The Digitization Project of the Jewish National and University Library Progress Report - 2001 Elhanan Adler Description: The first stage of the Jewish National and University Library (JNUL) digitization project was completed in 2000. JNUL finished digitizing, cataloging, and creating internet-accessibility of the library s unique ketubbot collection. Work is currently underway on several additional stages of this project including digitization of both video and audio materials. The lecture will cover the technical and bibliographic issues connected with this project. 1 2 The Jewish National and University Library Digitization Project has been made possible through a generous donation from the David and Fela Shapell Family Year 1 1999/2000 Project planning (What? How? Where?) Infrastructure and training at JNUL photographic and IT departments Initial project: ketubbot collection 3 4 1
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Year 2 2000/2001 Completion of JNUL ketubbot collection and expansion of project to other ketubbot collections Digitization of Jewish National Sound Archives [ha-fonoteka hale umit] (underway) Laor Map Collection: Maps of Jerusalem Project (underway) Community Registers / Pinkase Kehillot Project (underway) Talmudic Manuscripts Project (underway) Purchase of large capacity file server 9 10 Adding Additional Collections to the Ketubbot Project Goal: creation of a worldwide database and digital repository of ketubbot Two private collections already incorporated Initial agreement with several additional collections (private and institutional) 11 12 3
13 14 Ketubbot Project Jewish National Sound Archives First Virtual Exhibit in Preparation: Jerusalem in Ketubba Decorations By Prof. Shalom Zabar Archive contains approx. 7000 hrs. of recordings, primarily ethno-musicological field recordings Various recording formats, some at high preservation risk Project both for preservation and access Most recordings accompanied by detailed documentation 15 16 4
Stage 1: nearing completion Digitizing of approx 1100 hours of recordings on PCM Beta cassettes Recordings converted to both wav and mp3 formats Storage requirements: WAV approx. 10 mb/min. MP3 approx. 1 mb/min. Initial sample on Internet 17 18 19 20 5
Next stage Acetate magnetic tapes: field recordings Acetate phonograph records Field recordings Rare commercial recordings Kol Yisrael broadcast recordings 21 22 Laor Map Collection Initial Project: 280 Ancient Maps of Jerusalem In collaboration with the Hebrew U. Dept. of Geography Each map: metadata + initial grid map + individual segments (zoom) 23 24 6
CN AU AE TL PL PB FY YR CO LN MT SH NN NN LAOR 1064 LANGLOIS, NICOLAS ADRICHOM, CHRISTIAN VAN L'ancienne ville de Hiervsalem Paris Nicholas Langlois 1640 [1640] 342x505 mm., copperplate FRE MAP Jerusalem. 1640 Imaginary plan An exact copy of Adrichom's plan of Jerusalem (published in 1584), with the same illustrations, but on a reduced scale. 25 26 27 28 7
29 30 31 32 Community Registers (Pinkase Kehillot) Historical/Genealogical mss. From the JNUL collection First mss: Frankfurt Memorbuch: 1628-1907 8
33 34 Talmudic Manuscripts Project Goal: Presentation of all important Talmudic manuscripts with tractate+page index In collaboration with the Hebrew University Dept. of Talmud Already have agreement of many major repositories First mss.: Kaufmann Mishnah (Budapest) 35 36 9
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Project Years 3+ Continuation of ongoing projects 19th-early 20th Century Eretz Israel Hebrew Newspapers JNUL: Major manuscripts JNUL: Albert Einstein Archives Selected items from the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts [where permitted] Watch this address: http://jnul.huji.ac.il 41 42 Elhanan Adler is the Director of the Israel Center for Digital Information Services (the consortium of the Israel University libraries) and Coordinator of the Israel Universities Library Network. He also lectures in librarianship at the Hebrew University s Graduate School of Library, Archive and Information Studies and at Bar-Ilan University Department of Information Studies. 43 11