Will that Surrogate Do?: Reflections on Material Manuscript Literacy in the Digital Environment from Islamic Manuscripts at the University of Michigan Library

The widespread dissemination of digital surrogates for Islamic manuscripts certainly has the potential to impact scholarship both positively and negatively. Realizing a positive impact is contingent on the accessibility and quality of the digital surrogates and the training extended to the scholars working with them. Indeed, while manuscript digital surrogates have the potential to enhance access for those scholars who might otherwise neglect manuscript evidence, they may also enable neglect of material qualities and with them the essential historical context for the content of a codex. This is particularly concerning for the field of Islamic manuscript studies for which so much codicological and palaeographical groundwork is yet to be conducted and ample training in material manuscript literacy is still lacking. Perhaps surprisingly, our experience with manuscript digital surrogates at the University of Michigan has demonstrated that even “materially distant” digital surrogates can actually enhance understanding of manuscript features, including appreciation for material aspects, and help advance the codicological projects of Islamic manuscript studies. The key is introducing basic material manuscript literacy via exposure to physical artifacts and relying on the surrogates as tools for descriptive training

A New Treasure Trove at Special Collections

"A New Treasure Trove at Special Collections" showcases recent acquisitions that strengthen our extraordinary holdings in the areas of radical literature, transportation history, film, rare books, culinary history, Islamic manuscripts, children’s literature, and Judaica.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/120254/7/A_New_Treasure_Trove_16.pd

On Michigan Manuscript Isl. Ms. 386: Fuẓūlī’s Garden of the Felicitous

A brief note about a manuscript preserved in the University of Michigan Library under the shelfmark Isl. Ms. 386

The evolution and uses of the stories of the Prophets

This is a stable archival PDF of an open-access, peer-reviewed journal volume originally published at www.mizanproject.org/journal

ORCID Task Force Report

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98975/1/ORCID_Task_Force-Final_Report.pd

Conference Report: Traditions of papermaking in the Islamic world (London, 23-27 March 2015)

Conference Report: Traditions of papermaking in the Islamic world (London, 23-27 March 2015

Collaboration in Cataloguing: Islamic Manuscripts at Michigan

Project summary: Collaboration in Cataloguing: Islamic Manuscripts at Michiga

Collaboration in Cataloguing

The University of Michigan Library is in the final year of a three-year, grant-funded project to fully catalogue its Islamic Manuscripts Collection. Supported by a “Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives” grant administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources with generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the project, “Collaboration in Cataloging: Islamic Manuscripts at Michigan” engages established and emerging scholars by involving them in the catalo..

The Yemeni manuscripts of the Yahuda Collection at the University of Michigan

Introduction The University of Michigan Library is privileged to hold three Yemeni manuscripts in its Islamic Manuscripts Collection, Isl. Ms. 564, Isl. Ms. 589, and Isl. Ms. 638. The manuscripts were identified by cataloguer Evyn Kropf during the “Collaboration in cataloging: Islamic manuscripts at Michigan” project, a grant-funded effort engaging established and emerging scholars by involving them in the detailed cataloguing of the collection. Full codicological descriptions of the manuscr..