AMREMM/DCRM(MSS) Review Group: Final Report Appendix E: Raw survey results from Google Forms
User Needs for Single Item Manuscript Catalog Records 272 responses
1. Are you a (check as many as apply): 272 responses
Cataloger 111 (40.8%) Description archivist 46 (16.9%) Metadata specialist 25 (9.2%) Curator 48 (17.6%) Other librarian/archivist 61 (22.4%) Researcher 107 (39.3%) Faculty member 53 (19.5%) Independent scholar 34 (12.5%) Graduate student 13 (4.8%) Undergraduate student 0 (0%) Retired faculty 1 (0.4%) 1 (0.4%) Hobbyist 1 (0.4%) Collector 1 (0.4%) retired faculty 1 (0.4%) 1 (0.4%) Research services 1 (0.4%) librarian in a specia… 1 (0.4%) retired archivist 1 (0.4%) Archivist (role 1 (0.4%) encompasses 1 (0.4%) cataloguing… 1 (0.4%) rare book dealer 1 (0.4%) retired faculty member 1 (0.4%) 1 (0.4%) dealer 1 (0.4%) 1 (0.4%) 0 50 100 150 2. How often do you use the following to nd manuscripts/manuscript information for any reason?
200 Often Sometimes Never
150
100
50
0 Library catalog Specialized Printed catalogs Dealer Online inventories Sec database descriptions/ lite catalogs
Other 31 responses
Not sure if these are included in the above, but my rst choices are always the individual archive's online description of any ms. I'm interested in, and the individual archive's online publication of its own ms. inventories.
Scholars' professional papers.
reference queries to follow up likelihood of holdings
Amazon/Google
feedback from others as to sources they use
Google free text search; speci c library catalogs: Ransom; Beinecke; BnF; Doucet
Library card catalogs (assuming the library catalog choice above refers to an OPAC)
digital image collections
ArchiveGrid; WorldCat/OCLC; Google or other search engines
Bibliographies/Resource/Citations from related literature
Honestly, in a casual way, I nd lots of MSS on social media -- especially Twitter. This isn't where I go for my particular, focused research needs. But it is likely the most manuscript-saturated forum where I spend time on a daily basis. Pointers by colleagues
Colleagues at other institutions point me to other resources I was unaware of
Google (in general); ArchivesGrid
Onsite card catalogs and hand-lists
Archive lists HMC reports
Footnotes in academic publications (is this "Other?"
Online archival nding aids (which are not necessarily library catalogs, online inventories, or specialized databases)
Personal contact with archivist
RISM
archival management system
Archive catalogue (our manuscripts are not catalogued as library items)
Digital projects related to my collections
It would be dishonest to say that general googling wasn't a frequent tool
FirstSearch (OCLC which is unsatisfactory for reasons well known to the Committee)
Academic email lists with researchers and other colleagues. Often I nd the most up-to-date information is only to be found through this avenue.
In the rst instance, basic search engines (e.g. Google)
What is your de nition of online inventory?
auction records
In house acquisition records
Type something into Google and hope for the best
3. When you use a manuscript record, what is MOST important in the record? 272 responses Physical description (codic… Detailed description of the… Provenance and/or custodi… Context 69.1% It really depends. For pre-1… "Physical description" & bib… 16.5% Physical description AND D…
4. Do you search primarily for manuscripts from the period (check as many as apply): 272 responses
Pre-500 CE 9 (3.3%) 500-1000 CE 34 (12.5%) 1000-1500 CE 119 (43.8%) 1500-1800 CE 165 (60.7%) 19th century CE 136 (50%) 20th century CE and on 101 (37.1%) 1400-1600 1 (0.4%) undated papyri 1 (0.4%) 1600-present 1 (0.4%) At times, all of the above 1 (0.4%) 1 (0.4%) 0 50 100 150 200
5. How do you de ne your, or your institution's, area of focus (check as many as apply): 272 responses Historical period 200 (73 Geographical area 150 (55.1%) Language 87 (32%) Subject/genre 193 (71%) Patronage 34 (12.5%) 127 (46.7%) Collector 71 (26.1%) content (notated music) 1 (0.4%) Special Collections 1 (0.4%) 1 (0.4%) ethnic 1 (0.4%) 1 (0.4%) We have 3 collecting 1 (0.4%) areas: one is base… 1 (0.4%) Illustrations 1 (0.4%) 1 (0.4%) Any other provenance 1 (0.4%) agents 1 (0.4%) All areas 1 (0.4%) 1 (0.4%) D t d t d th
6. Do you search primarily for: 272 responses
Collections of manuscripts/… Whole manuscripts 10.7% Parts of manuscripts Individual leaves 47.1% Fragments All of the above I don't really have one prim… 31.3% Manuscripts in their extant…
1/3
7. Indicate how important these elements of the catalog record are to your research: Essential Somewhat important Not important
200
100
0
Other 36 responses
A way to search for explicitly dated manuscripts by century and to separate those from the manuscripts dated by the cataloger
What is meant by "Context"? Publication history? Other aspects of circulation / reception / transmission? If so, then extremely important
Rubrics, incipits and explicits are extremely helpful when I have to identify a literary text with no identifying information; however, I hesitate to make them mandatory in a cataloging record because sometimes the script is too di cult to transcribe; they are also not necessary for well-known, published texts
origin (date and place) and type of notation (if any)
This question seems to assume "single manuscript" means (at least a part of) a codex, rather than, e.g., a letter or non-book like document.
