Books by Saskia van Bergen
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Papers by Saskia van Bergen
in: G Neuböck (ed.), Digitalisierung in Bibliotheken. Viel mehr als nur Bücher scannen. Bibliothe... more in: G Neuböck (ed.), Digitalisierung in Bibliotheken. Viel mehr als nur Bücher scannen. Bibliotheks- und Informationspraxis, Band 63. De Gruyter 2018, pp. 9-17.
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To provide access to the digitized collections without breaking any copyright laws, Leiden Univer... more To provide access to the digitized collections without breaking any copyright laws, Leiden University Library built a copyright module for their Islandora-based repository. The project was not just about building a technical solution, but also addressed policy, metadata, and workflows. A fine-grained system of access rights was set up, distinguishing conditions based on metadata, IP address, authentication and user role.
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In A.S. Korteweg, Anne Margreet As-Vijvers (eds.), Splendour of the Burgundian Netherlands. South... more In A.S. Korteweg, Anne Margreet As-Vijvers (eds.), Splendour of the Burgundian Netherlands. Southern Netherlandish Illuminated Manuscripts in Dutch Collections, 120-123, 124-131 (cat. 27-30). Zwolle : WBOOKS, 2018
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in: Linda IJpelaar, Claudine A. Chavannes-Mazel (red), De groene middeleeuwen 600-1600. Duizend j... more in: Linda IJpelaar, Claudine A. Chavannes-Mazel (red), De groene middeleeuwen 600-1600. Duizend jaar gebruik van planten, pp. 216-231.
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Review article on illuminated books, books of hours, prayer books, includes:
V. Reinburg, French ... more Review article on illuminated books, books of hours, prayer books, includes:
V. Reinburg, French books of hours. Making an archive of prayer, c. 1400- 1600. Cambridge 2012.
S. Hindman, J. Marrow (ed.), Books of hours Reconsidered. Turnhout 2013.
C. Hourihane (ed.), Manuscripta Illuminata. Approaches to understanding medieval and renaissance manuscripts. Princeton (NY) 2014.
K.M. Rudy, Postcards on parchment. The social lives of medieval books. Yale 2015.
M. Bloem, De Meesters van Zweder van Culemborg. De werkplaatspraktijken van een groep Noord-Nederlandse verluchters, ca. 1415-1440. PhD-thesis Universiteit van Amsterdam 2015.
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For each discipline in which connoisseurship plays a role, the availability of source material is... more For each discipline in which connoisseurship plays a role, the availability of source material is a prerequisite. To date, not many manuscripts have extensive catalog descriptions and due to the high costs of printing illustrations, only a small portion is provided with images. Therefore, manuscript researchers must work with source material that is largely unpublished. The last decades an increasing number of digitized manuscripts is made available online in open access. This allows both the general public and the specialized scientist to study these manuscripts anywhere, anytime, and to download, share, and reuse the scans. When digitizing rare and unique material, it is important to preserve and recreate as much as possible the look and feel of the original object. This article deals with three questions; firstly, how can users of a digital facsimile judge the quality of the scans; secondly, how can the physical contact with the original object be matched as close as possible and lastly, how should a medieval manuscript be digitized to ensure the best possible use in research?
From the moment reproductions of medieval manuscripts were made, their reliability has been criticized by researchers. For aesthetic, scientific, or political-nationalistic reasons, printed reproductions were often manipulated. Because few researchers saw the original manuscripts themselves, it was difficult to judge their quality. Although photographic reproductions brought a greater degree of reliability and were indispensable for many art historians and palaeographers in their daily work, their use as substitutes was questioned as well. Since then, researchers have seen large developments in reproductive techniques, from slides and black and white microfilms, to CD’s and digital images. But however useful the digital facsimile are, they are poorly able to present all physical characteristics of a manuscript.
If researchers cannot rely on the objectivity of a digital facsimile, the question is whether they can use it. But how can a user judge whether the quality is good enough? Three factors play an important role: quality of individual scans, the presentation of the digital facsimile as a whole and the usability of the entire dataset.
