User talk:OCIMCO

ABOUT THE OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE ISLAMIC MANUSCRIPT CATALOGUES ONLINE PROJECT (OCIMCO)
The OCIMCO project aims to greatly improve scholarly access to the valuable Islamic texts held in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and Cambridge University Library. It is part of JISC's Digital Resources for Islamic Studies programme aimed at opening up access to a wide range of rare and important Arabic manuscripts and Islamic Studies resources.

Although much excellent work has been done in the UK to digitise medieval manuscripts like Psalters, books of hours and bestiaries, Middle Eastern manuscript culture has received less attention, yet UK organisations hold rich and valuable collections and there is great and increasing demand for access to them. The OCIMCO project is using TEI/XML to create some 10,000 basic manuscript descriptions that will be freely available and searchable online. These basic descriptions will also provide a framework for future enhancements and the inclusion of more details about individual manuscripts.

As the documentation for TEI manuscript description derives from Western manuscript examples, applying these descriptive standards to Islamic manuscripts in a union catalogue present a number of challenges, which are explored in the project documentation presented here.

OCIMCO PROJECT DOCUMENTATION
The TEI's Manuscript Description module makes it possible to provide detailed descriptive information about handwritten primary sources. While the OCIMCO project has initially focussed on the retrospective conversion of existing descriptions and catalogues, it will eventually provide detailed manuscript descriptions that will include digital representations of the manuscripts themselves.

For the purpose of this documentation we have chosen a representative record which will be discussed in detail: MS. Marsh 80, one of over 700 manuscripts belonging to Narcissus Marsh, Archbishop of Armagh and fellow of Exeter College, which the Bodleian received by bequest in 1714. Below is the complete TEI-conformant description of this manuscript:

    MS. Marsh 80 - OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE ISLAMIC MANUSCRIPT CATALOGUES ONLINE JISC Gillian Evison   [Date when first made available] Bodleian Library  Department of Special Collections Bodleian Library Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG    oriental@bodleian.ox.ac.uk </addrLine> </pubPlace> OCIMCO </publicationStmt> </recordHist> <availability status="restricted"> Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of                                   a valid reader's card (for admissions procedures contact <ref                                        target="http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/services/admissions/"                                        >Bodleian Admissions ). Contact oriental@bodleian.ox.ac.uk for further information on the availability of this manuscript </adminInfo> </msDesc> </sourceDesc> </fileDesc> <encodingDesc> <classDecl> <taxonomy xml:id="LCSH"> </classDecl> </encodingDesc> <profileDesc> <textClass> <keywords scheme="#LCSH"> </textClass> </profileDesc> <revisionDesc> <change when="2009-05-14"> Alasdair Watson created this file on 14 May 2009. </revisionDesc> </teiHeader> <graphic url="folio1r.png"/> <graphic url="folio1v.png"/> <graphic url="folio2r.png"/> <graphic url="folio2v.png"/> </TEI>

The TEI Header Elements
The header of a TEI document provides a mechanism for describing an encoded work so that the text itself, its source(s), its encoding, and its revisions are all thoroughly documented. The <teiHeader> element provided for this purpose has four principal components:


 * <fileDesc> (file description) : contains a full bibliographic description of an electronic file.
 * <encodingDesc> (encoding description) : documents the relationship between an electronic text and the source or sources from which it was derived.
 * <profileDesc> (text-profile description) : provides a detailed description of non-bibliographic aspects of a text, specifically the languages and sublanguages used, the situation in which it was produced, the participants and their setting.
 * <revisionDesc> (revision description) : summarizes the revision history for a record.

The file description <fileDesc>
<fileDesc>  MS. Marsh 80 - OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE ISLAMIC MANUSCRIPT CATALOGUES ONLINE JISC Gillian Evison </titleStmt> <publicationStmt> <date calendar="Gregorian">[Date when first made available] Bodleian Library <pubPlace> Department of Special Collections</addrLine> Bodleian Library</addrLine> Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG</postCode>  </addrLine>  oriental@bodleian.ox.ac.uk </addrLine> </pubPlace> OCIMCO </publicationStmt> </recordHist> <availability status="restricted"> Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of              a valid reader's card (for admissions procedures contact <ref               target="http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/services/admissions/"               >Bodleian Admissions ). Contact oriental@bodleian.ox.ac.uk for further information on the availability of this manuscript </adminInfo>