Languages (that should be in contents but too often is not and you have to iner it from incipit/explicit, though often enough a French MS will have Latin incipit and so on. Also like to have codicological history: previously bound with X and Y, or Bound with Z before 1400, or statements like that. Sorry, I know this is a lot to ask. But really, any and ALL info about a ms is a wonderful thing. Also: I would like the names of cataloguers so I can cite them speci cally and thank them in what I publish!!
collation
Date and location (which is somewhat different than provenance/custodial history).
individual personal names
paleography and linguistic analysis
date or range of dates; paleography (what kind of hand)
Date/s of creation; identity of creator This is perhaps a foolish admission, but I don't understand what "context" means above. topics, keywords, or interesting and unusual "tidbits" (I'm often searching for obscure things that are not always easily identi able as discrete events or subjects). Also -- geographic location and dates within the collection are both extremely important to me.
Added authors/contributors; personal names as subjects (someone mentioned in the ms, etc.)
Extent
It is important for me to know whether volume contains illustrations.
Much of the information you list (provenance, bynames, etc) is provided in secondary literature, so in a database or other catalogue I look primarily for information pertaining to the manuscript as material object.
I often look for people (not necessarily authors) so names, proper nouns are important, along with what sort of records the MS preserves. link in catalog record to a nding aid or inventory
For early MSS often need bibliographical citations, number of leaves, or call number to make secure identi cation; for more modern MSS author often is more important
As a user, I tend to consider things like physical attributes, custodial history and binding to be secondary to titles or authors, but as a cataloger I make a point of including this information for the bene t of others who rely more attributes.
For 19th & 20th C. mss., subject headings can be very useful. place of creation creator data
Shelfmark or other identi er; information about any edited text, facsimile or digital image
I'm trying to facilitate research of others, so any element can be essential, though for my own work provenance and context are increasingly more important than content (which is often better documented, historically)
Completeness.
Again, answering based on my most recent project. I can imagine all of these being important, depending on the project.
Strong controlled subject terms that provide alternative to content "notes" for discovery of the content of the manuscript
Knowing if the manuscript contains a complete text or not is often the single most important factor in my decision of whether to take the effort to access it. transcribe titles if you got em... can be important if there is one and it makes sense to use.
Identi er (shelfmark usually) is key for citation and nding the physical artifact and electronic identi ers for citing digital images.
Watermarks, if not done under physical attributes. physical description (extent) and dates
8. Where applicable, indicate how important a detailed description of each of the following is:
Essential Somewhat important Not important 150
100
50
0
Extent (nu… Measurem… Number of… Height an… Width of c… Height o
Other 24 responses
Description of the binding (even in broad terms)
The attributes listed seem to be those of a manuscript within scope of AMREMM, so I've answered the question in the context of mss of the AMREMM period -- which are few in number in my collection. My answers would be entirely different if the context were 19th and 20th century mss, for which many of these attributes would be "not important."
More detailed description of decoration & illustrations is welcome but not essential. Not just "number of columns" but Layout (including number of lines). Also essential are comment on condition (not necessarily detailed), presence of marginal glosses, corrections, ownership statements, seal impressions, readers’ notes (more detailed transcriptions are important and should be included if possible) and presence of repairs, rebinding, etc. (detailed characterization if possible, welcome but not essential). And of course bibliographic elements! (Title(s) with source(s), responsibility, Place and date of production, copyist(s), Language(s) Summary contents notes with locations of works within volume, Headings for titles and authors, Subject headings, Citations in relevant biobibliographical sources and catalogues, Transcriptions of incipit, explicit, colophon)
The problem is that you don't know what's important until it's been left out! Then you need it. Like photocopying only the parts of a hard-to- nd book you think you need at the time you make the copy, then much later discovering you can't understand those parts without having the parts you didn't copy.
First and last line of each text.
Binding components (outer cover, endpapers, paste-down, yleaves, endbands, and also board attachments). images that can be manipulated digitally
Context of creation, if known. I.e: Where, when, how, with whom, in reaction to what historical event, etc.
Need details about geographic location covered and dates of item.
All of this varies for particular search, but trying to indicate most usual staff notation, languages
Some of this is obvious (number of columes, script), so the most important information is the information that the researcher CANNOT observe directly from photos or nd in secondary literature. I am assuming of course that there are images of each folio online. lines per page (to have an idea of how dense the text is), state of conservation (and kind of damage)
Binding, dimensions, watermarks, and so forth CAN be important, but in the majority of cases the text is what counts.
Occasionally I nd collation formulas useful when pagination or foliation is lacking. The status of manuscript within the creative process seems to me to be more the domain of scholars and experts than of catalogers; I may not know enough about the work to make that determination oversize, dimension
Relationship with other items. Attachment of seals.
One problem with measurements is that many of the items with which I work have been trimmed, in many cases severely, so it's not always relevant to me.
