Case Study: Assessment of Existing Practices for Manuscript Descriptions and Recommendations for the Future

Client: Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford

The Bodleian Libraries holds well over 20,000 manuscripts and serves hundreds of thousands of readers from around the world. Access to over half of the manuscript collections in the Bodleian is effectively hidden to scholars because they are not described online, or those descriptions are not well indexed. In 2016, the A21 team reviewed the existing cataloguing practices for manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries. The aims of the project were to determine a suitable workflow and technical architecture that would both promote findability and allow use by cataloguers with a wide range of technical skills.

  • Conducted a worldwide market review of manuscript cataloguing practices

  • Led a detailed usability assessment of existing systems

  • Made recommendations for improved workflows and technical architecture

  • Designed a sustainability plan around training, communications and standards 

case studies, resource discovery, libraries, higher education, museumsA21 UK