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The Database of the St. Catherine's Library Conservation Project in Sinai, Egypt
Athanasios Velios
Nicholas Pickwoad
  DOI :  10.2352/issn.2168-3204.2005.2.1.art00015  Published Online :  January 2005
Abstract

The St. Catherine's monastery holds one of the most important collections of Byzantine and other early manuscripts, consisting of 3307 volumes. Most of them retain their original or early binding structures, few of which have not been studied in any detail. Camberwell College of Arts started a detailed survey of the condition of the manuscripts in 2001. Information about the book-binding structures and the condition in which they are preserved is stored in a database. In this paper we describe the principles of the database design, focusing on the need for constant updating of the database structure. We discuss the use and interpretation of drawings which allow recording of complex elements of book-binding. We also describe a fast, semi-automatic way for transferring our data from paper to the database. We finally examine the potential use of a global standard for Byzantine book-bindings and the possibility of an object-oriented database structure.

Journal Title : Archiving Conference
Publisher Name : Society of Imaging Science and Technology
Publisher Location : 7003 Kilworth Lane, Springfield, VA 22151, USA
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 DOI 10.2352/issn.2168-3204.2005.2.1.art00015
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Athanasios Velios, Nicholas Pickwoad, "The Database of the St. Catherine's Library Conservation Project in Sinai, Egypt"  in Proc. IS&T Archiving 2005,  2005,  pp 73 - 78,  https://doi.org/10.2352/issn.2168-3204.2005.2.1.art00015

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Archiving Conference
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2161-8798
Society of Imaging Science and Technology
7003 Kilworth Lane, Springfield, VA 22151, USA
2161-8798(20050101)2005:1L.73;1-
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Articles
The Database of the St. Catherine's Library Conservation Project in Sinai, Egypt
VeliosAthanasios
PickwoadNicholas
01012005
2005
1
73
78
2005
The St. Catherine's monastery holds one of the most important collections of Byzantine and other early manuscripts, consisting of 3307 volumes. Most of them retain their original or early binding structures, few of which have not been studied in any detail. Camberwell College of Arts started a detailed survey of the condition of the manuscripts in 2001. Information about the book-binding structures and the condition in which they are preserved is stored in a database. In this paper we describe the principles of the database design, focusing on the need for constant updating of the database structure. We discuss the use and interpretation of drawings which allow recording of complex elements of book-binding. We also describe a fast, semi-automatic way for transferring our data from paper to the database. We finally examine the potential use of a global standard for Byzantine book-bindings and the possibility of an object-oriented database structure.