It's unclear whether you mean just in the library catalogue record or in general here. In general I would want many of these things, but in practice they are often accessible from other sources (other catalogues, other scholarly work), and what I need from a library catalogue is just enough to match up the record with the descriptions I've found elsewhere, or to know how to order it.
Our catalog has minimal information, so while I would love to have information about number of columns and height of minims, my top priority would be things like extent, content, illustration/decoration, etc.
BINDING (fullest possible detail)
Date(s) of creation depending on the curator and their interests... i would take special care to describe any marginalia as well. 9. Do you search for authors? 271 responses
Yes Sometimes 30.3% No
66.8%
10. Do you search for titles? 272 responses
Yes 32% Sometimes No
65.1%
10a. If yes, do you search uniform or generic titles? (e.g. Summa aurea, Sententiae, Minor praticks, Divina commedia, Frankenstein, Magna carta, Corpus juris civilis, Beowulf, After the fall) 259 responses Yes 44% Sometimes No
9.7%
46.3%
11. How much transcription are you looking for, if any? 262 responses
Title 245 (93.5%) 152 (58%) Dedication 65 (24.8%) Rubrics 40 (15.3%) Incipits/explicits 107 (40.8%) Secundo folio 28 (10.7%) Colophon 123 (46.9%) Annotations 90 (34.4%) Later additions 57 (21.8%) Ex libris 112 (42.7%) Transcription of 1 (0.4%) manuscript notes 1 (0.4%) (incl… 1 (0.4%) 1 (0.4%) Well, all paratexts 1 (0.4%) would be really nic… 1 (0.4%) none. I can read. 1 (0.4%) Unless it's early mod… 1 (0.4%) Not sure. I usually 1 (0.4%) search for complet… 1 (0.4%) 1 (0.4%) If the manuscript is 1 (0.4%) completely photogr… 1 (0.4%) Contents, if applicable 1 (0.4%) 1 (0.4%) Just the indication that 1 (0.4%) thereARE such … 1 (0.4%) 0 100 200 300 12. If the cataloger devises or supplies a title, what would you like it to include (check as many as apply): 270 responses
Form/format (e.g: letter, 234 (86.7%) legal documen… 217 (80.4%) Date 220 (81.5%) Place of writing 129 (47.8%) Author/Creator 205 (75.9%) All parties involved 92 (34.1%) 1 (0.4%) All parties involved at a 1 (0.4%) "high" level,… 1 (0.4%) known textual affinities 1 (0.4%) (eg. byzantine… 1 (0.4%) Subject 1 (0.4%) provenance 1 (0.4%) Shelfmark 1 (0.4%) some attempt at 1 (0.4%) defining a subject 1 (0.4%) head… 1 (0.4%) 1 (0.4%) Enough descriptive info 1 (0.4%) to make it obvi… 1 (0.4%) Exceptions: place of 1 (0.4%) writing not import… 0 100 200 300
13. If you are looking for geographic areas, are you looking for (check as many as apply): 259 responses Countries, Rhineland, 177 (68.3%) … 175 (67.6%) 128 (49.4%) City (e.g. Paris, Peoria, 201 (77.6%) Naples, Mumba… 12 (4.6%) Dynasty (eg Abbasid, 1 (0.4%) Mamluk, Timurid, O… 1 (0.4%) Monasteries, churches, 1 (0.4%) archives (both m… 1 (0.4%) Counties 1 (0.4%) Transcribe/note 1 (0.4%) contemporary place 1 (0.4%) name… 1 (0.4%) 1 (0.4%) does not apply 1 (0.4%) Most specific available 1 (0.4%) 1 (0.4%) Sea areas / oceans etc 1 (0.4%) (for naval / mar… 1 (0 4%)
13b Do you search for area of origin or area of repository? 269 responses
Area of origin Area of repository 38.7% Both 15.2% Neither
43.5%
14. How do you like time periods given (check as many as apply): 270 responses Century (e.g. 15th 189 (70%) century, 1900s) 172 (63.7%) Parts of centuries (e.g. 147 (54.4%) first half of … 229 (84.8%) Period in cultural 46 (17%) history (e.g. late R… 37 (13.7%) Reign or term of a 54 (20%) given political lead… 33 (12.2%) I believe CE would be 1 (0.4%) the "Alternative … 1 (0.4%) AS specific as it is 1 (0.4%) possible to be, bu… 1 (0.4%) as much as possible! 1 (0.4%) 1 (0.4%) Most specific available 1 (0.4%) 1 (0.4%) Depends on what's 1 (0.4%) possible. 1 (0.4%) Most specific date 1 (0.4%) available, which cou… 1 (0.4%) 1 (0.4%) Depends on the context 1 (0.4%) of the record an… 1 (0.4%) Whatever is most 1 (0.4%) appropriate, but also … 1 (0.4%) LC subject terms for 1 (0.4%) periods in history 1 (0.4%) I usually look in the 1 (0.4%) SHM and other cat… 1 (0.4%)
15 Do you conduct subject searches to nd manuscripts? 272 responses
Yes Sometimes 40.1% No 14.3%
45.6% 15a. If no, is it because this is not available? 100 responses
Yes No 36% Online records do not alwa… na NA Subject of manuscript is of… When you say 'subject' do… n/a 48% 1/3
15b. Would you search by subject if it were available? 247 responses
Yes Maybe 25.9% No See above. I think you'd have to also create a good tutorial for how to do this. I don't think you should assume most 70% academics know how to do this...
