Launch of the Virtual Manuscript Room
This month sees the launch of the first phase of the Virtual Manuscript Room(VMR), as part of the Mingana Day at the University of Birmingham on 8 July.
The presentation of the collection online is a crucial part of JISC’s £1.8 million Enriching Digital Resources programme, a set of 25 projects which enhances the use of online content for teaching, learning and research
In this first launch, the VMR project making available over 10000 images from 70 Eastern manuscripts from the university’s Mingana collection, including a full set of images of one of the oldest copies of the Qur’an in existence.
A full program for the day (including lunch!) is available from the VMR launch website. All are welcome! if you would like to come to this day, please email Frouke Schrijver at FXS821@adf.bham.ac.uk
Does JISC have funds for more digitisation?
As Phase 2 of the JISC Digitisation Programme draws to a close, we continue to get plenty of calls asking when Phase 3 will be starting, with great enthusiasm for more of the same.
At present, JISC has no funds for a third phase of work on the scale of the previous two phases (totalling £23.5m).
However, JISC is still keen to fund innovative digitisation work in the future, and we are currently making the case for how to get such funds.
So, if you are looking for funds for your own collections then don’t throw the ideas away. Continue to make a noise about them, think of innovative ways in which they could be used digitally, and this will all help the case for further digital work.