During the process in which a RAW scan is converted into TIF a number of adjustments are carried out, such as sharpening, noise reduction and other corrections. For presentation on the web derivative formats are produced, such as JPG. These files are very often corrected as well. Ideally users are informed about the technical aspects of the digitization process: how and when was the material digitized, which camera or scanner is used, which technical guidelines are followed. But in most websites this information is omitted or the topic only briefly addressed.
The first digital facsimiles consisted of no more than a set of scans, but thanks to developments in digital technology it is now possible to browse through manuscripts virtually, to zoom and rotate, download and share digital images. But most digital facsimile are still poorly able to convey material aspects of a medieval manuscript, such as size, format, quality of materials. Simple tools can help a user to get a better idea of the physical aspects of a medieval manuscripts, like a ruler, or a thumbnail presentation that shows the complete manuscript at once. It can also be helpful to offer both the presentation of single scans and complete openings with the verso and recto. Digitization can be used to reconstruct manuscripts and libraries and new techniques make it possible to display aspects of a medieval manuscript that are not visible with the naked eye. But for many users this is even not enough. They want to be able to access the data and scans as a batch, and use them for research, web applications and other services.
The structure of the worldwide web provides opportunities to create one-to-many or even many-to-many relationships between physical manuscripts, digital facsimiles and metadata. The digital catalog of the future can present relationships between manuscripts on various levels, not only within a single website, but on the internet as a whole.
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Over the last few years, several projects to improve physical and digital access to special colle... more Over the last few years, several projects to improve physical and digital access to special collections have been undertaken by Leiden University Libraries in the Netherlands. These heritage collections include manuscripts, printed books, archives, maps, atlases, prints, drawings and photographs, from the Western and non-Western worlds. They are of both national and international importance. The projects were undertaken to meet two key requirements: providing better and faster service for customers when using the collections, and creating a more efficient workflow for the library staff. Their interdependencies, with regard to creating new formats for the description of graphic materials and providing digital access, led to a merger of the projects with a combined set of goals for conversion, cataloging and digitization-on-demand. This article describes the infrastructure behind these projects, and the impact of the projects on users and staff to date.
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Book Reviews by Saskia van Bergen
Marieke van Delft, Van wiegendruk tot world wide web. Bijzondere collecties en de vele geschieden... more Marieke van Delft, Van wiegendruk tot world wide web. Bijzondere collecties en de vele geschiedenissen van het gedrukte boek. Zutphen: Uitgeverij Walburg Pers, 2015. 416 pp. isbn: 9789057306341. € 39,50.
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Books by Saskia van Bergen
Papers by Saskia van Bergen
V. Reinburg, French books of hours. Making an archive of prayer, c. 1400- 1600. Cambridge 2012.
S. Hindman, J. Marrow (ed.), Books of hours Reconsidered. Turnhout 2013.
C. Hourihane (ed.), Manuscripta Illuminata. Approaches to understanding medieval and renaissance manuscripts. Princeton (NY) 2014.
K.M. Rudy, Postcards on parchment. The social lives of medieval books. Yale 2015.
M. Bloem, De Meesters van Zweder van Culemborg. De werkplaatspraktijken van een groep Noord-Nederlandse verluchters, ca. 1415-1440. PhD-thesis Universiteit van Amsterdam 2015.
From the moment reproductions of medieval manuscripts were made, their reliability has been criticized by researchers. For aesthetic, scientific, or political-nationalistic reasons, printed reproductions were often manipulated. Because few researchers saw the original manuscripts themselves, it was difficult to judge their quality. Although photographic reproductions brought a greater degree of reliability and were indispensable for many art historians and palaeographers in their daily work, their use as substitutes was questioned as well. Since then, researchers have seen large developments in reproductive techniques, from slides and black and white microfilms, to CD’s and digital images. But however useful the digital facsimile are, they are poorly able to present all physical characteristics of a manuscript.
If researchers cannot rely on the objectivity of a digital facsimile, the question is whether they can use it. But how can a user judge whether the quality is good enough? Three factors play an important role: quality of individual scans, the presentation of the digital facsimile as a whole and the usability of the entire dataset.