<adminInfo> <recordHist> </recordHist> <availability status="restricted"> Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of        a valid reader's card for admissions procedures contact <ref target="http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/eligibility.cgi/" >Cambridge University Library Admissions ). Contact        near_eastern@lib.cam.ac.uk for further         information on the availability of this manuscript     </adminInfo>     <listBibl type="related-items">      Other copies Or. 419       </listBibl>

The   (additional information) section groups additional information, combining bibliographic information about a manuscript, or surrogate copies of it with curatorial or administrative information. The OCIMCO project supplies the <recordHist> (recorded history), i.e. information about the source and revision status of the parent manuscript description itself, and the  , i.e. information about the availability of the work, for example any restrictions on access, its use or distribution, its copyright status, etc.

solution a
Here at OCIMCO, we are struggling to find a satisfactory method of coding works of a derivative nature such as commentaries and translations. One method favours putting the information about the work the commentary etc., is based on in a, another in a. We are still experimenting, but have come up with a possible solution to this by putting all the information in a element with subelements such as another for the original work the commentary was based on and for the author of the original work. We are wondering if it is possible to indicate the priority of the works by having a type attribute value of, say, "primary", "secondary", etc., for the and elements? Please see below for a coded example:

<msItem> <persName xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc" type="standard">Qūshjī, ʻAlī ibn Muḥammad, d. 1474 or 5</persName> <persName xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc" type="alt">al-Qawshajī, ʻAlī ibn Muḥammad, ʻAlāʼ al-Dīn</persName> <persName xml:lang="ara" type="standard"> بن محمد علي <addName type="laqab">علاء الدين</addName> <addName type="kunyah">أبو القاسم</addName> <addName type="nisbah">القوشجي</addName> </persName> <docAuthor>Qūshjī, ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad d. 1474.</docAuthor> <foreign xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc">al-Sharḥ al-jadīd, a                               commentary on the <title xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc">Tajrīd al-ʿaqāʾid of <name type="person" xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc">Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī , 1201-1274.                            <title xml:lang="ara">الشرح الجديد شرح تجريد الاعتقاد لنصير الدين الطوسي <listBibl> GAL I 509 </listBibl> <textLang mainLang="ara">Arabic</textLang> </msItem>

Solution b
To facilitate an advanced grouping of the materials the class attribute is used in <msItem> to denote commentaries, super-commentaries, gloss, etc. combined with the value text-relations in the  type  attribute of  .

<msContents> <msItem class="commentary"> <author key="nr91037727" ref="http://viaf.org/viaf/90046369/"> <persName xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc" type="standard">Quṭb al-Taḥtānī, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad, 1294 or 5-1364 or                                   5</persName> <persName xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc" type="org"/> <persName xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc" type="alt"/> <persName xml:lang="ara">قطب الدين الرازي <addName xml:lang="ara" type="laqab"/> <addName xml:lang="ara" type="kunyah"/> <addName xml:lang="ara" type="khitab"/> <addName xml:lang="ara" type="nisbah"/> </persName> <respStmt> <persName/> </respStmt> <docAuthor/> <title xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc">Sharḥ al-risālah al-shamsīyah <title xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc" type="alt"/> <title xml:lang="ara">شرح الرسالة الشمسية <listBibl> record in printed catalogue >no. 813                             <bibl type="text-relations">Commentary on the <title xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc">al-Risālah al-shamsīyah xml:lang="ara">الرسالة الشمسية of <persName xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc" key="nr93027510" >Qazwīnī, ʻAlī ibn ʻUmar, 1203 or 4-1276 or 7 xml:lang="ara">نمجم الدين علي الكاتبى القزوينى .</persName> <textLang mainLang="ara">Arabic</textLang> </msItem> </msContents>

