Cataloging and partial digitization of the historical church libraries in Saxony-Anhalt

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Achim Bonte; Dr. Jan Lemke
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies ; Protestant Theology ; Early Modern History ; Roman Catholic Theology ; Theatre and Media Studies ; History of Science
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 563650280

The project aims to catalog 23582 manuscripts and prints from the 15th to 19th centuries in 17 libraries of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany (EKM) in Saxony-Anhalt, most of which are still in their place of origin. These are the libraries in Alsleben, Aschersleben, Burg, Gardelegen, Goseck, Großmühlingen, Könnern, Kollenbey, Lutherstadt Eisleben, Naumburg, Parey, Querfurt, Salzwedel (two libraries), Seehausen, Stolberg and Zeitz. The aim is to complete and coherent online cataloging of the prints and manuscripts from the libraries that were created up to 1850. The library objects are catalogued in accordance with the current guidelines and standards in the relevant catalogs using a graduated process depending on the respective indexing situation. The manuscripts should be catalogued in the Handschriftenportal. All prints created before 1850 should be listed in the K10plus catalog, including their provenance, and documented in the reference catalogs GW, VD16, VD17 and VD18. In addition, according to the DFG's rules, all titles that are not yet listed in the GW, VD16, VD17 and VD18, all titles that are already listed there but whose digitization has not yet taken place and is not planned, and outstanding objects (medieval manuscripts, incunabula and prints with specimen specifics) are digitized (ca. 5.000 objects). The digital copies will be documented in K10plus and the respective reference catalogs, provided with meta and structural data and presented and archived on the SBB servers in accordance with the FAIR principles. For conservation and financial reasons, cataloging should, if possible, take place at the library location, resulting in 15 individual work locations. The evidence in the national bibliographic directories (VD16, VD17) will be based on the data in K10Plus in an automated process. Digitalization should take place centrally in the SBB, which has the necessary technical equipment.

• DFG Programme: Cataloguing and Digitisation (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)