During the process in which a RAW scan is converted into TIF a number of adjustments are carried out, such as sharpening, noise reduction and other corrections. For presentation on the web derivative formats are produced, such as JPG. These files are very often corrected as well. Ideally users are informed about the technical aspects of the digitization process: how and when was the material digitized, which camera or scanner is used, which technical guidelines are followed. But in most websites this information is omitted or the topic only briefly addressed.
The first digital facsimiles consisted of no more than a set of scans, but thanks to developments in digital technology it is now possible to browse through manuscripts virtually, to zoom and rotate, download and share digital images. But most digital facsimile are still poorly able to convey material aspects of a medieval manuscript, such as size, format, quality of materials. Simple tools can help a user to get a better idea of the physical aspects of a medieval manuscripts, like a ruler, or a thumbnail presentation that shows the complete manuscript at once. It can also be helpful to offer both the presentation of single scans and complete openings with the verso and recto. Digitization can be used to reconstruct manuscripts and libraries and new techniques make it possible to display aspects of a medieval manuscript that are not visible with the naked eye. But for many users this is even not enough. They want to be able to access the data and scans as a batch, and use them for research, web applications and other services.
The structure of the worldwide web provides opportunities to create one-to-many or even many-to-many relationships between physical manuscripts, digital facsimiles and metadata. The digital catalog of the future can present relationships between manuscripts on various levels, not only within a single website, but on the internet as a whole.
Book Reviews by Saskia van Bergen
V. Reinburg, French books of hours. Making an archive of prayer, c. 1400- 1600. Cambridge 2012.
S. Hindman, J. Marrow (ed.), Books of hours Reconsidered. Turnhout 2013.
C. Hourihane (ed.), Manuscripta Illuminata. Approaches to understanding medieval and renaissance manuscripts. Princeton (NY) 2014.
K.M. Rudy, Postcards on parchment. The social lives of medieval books. Yale 2015.
M. Bloem, De Meesters van Zweder van Culemborg. De werkplaatspraktijken van een groep Noord-Nederlandse verluchters, ca. 1415-1440. PhD-thesis Universiteit van Amsterdam 2015.
From the moment reproductions of medieval manuscripts were made, their reliability has been criticized by researchers. For aesthetic, scientific, or political-nationalistic reasons, printed reproductions were often manipulated. Because few researchers saw the original manuscripts themselves, it was difficult to judge their quality. Although photographic reproductions brought a greater degree of reliability and were indispensable for many art historians and palaeographers in their daily work, their use as substitutes was questioned as well. Since then, researchers have seen large developments in reproductive techniques, from slides and black and white microfilms, to CD’s and digital images. But however useful the digital facsimile are, they are poorly able to present all physical characteristics of a manuscript.
If researchers cannot rely on the objectivity of a digital facsimile, the question is whether they can use it. But how can a user judge whether the quality is good enough? Three factors play an important role: quality of individual scans, the presentation of the digital facsimile as a whole and the usability of the entire dataset.
During the process in which a RAW scan is converted into TIF a number of adjustments are carried out, such as sharpening, noise reduction and other corrections. For presentation on the web derivative formats are produced, such as JPG. These files are very often corrected as well. Ideally users are informed about the technical aspects of the digitization process: how and when was the material digitized, which camera or scanner is used, which technical guidelines are followed. But in most websites this information is omitted or the topic only briefly addressed.
The first digital facsimiles consisted of no more than a set of scans, but thanks to developments in digital technology it is now possible to browse through manuscripts virtually, to zoom and rotate, download and share digital images. But most digital facsimile are still poorly able to convey material aspects of a medieval manuscript, such as size, format, quality of materials. Simple tools can help a user to get a better idea of the physical aspects of a medieval manuscripts, like a ruler, or a thumbnail presentation that shows the complete manuscript at once. It can also be helpful to offer both the presentation of single scans and complete openings with the verso and recto. Digitization can be used to reconstruct manuscripts and libraries and new techniques make it possible to display aspects of a medieval manuscript that are not visible with the naked eye. But for many users this is even not enough. They want to be able to access the data and scans as a batch, and use them for research, web applications and other services.
The structure of the worldwide web provides opportunities to create one-to-many or even many-to-many relationships between physical manuscripts, digital facsimiles and metadata. The digital catalog of the future can present relationships between manuscripts on various levels, not only within a single website, but on the internet as a whole.