I have just completed the work of tracking the Boston Manuscript of the Laws of Hywel Dda (NLW MS 24029A) as part of the digitisation of the manuscript.
The conservator’s plan of the original manuscript
The first stage of the tracking process is to create a detailed list of the manuscript structure. This list was prepared by Maredudd ap Huw, the Library’s Manuscript Librarian. This list was then passed on to me to create a corresponding Excel file for the purpose of creating the tracking data in preparation for the scanning. Using the list, the manuscript, and the plan of the original manuscript created by the conservators who took the manuscript apart I embarked on the task of creating the tracking file.
Comparing the original with the manuscript structure list
Each page of the manuscript is given an unique item number – this is inserted in the first column. The second column is for the page label for each page of the manuscript. It is important to clearly identify each item for the scanners, to ensure that the right image is linked to the correct label in the eventual presentation on the Digital Mirror.
The structure list and the tracking document
This file was then uploaded to the Library’s ‘Wombat’ workflow system. This system tracks the digitisation process of the manuscript from the delivery of the manuscript to the imaging unit, the scanning of each individual page, the QC for each image, to the returning of the manuscript to the collection.
Comparing and checking
After the Imaging Unit had completed the work of scanning the manuscript, the work was transferred back to the metadata team, where I once again did a QC of the images, comparing the images to the original manuscript, the detailed list of the structure and the plan created by the conservators.
Wombat workflow for the Boston manuscript
Morfudd Nia Jones