Digitisation of Manuscripts: Checklist – Good practice for preservation-oriented digitisation in the Netherlands

Abstract

The 2019 research article written by Dutch researchers entitled Digitisation of Manuscripts: Checklist answers an important question that arose in connection with the digitisation of valuable medieval manuscripts, i. e. how to digitise cultural heritage collections in a safe way, while it also examines the advantages, disadvantages, possibilities and limitations of digitisation. The research was carried out with the support of the Metamorfoze Project, the National Programme for the Preservation of Paper-based Document Heritage of the Netherlands, which resulted in a work where we can read about digitisation from a paper conservator’s point of view. Medieval manuscripts are a unique part of our cultural heritage, and it is understandable that libraries would like to make these treasures, including masterpieces, digitally accessible. However, in this process, very frequently too little attention is paid to the special properties of these objects and the risks of damage that may occur during digitisation. In the case of manuscripts, it is not only the content that is valuable, but also the material and form that the work is made of, which can be preserved by a conservator with the appropriate expertise. The compendium of the research article, written in Hungarian, does not only contain all the important theoretical and practical information found in the original work, but also provides a checklist, the result of the research, as a tool for the safe digitisation of manuscripts in memory institutions, to guide conservators, curators, librarians, collections managers and digitisation professionals.