15c. If yes, are you using a controlled vocabulary? 238 responses LCSH (Library of Congress… 42% VIAF (Virtual International… FAST (Faceted Application… Keywords (no controlled vo… I'm a little confused by this… both controlled (LCSH) and…
15d. Give an example of a subject search you have performed our would like to be able to perform: 138 responses
account books
Education
Subject headings related to status of the author (i.e., works BY women author(s), but not ABOUT them)-- perhaps more a genre/form heading, but seems inconsistently applied
Su sm
Les limbes
[topic]--Manuscripts
antiphoner, Reims, 14th century
greek papyri
Consuetudines et iusticie
Women's Writing
Tract on papal power
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
Medicine, Assyro-Babylonian; Galen. Ars medica. Arabic
poetics
book of hours--specimens
Philadelphia AND engraving
Crimean War - Literature
military manuals (15th century, English, French, Dutch)
Marriage contracts Italy Booksellers or printing devices of the sixteenth century
Early 16th Century German women's undergarments
Bryce Canyon - horseback riders islamic manuscripts 14th century show me illuminated book of hours from the 14th century in the Bordeaux region of France
Magni cat -- Commentaries
Red-to-black headings
Flemish secular manuscripts 14th century
Albums of calligraphy, painting, and drawings
Drama -- English -- medieval
General stores--South Carolina--Georgetown
Herold pelican (or other animal)
Librarians--United States & Librarians--United kingdom
Rotterdam publisher correspondence
Block printing maritime history; botanical history
Dic carciatures of the Prince Regent
Spanish Armada interpretations of the "beast" in the Greek NT book of Rev marginal comments
Bayeau Tapestry Creation
Edinburgh Co-operative Printing Company
Weather -- New England.
Bestiar* reader-response theory honestly, books of hours but with the titles in the VIAF controlled vocabulary. They are often catalogued under so many different kinds of versions of horae that they're not that easy to nd.
Australia - emigration - 19th century aquatilia Pompey
Antislavery movements crime pamphlets Elizabethan London grammar manuels
Often start with a keyword search to determine what libraries have used for subjects, and then use those subjects (more often for assigning subjects than when conducting own research)
Record type women's education
Women's travel diaries
Frankly, I think laddering is the important element of searching -- being able to go up and down in levels of speci city with regard to a record
Monroe, Louisiana Civil War
Meteorology--Charts, diagrams, etc.
_____ University--Accreditation
Agriculture
Victorian periodical travel playtext OR drama
Jacobins cookery
Books of Hours
Booksellers and bookselling -- Colportage, subscription trade, etc. bishop; heresy
Red Jews
Annunciation to the Virgin Mary herbarium + recipes
English manorial accounts
16th century English poetry commedia dell'arte
Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint -- Early works to 1800 There is not enough consistency in authorities related to my eld (medieval manuscripts) for this kind of search to be useful.
Hildegard, Saint, 1098-1179--Manuscripts medieval Islamic medicine
Virginia Company, lots of proper names of persons, libels, Polesworth (manor) verse miscellany
HMS Eclair (1844) [date to distinguish from earlier/later vessels of the same name]
Authors -- 19th century -- France -- Manuscripts
Gregorian chants--Spain
Anatomy - Lecture notes
Renaissance Theatre
Just today i searched for subject Prisoners songs.
Diaries--19th century--Speciments diagrams
MESH: Medical Radiology travel diaries, 19th century overland journeys - [speci c location]
"revolutionary war"
Natural history witchcraft, magic oxford history
Manuscripts, Gaelic--Ireland
Book of Hours - Low Countries
California history
Controlled vocabularies (any of the above in 15) are important in a catalog environment for handwritten or unique texts. They help researchers discover them parallel to published materials.
OTHER (38) 16. Do you search by genre terms? 272 responses
Yes Sometimes No 20.2% 49.3%
30.5%
16a. If no, is it because this is not available? 105 responses
Yes 61.9% No
38.1%
16b. Would you if it were available? 204 responses Yes 29.4% Maybe No
8 8%
16c. If so, what thesaurus/i do you use? 232 responses
AAT (Art & Architecture 103 (44.4%) Thesaurus (Gett… 110 (47.4%) 88 (37.9%) Keywords (no controlled 121 (52.2%) vocabulary) 1 (0.4%) Local 1 (0.4%) 1 (0.4%) All of the above, if 1 (0.4%) applicable. 1 (0.4%) gmgpc (Thesaurus for 1 (0.4%) Graphic Materials) 1 (0.4%) LCSH 1 (0.4%) 1 (0.4%) 0 50 100 150
16d. Give an example of a genre term search you have performed or would like to be able to perform: 129 responses
Diaries
liturgical
pamphlet
Correspondence
Commonplace books
Headpieces (layout features)--15th century
Virelai Manuscripts chant, Paris, 13th century codices
Customaries
Letters (correspondence)
Commendatio animae
Verse satire manuscript waste
Poetry - Romances anagram poems, sixteenth century, English (or French)
Notarial documents verse panegyric bibliophiles or book collectors
Master of Imola, show results
Stereographs, cartes-de-visite, etc
Book of Hours Rome Use specimens of calligraphy anti-slave trade petitions
Landeschronik bestiary oral history; annual report letter, contract
Grimoire satires about the Prince Regent
News pamphlet commentary, marginal notes, apocalyptic, gematria
Ancient Irish Music
Edinburgh Printers treatise Diaries.
