images apart from taking a screenshot (or using Window\u2019s Snipping Tool, if you have Windows 7 or higher). But if you’re like me, you have a computer nearby when you’re doing scribal stuff anyway.\"\"<\/p>\n<\/a>

Browse<\/h2>\n

This isn\u2019t really a search so much as it is an outline of the various collections within the BL\u2019s array of manuscripts – which is really cool! \u00a0A lot of these collections link you back to either the CIM or the BL\u2019s digitization blog<\/a>. \u00a0This spot also features highlighted items, such as the St. Cuthbert Gospel and Henry VIII\u2019s Psalter.<\/p>\n<\/a>

Search<\/h2>\n

Clicking \u201csearch\u201d in the top bar navigation takes you to the same Advanced Search page that you would get if you clicked the corresponding link in the Simple Search box.\"\"<\/p>\n

In this search, the fields are broken up to better represent the metadata fields in the manuscript details. \u00a0If you wanted to see items from a particular date range that were from a specific area (such as Lindisfarne), you could adjust the date slider and type in the terms in the \u201cProvenance\/Acquisition\u201d field. \u00a0If you were looking for works by a particular scribe (maybe Matthew Paris?) you could search under \u201cAuthor\/Scribe.\u201d \u00a0Lots of possibilities here.<\/p>\n

Again, I will note that while I adore the \u201chands-on\u201d view of the manuscripts that the DM provides, I find that searching the CIM is much more user friendly, especially if you don\u2019t have a particular item in mind.<\/p>\n

Then again, when it comes to browsing manuscripts based on image content, date, and region, nothing beats what I\u2019ve got in store for you from the University of Oxford. Stay tuned!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Psst! You can find part 1 here.) So the British Library is in the process of phasing out one database of digitized manuscripts, \u00a0Digitized Manuscripts site (DM), in favor of another, \u00a0Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts (CIM). \u00a0This post is going to focus on searching the DM. Before we get too far in here, remember that … Continue reading “Searching for Digitized Manuscripts: The British Library, Part 2”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,8],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eTPU-o","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.biblionalia.info\/leah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.biblionalia.info\/leah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.biblionalia.info\/leah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.biblionalia.info\/leah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.biblionalia.info\/leah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.biblionalia.info\/leah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.biblionalia.info\/leah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions\/27"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.biblionalia.info\/leah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.biblionalia.info\/leah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.biblionalia.info\/leah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}