UKB Launches Project to Highlight heritage materials’ Physical Features
The university libraries and the Royal Library (KB) are strengthening their collaboration with a new project aimed at making the physical characteristics of heritage materials more discoverable and usable.
With funding from the Pica Foundation, work is being done on a standardized framework for recording this ‘materiality as data.’
The project focuses on documenting features such as bookbindings, manuscripts, annotations, and ownership marks By recording this information in a standardized way, researchers can more easily compare collections and combine data from different libraries.
In 2026, the first exploratory activities will begin, including the establishment of working agreements and a data model that can be used across all UKB libraries. The project runs over several years and focuses on the production of more metadata in this area and on ultimately connecting different collections through linked data.
For more information, please contact the Materiality Task Group of the UKB Special Collections Working Group.