Doing More with Less: The Rylands Genizah Project RLG European Partners Meeting Oxford, October 2010 Dr Stella Butler, Deputy University Librarian, JRUL

The Rylands Genizah Project

Collection originated in the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo Acquired in 1954 from the estate of Moses Gaster 11,000 fragments mostly on paper some on parchment Mostly Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic In very poor physical condition The Genizah- unearthing treasure

Range of documents: religious texts, Bible, Talmud personal correspondence shopping lists school exercise books Genizah Collection

JRUL Luna Insight Image Collections

Rylands Genizah Collections

The Power of Magnification

Arabic Text Rylands Genizah Rylands Genizah Project: enhancing the image

Arabic Text Rylands Genizah Rylands Genizah Project

Genizah Cataloguing Project: making Manchester joins Fragments A639-2, B4754-1, and A Piyyutim for grace after meals with 150 poetic lines

Genizah Cataloguing Project: making Manchester joins Fragments A639-2, B4754-1, and A Piyyutim for grace after meals with 150 poetic lines

Maimonides: Guide of the Perplexed Rylands Genizah B 2597 and B4094 Rylands Genizah Project: making the joins across collections

Maimonides: Guide of the Perplexed Rylands Genizah B 2597 and B4094 Rylands Genizah Project Making the joins

Fragment from Cambridge University Genizah Unit Maimonides: Guide of the Perplexed Rylands Genizah Project: Making the joins

Fragment from Cambridge University Genizah Unit Maimonides: Guide of the Perplexed Rylands Genizah Project

Genizah Cataloguing Project: web advantages

Adding value: Princeton Transcriptions

Genizah Cataloguing Project: web advantages

The digital image becomes an analytical tool The power of magnification Making joins recreating the archive manipulating the image- improving on reality sharing the resource- democratizing knowledge Genizah Cataloguing Project: digital advantages

Access for scholars across continents Democratization of knowledge- avoids reservations and rewards serendipity Encourages networks around themes and subjects Reuniting collections and single objects A medium for conversation Keeping metadata with image Genizah Cataloguing Project: web advantages

Complementary skills Has avoided the loneliness of the long-distanced cataloguer Has brought academic community closer to the physical collections Cataloguing has been a collaborative effort both with JRUL and with wider Genizah community Genizah Cataloguing Project: productive collaborations

‘Doing More with Less’ Dr Stella Butler, Deputy University Librarian, JRUL