Doing More with Less: The Rylands Genizah Project RLG European Partners Meeting Oxford, October 2010...

Doing More with Less: The Rylands Genizah Project

RLG European Partners MeetingOxford, October 2010

Dr Stella Butler, Deputy University Librarian, JRUL

The Rylands Genizah Project 2003-2009

Collection originated in the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo

Acquired in 1954 from the estate of Moses Gaster

11,000 fragments mostly on paper some on parchmentMostly Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic

In very poor physical condition

The Genizah- unearthing treasure

Range of documents: religious texts, Bible, Talmudpersonal correspondenceshopping listsschool exercise books

Genizah Collection

JRUL Luna Insight Image Collections

Rylands Genizah Collections

The Power of Magnification

The Power of Magnification

Arabic Text

Rylands Genizah

Rylands Genizah Project: enhancing the image

Arabic Text

Rylands Genizah

Rylands Genizah Project

Genizah Cataloguing Project: making Manchester joins

Fragments A639-2, B4754-1, and A 724-2

Piyyutim for grace after meals with 150 poetic lines

Genizah Cataloguing Project: making Manchester joins

Fragments A639-2, B4754-1, and A 724-2

Piyyutim for grace after meals with 150 poetic lines

Maimonides: Guide of the Perplexed

Rylands Genizah B 2597 and B4094

Rylands Genizah Project: making the joins across collections

Maimonides: Guide of the Perplexed

Rylands Genizah B 2597 and B4094

Rylands Genizah Project

Making the joins

Fragment from Cambridge University Genizah Unit

Maimonides: Guide of the Perplexed

Rylands Genizah Project:

Making the joins

Fragment from Cambridge University Genizah Unit

Maimonides: Guide of the Perplexed

Rylands Genizah Project

Genizah Cataloguing Project: web advantages

Adding value: Princeton Transcriptions

Genizah Cataloguing Project: web advantages

The digital image becomes an analytical tool

The power of magnification

Making joins recreating the archive

manipulating the image- improving on reality

sharing the resource- democratizing knowledge

Genizah Cataloguing Project: digital advantages

Access for scholars across continents

Democratization of knowledge- avoids reservations and rewards serendipity

Encourages networks around themes and subjects

Reuniting collections and single objects

A medium for conversation

Keeping metadata with image

Genizah Cataloguing Project: web advantages

Complementary skills

Has avoided the loneliness of the long-distanced cataloguer

Has brought academic community closer to the physical collections

Cataloguing has been a collaborative effort both with JRUL and with wider Genizah community

Genizah Cataloguing Project:

productive collaborations

‘Doing More with Less’

http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/eresources/imagecollections/university/genizah/

Dr Stella Butler, Deputy University Librarian, JRUL