Manuscripts and Metadata: Descriptive Metadata in Three Manuscript Catalogs: DigCIM, MALVINE, and Digital Scriptorium

The complexity of cataloging manuscripts, particularly medieval manuscripts, has meant that these materials have remained largely inaccessible to the public. The quantity and quality of the descriptive data, the time and money it takes to catalog manuscripts, and the fragility of the materials themselves explain the dearth of searchable data on these valuable resources. Even when manuscripts have been cataloged, they have often been physically available only to a few elite scholars who are able to gain access to them. Certain institutions have embarked on projects to reverse this situation. This paper deals with three of these projects: the British Library’s Digital Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts (DigCIM), a European consortium’s database entitled Manuscripts And Letters Via Integrated Networks in Europe (MALVINE), and Columbia University’s Digital Scriptorium (DS). The author explores the history of each project, compares the metadata utilized by each one through the creation of a crosswalk, and analyzes the usefulness of these catalogs to the user