Illuminated manuscript n/a lyric poetry crime pamphlets, sermons notebook, account book, common place book
Diaries; Correspondence are two terms I would search criminal offense type journal
Diaries--16th century--Manuscripts artists books manuscripts (documents) online video
Certi cate
Husbandry manuals scienti c romance travel writing drama, play, tragedy cookery psalters
Artists' books visitation records
Statutes of the Realm
Literature + botanicals pictorial maps
Religion genres not available yet
Again, there is little reason to search so broadly. I usually know what manuscripts I am looking for. would like to perform: Medieval chants (not the same as Gregorian) medical prescriptions satire, epigram, almanac verse commonplace book scores
Authors' annotations
Newspaper serials
Engravings
Lecture notes
Promptbooks (theatre)
Just today i searched for genre: Manuscripts for publication
Drawings
Paste edges or Paste paper bindings travelogue - [speci c location]
"Orderly books"
Stationery oratorio
Gift books
Liturgical manuscripts
Sermons -- 19th century
Liturgical books / sermons
For teaching purposes, it is nice to be able to pull up speci cs, such as a "scrapbook" with a "cyanotype" in it
Devotional calendars.
Poems
Illuminated manuscripts Carolingian commentary mcaronic poetry chapbooks sermons
Diary, woman, 16th century, England diplomatic correspondence sermon, abcedery
correspondence
diplomas, or illuminated manuscripts
Commonplace books; reciept books etc.
book of hours, mirrors for princes
Binding - England - 15th Century / Binding - England - 16th century
OTHER (22)
17a. Indicate whether you consider the following types of notes essential, useful, or not of interest (page 1 of 2):
Essential Useful Not of interest 200
150
100
50
0
Source of… Secundo f… Date of pr… Place of pr… Fictitious i… Languag
17b. Indicate whether you consider the following types of notes essential, useful, or not of interest (page 2 of 2): Essential Useful Not of interest 200
150
100
50
Other 8 responses
Re: the rst topic, relationship of this ms. to other versions: this information is too often wrong to be trustworthy in my eld.
Whether or not material has been digitized and availability of digital surrogate
I'm afraid I don't know what "byname" means.
Links to information from other catalogues like the Folger Union First Line Index or Peter Beal's Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts (Even Folger's Shakespeare Documented if it's there)
Fortune of the piece (history of owners)
Size; special features of bindings/manufacture/provenance/illumination/condition
Biographical note about creator(s)
Current and former repositories and shelfmarks range from essential (Repository) to useful (former repository's shelfmark)
18. Can you give examples of the last two or three searches you have done? 137 responses
[1] All mss in my collection by Edward Lear (on behalf of a visiting researcher). [2] All mss descriptions in my collection containing the word "wilderness" (because the term is problematic). [3] All mss items illustrated with (containing) photographs (as part of a numerical analysis of photographic holdings in my repository).
Looked for manuscripts in other institution's library catalog; tried to replicate user search for medieval manuscripts in the public view of my institution's catalog
-All manuscripts dated 1200-1700 given/donated by [particular alumnus] -Works with Hebrew annotations (have to search notes containing both 'Hebrew' AND 'annotations' or 'marginalia') -Books of hours with female ownership (best attempt: search Subjects for 'books of hours' AND keyword 'female women feminine' to capture mention of female owner/donor portrait and feminine Latin endings) by shelfmark "Isl ms 547" by decorative element "titlepiece" by type of note "study note"
Name-based search, subject-based search, and location-based search (further divided by date)
Searched by title for typescript disseration; searched by author for rst draft of a manuscript graduel (Gradual), then narrow by date, place
Consuetudines et iusticie (an late 11th c. Norman legal text); BAV 594; various mss. of the Sachsenspiegel (Dresden, Oldenburg)
I was looking for manuscripts written by women poets, and relied on the catalog's naming of the possible author(s)/primary name after doing broad subject/genre searches. Another search was looking for letters written by a speci c person--I searched their name, and ltered the catalog by genre/format. Another search was looking for forged manuscripts by a speci c person. I searched the person's name, ltered the catalog by genre/format, and also used a general keyword search "forgery."
