Cataloguing for the Web. ManuscriptumXML and Manuscripta Mediaevalia
Robert Giel

For more than four decades manuscript cataloguers in Germany have followed the guidelines of the German Research Foundation. As is generally known, these guidelines define a comprehensive format for the cataloguing of medieval and early modern manuscripts. Both the in-depth description of the codicological characteristics of a codex and the analysis of its intellectual content and its history require scientific expertise in various fields. As the cataloguers are working within a restricted time frame, any useful IT-application must be fitted exactly to their needs. So when a conventional database-interface was introduced as a cataloguing tool in Germany about a decade ago, it was not well received and therefore "born digital" catalogues remained the exception to the rule. Following a joint initiative of cataloguers and database administrators in 2003, a new software (ManuscriptumXML) was developed that complies with the traditional workflow of manuscript cataloguing. It also enables cataloguers to follow text-based routines they were used to. The presentation will focus on the following questions: How can the cataloguing process be guided by the software? How are text and index entries of the catalogue linked? How can the captured data be used for printing or for other web-applications (e.g. Manuscripta Mediaevalia)?