New Digital Library of Islamic Manuscripts Online at Princeton University
Princeton University has placed a new digital library of 200 Islamic manuscripts online for scholars to consult and study. These manuscripts were selected from some 9,500 volumes of Islamic manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, Ottoman Turkish and other languages of the Muslim world in the University Library’s Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.
The digital library is a major component of the Islamic Manuscripts Cataloging and Digitization Project, begun in 2005 with the generous support of the David A. Gardner ‘69 Magic Project. Eventually, all of the manuscripts will be cataloged online, which involves creating bibliographic records containing basic descriptive information that helps researchers decide whether to order microform copies or to visit the library in person.
Princeton expects to add more manuscripts to the digital library in the future, besides producing the online bibliographic descriptions.