De divina predestinatione Epistolae familiares
Mario Savio letters ; Wisconsin Indians petitions ; by accession number ; by creator ; by format
Poggio's manuscript copy of Lucretius' De rerum natura; Any Greek or Arabic manuscript of: Galen. ‡t De usu partium corporis humani oldest documents, fore edge painting commonplace book; miscellany; poetry antiphoner + square note; music manuscript waste
Daguerreotype AND Philadelphia; "Thomas Sully" AND manuscript translations of Christine de Pizan; translations of Lope de Vega into French; grands rhétoriqueurs
Spanish gradual
18th century English verse at TxU_HRC
Book auction catalogs, culinary dissertations
16th century wunderkammern Tippets on 14th century women's clothes Brust ecks "Christoph Bernhard tractatulus", "Chirologia", "Munich 3154 (Leopold Kodex"), "Liederbcuh Anne von Köln", "BolQ16", "Flores musices", "Iuxta artem con ciendi"
Proclamation islamic manuscripts, persian manuscripts, medical manuscript show examples of the work of the Luxembourg Brothers show english breviaries show results for anglo saxon initials
Conradus a Sancto Georgio, Tractatus de corpore Christi; and variants of title
Red-to-black headings (obsolete subject cataloging practice) A variety of terms used in diplomatics as justi cation for de nitions
High Gothic clothing in France. Clothing of Florence, last quarter of the 15thC
Italy 1500 wills women dress. Book of Hours Paris Use 1440. Non-liturgical manuscripts England medieval
I have searched for all the dated manuscripts produced in and around Utrecht and Deventer (low countries) between 1440 and 1540. I mainly used date (or periods) and location as criteria for my search.
Specimens of calligraphy; albums of calligraphy; muraqqa‘
Asheville Exchange for Woman’s Work, minute books Grace Chapel College Log Cabin Settlement, reports
1) Found a picture on Pinterest, wanted to know what MS from what date it came from. 2) One of my old notes had a reference to a MS but not an exact date, needed to nd the dating information. 3) Went looking for medieval pictures of pelicans.
5 possible variants on this name: Eleanor Eunice Townsend all proper names: Stanley, Huntingdon, Pestell
Arabic block printing
I often search for manuscripts for instruction, so I’m looking primarily for examples of types of mss including genres (books of hours, breviaries, et c.) or physical features (obvious pricking, paper, parchment etc). The other scenario where I’m searching often is for exhibitions, and then how I search can vary a lot depending on the context of the exhibit but is usually more about content of the mss.
George Cruikshank letters 1820-1878
Anything autograph by Mary Shelley; alchemical treatises digital images of NT Greek MSS of Revelation (Munster site)
Shebig shemore. Derry Air, March of Bran Boru
Aelfric, homilies, 950-1050
My brain cannot recall at this time! carolingian miniscule, latin vulgate physiologus, geographica
Katherine Philips's Pompey and Horace
Cowles, Charlotte; Atwater, Dorrence
I've become more of an administrator so it's been a while, but Star Chamber records, London Quarter Session records, Bridewell records. I mainly used the Bridewell/Bethlem site + Latter Day Saints databases, including Ancestry.com
Doatus (in Bodleian's manuscript database), Locke (in the printed catalogue of his mss.)
Records of a psychiatric organization, attempting to determine where they are located; what kinds of records an institution has about itself; in whose records to search at a known institution with a known collection for material related to a particular topic
Title searches for reference works, keyword searches in primary source databases, terminology search for classifying records royal autograph letters that included information about female royal bodies; evidence of bibliographer/librarian's historical notes on front yleaves of manuscripts and printed books searching for how to catalog a single leaf of a manuscript and the illustration contained on it
Search by left-anchored call number, e.g., "V.a.619;" search by subject & genre/form browse, e.g., "Ties (Bindings)".
I have searched for source material that will con rm which bands were part of a tour together in 2014; I have searched for a book that someone quoted on Twitter
Ira Gershwin, Townsend Harris Hall/City College of New York academic records
Monroe, Louisiana diaries; Monroe, Louisiana Civil War; Monroe, Louisiana Confederate hospitals
Schedules, School; ____ University--Honor system
Searched for various 18th century French and German libri amicorum to compare illustrations/illustrators, content type (poetry/epigraphs, personal notes, sketches) and locations where inscriptions were collected.
Walter of Henley
Victorian periodicals; 19th-century periodicals; Victorian magazines women's travel
Searched for all dramatists in the Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts by name; then looked within each entry for early modern English play manuscripts and selections (for instance, I speci cally looked for all manuscript copies of prologues and epilogues by James Shirley)
Searched for examples of secretary hand in British Literary Manuscripts Online
Searched for a particular manuscript by shelf mark (a BL Add MS) in British Literary Manuscripts Online tres belles heures de Jean du Berry, Luttrell Psalter, breviaries with neuma notation
Most of my searches are for speci c named individuals Alnwick church; Sleaford castle; Lyddington subdivisions of Chaucer's texts; fragments of Chaucer's works medicine + early modern, women + medicine + early-modern, ction + medicine + "early modern" subject=calligraphy, german; subject=vaudeville; subject=catholic church--liturgy
Book of hours with location; author name
I usually navigate to the collection holding the manuscript in which I am interested and then search their online catalogue by shelfmark (British library MS Add. 50.003, for example) music scores--graphic notation--20th century
James Reshoulde, John Finnet, Terminus and/et non-Terminus (title)
V.a.89, commonplace book
Iowa--Description and travel--19th century--Diaries
I have looked for new testament papyri with texts from the books of Acts; I have looked for Greek language menologia volumes with texts for the month of September
Digo yo ( rst words of several certi cates of origin); García de Malabehar] (name of family); Nobility-- Mexico (LCSH)
Searches in OCLC to identify ms. records describing items similar to that which I am cataloging, and from which I can possibly derive a new record.
