Digital Arthuriana: Digitisation and Indexing of Heterogeneous Bibliographies for Research and Teaching

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Nathanael Busch; Reiner Diedrichs; Zeki Mustafa Dogan, since 1/2024
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 522233157

The study of the material surrounding King Arthur is a central subject of medieval studies. The literary realisation of the material, which is based on an older set of legends and scholarly Latin historiography, took place in the 12th century and, starting in England and France, spread to almost all European languages, from Old Icelandic to Czech, from Belarussian to Portuguese, from Latin to Hebrew. From the time up to the 16th century alone, over 300 Arthurian romances have survived – and production in various genres and media continues to this day. By establishing a common reference to the past, transcending space and time, this material is a cultural foundation of Europe.The aim of this proposal is to develop an online bibliography of research literature on Arthurian topics as well as editions of the texts. A database system will be created and filled with the retro-digitised Bulletin bibliographique de la Société Internationale Arthurienne (BBSIA, since 2015: Bibliography of the International Arthurian Society = BIAS). This bulletin is an international annotated bibliography of research literature on medieval Arthurian material and its reception, published annually since 1949. It is recognised as a unique research tool.When the project is completed, Arthurian research worldwide will have a new basis. The database will bring the printed publication into the 21st century and make it widely accessible. The medium of digital publication will allow the information to be coded and searchable in a targeted manner. As a dynamic resource, it also allows for continuous updating and further processing of the data or of user interfaces according to new research interests.The digitisation of subject bibliographies is a desideratum that is urgently needed in view of new user behaviour, but for which there are no standardised processes or procedures yet. The database will offer the possibility of retrieving relevant information quickly and in a clear form, exporting search results and transferring them to other systems. Moreover, over the course of the project, links to online resources will be established and test digitisations will be created for the repository The Stacks of the subject librarian service Anglo-American Culture. The database will be linked on online platforms of relevant libraries, and on international portals for medieval research and Digital Humanities repositories. It will be made available as an open-access offer (without registration or payment).The International Arthurian Society is the organisation permanently responsible for the bibliography. For more than 70 years, it has acted as a central and recognised point of contact for research on the subject. The Society guarantees the permanent maintenance and availability of the data. The bibliography will be hosted in the Head Office of the GBV Common Library Network.

• DFG Programme: Cataloguing and Digitisation (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Lilja Mareike Sautter
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Wolfram Horstmann, until 12/2023