Smallpox/album/Vancouver; Smallpox/reports/Vancouver
Tristano Martinelli (actor); Commedia dell'Arte/Arlecchino; Compagnia dei Desiosi.
Searched RISM for Gilbert Duprez mss.; searched Connexion (OCLC) for scanned autograph examples of Crescentini's handwriting autograph letters, cookbooks codices drawings; codices cookbooks; city--19th century diagrams, former owners
London maps; ocean travel diary; London diaries women
Lepidochromy ; Nature prints ; Field diaries
'bestiary', 'witch*' and conducted an image search for Greek gods oxford history (subject), acis canons (work plus origin), fougeroux (author)
Ashkenazi mss of Moses of Borgus; shelfmark with Z 64 in it;
'MS Arabic 371'; 'Avicenna'; 'Dvadasaksarikasakunaka'
Ms. Codex 59; Frishmuth, Sarah Sagehorn liturgical (genre); Hebrew (language) United Kingdom AND breviary, United kindom AND Psalter, humanistic
Search: "Bathsheba"
Search: "apocalypse"
Search: "may day"
Search: "notre dame"
Scribal hand; Signed manuscript; 12th century bible france
illustrated Ovid. Ars notoria.
acrostic poems in French manuscripts; women authors of political theory in the Low Countries; multlingual annotations in manuscripts of the 16th century
subject searches involving 20th century women in Virginia
Servant, 16th century, court AND Willoughby, Wollaton, letters
Correspondence relating to James Joyce; correspondence from Zurich during WWI
OTHER (37)
19. Do you have any comments? 56 responses
No
no
As mentioned in a couple of my earlier comments, what I want from the catalog data varies based on whether it is AMREMM-era or of a later date. I recognize (and agree with) the desire to consolidate the cataloging guidance, but it seems inevitable that such guidance will have to acknowledge different functional requirements based on the period of the MS. Good luck!
Appreciate all your efforts with this! Happy to contribute further as the work advances, especially if there is strong interest in being more expansive / inclusive of manuscript cultures outside of Europe (esp Islamic manuscript cultures) [email protected]
The amount of handwritten material in archives that is relevant to mss. work is astonishing.
Searches at my institution are usually done by subject, creator and time frame for archival collections and/or single items; these searches might be made in the catalog and/or in the online nding aid.
In general, academic researchers are interested more in the intellectual content of rare materials than in their "value" as collectors' items--in sharp contrast to antiquarian dealers and merchants. Through digitization, more and more "rare" materials will be available online--just a few mouse clicks away. For example, for Greek/Latin textual criticism, knowing the title and the subject of the work is important, especially in a aggregate manuscript (several works in one volume), or a Galen's work in Arabic text. If there were no uniform titles or controlled subject headings in bibliographic description, how would we expect readers to search for what they want? By a collector's name, vendor's auction cataloger number, a previous owner's signature, an item bound in calf leather, water damage on the top right corner? Once digitized, a manuscript is valued for its intellectual content (be it textual or artistic, or historicity--ms. M dated 100 years earlier than ms. C, etc.) . In short, when we rewrite the application le for Rare Materials Cataloging (based on BIBCO's SBR), please give more consideration to *controlled access points*! A lot of researchers do nd "browsing" name/titles or subject headings more helpful than a lazy and dirty keyword search. How do we keyword-search for materials in different languages? How to search for Galen's treatise on "Breathing" in Arabic resources, if there's no name/title control or a set of appropriate subject heading? One may argue, oh, there are published scholarly bibliographies on Galen, so there's no need to search in library online catalog. Really? What are catalogers and metadata librarians hired for? Well, we are here to identify, describe, contextualize, & provide access (points)!
Thanks for asking us!
Thank you so much for all the wonderful work you do. I could NOT do my work without cataloguers. All hail! I always thank librarians in general when I publish but it would be nice to name names (I do so whenever I can, as when I visit the Folger or LoC, but for Cat searching it would be nice to be able to say, "and thanks to the superb cataloguers in X library, Name and Name."
MARC examples are very useful and needed; more guidelines are needed for manuscripts that are not single items, but do not fall into the collection category, such as a "bundle" of related manuscript documents (unbound)
As a costume historian, looking for elements of clothing is a huge struggle when all searching for manuscripts needs to be done in words. Illuminated manuscripts area great source, but looking through 100 pages hoping to see a single image of shoes or of people undressing (critical to understanding seldom seen undergarments) is rather maddening. Any sort of searchable illustration/ illumination description would be delightful! Even if it was vague or generic wording it would still be an improvement.
I think the survey was too librarian-centric. But you’ll be able to know that better based on your respondents.
Thank you for this! So many of us have different needs from common materials.
Decorated paper terms could be broadened to include terminology recently developed in "Guide Book" (Krause, Rinck, Porck et al). Also, for manuscripts, it would be nice to note whether it is of indigenous production or imported from elsewhere.
You should have de ned ‘manuscript’...what kind of ‘archival collections’ material constitutes that term...if all correspondence quali es (typescript/postcard)...handwritten business records, etc. This was skewed toward medieval mss.
Even modernists sometimes search for single manuscripts.
I want all the data, the hard part is making that comprehensible and feasible...
Thanks for undertaking this work!
Nope
I research primarily in the 20th century but have to catalog a wide range of manuscripts across a large timespan so am interested to see what comes of your survey!
It is helpful to approach metadata development from the user/researcher perspective My library only has 5 leaves of various manuscripts. We have them mainly for the illustrations and artistic quality of the lettering.
N/A
This sounds like an exciting project--keep us posted!
Detailed subject cataloguing is essential for my MS searches.
I think single-item cataloguing is essential for SOME mss but not for all - depending on the type and content. It's critical to allow trained archivists to choose the appropriate format in each case and not be required to use the same level of detail for every single item. (e.g. a ms. diary would require a very full description, but a bundle ,of estate accounts would not need the same level of detail.)
I have to admit I marked some things as being unimportant because I would rarely be able to track down some of that information. Meaning, I am sure it would be nice to know additional information about provenance, but usually I only know the bookseller. My answer would have been "Useful IF available."
Most of my answers were as a researcher, but I also direct an archive that catalogues medieval manuscript images. I have observed that cataloguers often try to do too much in each record by adding information that may be readily available elsewhere (e.g. exhaustive bibliographies, context may be better presented in secondary literature). I think it makes more sense to focus on information that is central to the nature of the object and to the mission of the institution cataloguing it. Doing a few things extremely well is more helpful than doing a lot of things poorly.
Check Question 10a -- it doesn't make sense.
We're all at the mercy of cataloguers. If you don't list it, we won't nd it.
No.
As a cataloger I try to be as complete as I can be within the scope of my knowledge about an item (which may not be much). As a researcher I am grateful when I can locate obscure pieces of information in unlikely places, because someone took the time to put this information there
Thank you for conducting the survey! It is important to keep manuscript cataloging precise and useful to all researchers.
Generally, the more detail, the better. If we are going to spend time cataloging, our unique mss. material is the best place to spend it.
I completed this as an archivist who also has responsibilities for manuscript books and manuscript fragments - some of the terminology used in the questionnaire I am not familiar with. The de nition of the term manuscript I nd problematic. As an archivist documents/items which a librarian might call a manuscript I do not. Indeed I have transferred some items which had been historically classi ed as 'manuscripts' (by a librarian) from our library to the archive collection as they were clearly, to me, documents/archives and not manuscripts. The use and de nition of the word manuscript by librarians and archivists in different contexts is confusing.
Please consider that not all manuscript cataloguers are librarians and not all manuscripts are listed in library catalogues. This is of particular importance when considering manuscript fragments, where the library "standard" information such as author, title, place/date of publication may not be known / are not relevant
Thank you for your work on this project!
I'm old fashioned. The more data, the better I can search. I can understand if someone doesn't know data, but to know and not put it in a record is neglect. It also leads to preservation concerns as things may have to be handled more, or frustration by users who have to request things that turn out to be not what they needed because basic info wasn't in the record. binding, provenance, collation, and some content comments are really vital. otherwise what is the point of your catalogue entry?
Thank you for doing this. In general, the more info the better, but certain things are essential.
I wish the trend in European archival process were toward digitization of primary material and open access for una liated scholars.
Getting more searchable basic records in the catalog is more important to me than fewer overly detailed records
I doubt the wisdom of trying to merge the descriptive standards for ancient, medieval, and renaissance era manuscripts with the standards applicable to signle modern historical manuscripts (such as personal diaries, memoirs, scrapbooks, letterbooks, etc,) Early Modern Manuscripts strike me as an interesting challenge as they may have characteristics of medieval & renaissance OR be more like modern manuscripts.
I'm pretty sure my answers are informed by my perspective as a librarian (collection management, rights management, availability of surrogates, etc).
No. Thank you.
I'd be interested to see the results of this survey. 'Hope you'll submit to the DCRM-L when it's complete. Thanks!
We are moving away from MARC records to ASpace only records for all archival collections.
The deadline is a bit short
I am somewhat dubious about merging AMREMM, which is explicitly designed for users with highly speci c and sometimes technical needs, and DCRM(MSS), which is designed for more for users of modern mss. For example, there needs to be a search capability for shelfmarks and, if possible, former shelfmarks. The cataloger of AMREMM materials needs to have some highly specialized knowledge or at least the ability to know what she does not know and to refrain from entering information in those areas. AMREMM covers mss containing several works and fragments. Those require special information and treatment. Modern mss have many special complications of their own, such as edition and version for literary mss (in the broadest sense). Does DCRM(MSS) deal with electronic mss? If not, something should be done about that. Thanks for your efforts; this is a very good survey.
Good luck. And thanks for taking this on.
I hope the profession moves away from antiquated cataloging practices as appropriate, using an approach that's more e cient, less interpretive ("scholarly"), and more user-friendly (as user needs are identi ed through testing).
I am surprised you do not include comments on the use of the wwweb.
Still largely search in special databases, rather than library catalogs, alas.
It makes no sense to record dates as "yyyy month dd": it's neither machine sortable (like "yyyy mm dd") nor natural language (like "dd month yyyy" -- which is preferable to "month dd, yyyy" because the latter requires punctuation to make sense, so you can end up with a lot of commas.) This content is neither created nor endorsed by Google. Report Abuse - Terms of Service
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