<msContents> <msItem class="commentary"> <msItem n="1" xml:id="a1"> <author key="79106223" ref="http://viaf.org/viaf/100374544/"> <persName xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc" type="standard">Taftāzānī, Masʻūd ibn ʻUmar, 1322-1389?</persName> <persName xml:lang="ara">التفتازاني، سعد الدين مسعود بن عمر </persName> Fanārī, Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad Shāh, 1436 or 7-1481 or 2 <persName/> <docAuthor/> <title xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc">Al-Muṭawwal <title xml:lang="ara">المطول <listBibl> record in catalogue         >no. 1057                                    <bibl type="text-relations">The manuscript contains also the glosses of al-Fanārī on al-Taftāzānī's al-Muṭawwal, which is                                     a commentary on the <title xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc">Talkhīṣ al-miftāḥ <foreign xml:lang="ara">تلخيص المفتاح of <persName xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc" >Qazwīnī, Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd al-Raḥmān, 1267 or 8-1338</persName> <persName xml:lang="ara">القزوينى، جلا ل الدين محمد بن عبدالرحمان</persName>. This last work is, in turn, an               abridgement of the <title xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc" >Miftāḥal-ʻulūm<foreign xml:lang="ara">مفتاح العلوم of <persName xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc" >Sakkākī, Yūsuf ibn Abī Bakr, b. 1160</persName> <persName xml:lang="ara">السكاكي، يوسف بن أبي بكر</persName>. </listBibl> <textLang mainLang="ara">Arabic</textLang> </msItem>

Extended OCIMCO practices
For more detailed description a number of additional practices have been adopted as shown below.

Example of multiple <msItem>
We have used the nestable <msItem> element to include the description of different works within a single codex as mentioned under <msContent>.

<msContents> <msItem n="1" xml:id="a1"> ff. 3-42   <author key="n89017436" ref="http://viaf.org/viaf/17624266/"> <persName xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc" type="standard">Ibn Zaghdān, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad, 1417 or 18-1477 or 8</persName> <persName xml:lang="ara">ابن زغدان، جمال الدين محمد بن احمد <addName xml:lang="ara" type="laqab">الوفائي الشاذلي</addName> <addName xml:lang="ara" type="kunyah">ابو المواهب</addName> <addName xml:lang="ara" type="nisbah">التونسي</addName> </persName> <title xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc">al-Risālah ilá al-ṣūfīyah <title xml:lang="ara">قوانين حكم الاشراق الى كل الصوفية بجميع الآفاق <textLang mainLang="ara">Arabic</textLang> </msItem> <msItem n="2" xml:id="a2"> ff. 43-90  <persName xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc" type="supplied">Burhān al-Dīn Ibrāhīm ibn Maḥmūd al-Aqsarāʼī al-Mawāhibī</persName> <persName xml:lang="ara"> برهان الدين ابراهيم بن محمود الاقسرائي المواهبي </persName> <title xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc">Nafaḥāt al-ṣafāʼ bi-al-sūl li-sharḥ muqaddimat al-uṣūl <title xml:lang="ara">نفحات الصفاء بالسول لشرح مقدمة الاصول <textLang mainLang="ara">Arabic</textLang> </msItem> </msContents>

The attribute
In addition to the Library of Congress Subject Headings refered to in the section on <encodingDesc> OCIMCO makes use of a seperate | identified as local-class, to specify the various types of texts regardless of their subject or ‘genre’. An individual   is selected as a value for the   attribute in <msItem> to denote Commentaries, Supercommentary, Multiple Works, Glosses, Palimpsests, Documents, Abridgements, Letters, Translations, Extracts, Selections, Translation, Extract, Diagrams, Papers, Notes. In some instances a combination of attributes specifying the  element, render more detailed information.

<msContents class="#commentary"> <msItem> <persName xml:lang="per-Latn-x-lc" type="supplied">Sabzavārī, Ḥusayn ibn Ḥasan, d. 1436-7</persName> <persName xml:lang="per">سبزوارى، حسين بن حسن <addName xml:lang="per" type="nisbah">الخوارزمى</addName> </persName> <title xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc">Jawāhir al-asrār fī sharḥ al-mathnawī <title xml:lang="ara">جواهر الاسرار في شرح المثنوي <listBibl> <bibl type="text-relations">Commentary on the <title xml:lang="per-Latn-xlc">Mas̲navī-i maʻnavī <foreign xml:lang="per">مثنوي معنوي of <persName xml:lang="per-Latn-x-lc">Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, Maulana, 1207-1273 <foreign xml:lang="per">مولانا جلال الدين رومى </persName>. </listBibl> <textLang mainLang="per">Persian</textLang> </msItem> </msContents>

<encodingDesc> <classDecl> <taxonomy xml:id="LCSH"> <taxonomy xml:id="local_class"> <category xml:id="commentary"> <catDesc>commentary</catDesc> <category xml:id="supercommentary"> <catDesc/> <category xml:id="translation"> <catDesc/> <category xml:id="multipleWorks"> <catDesc/> <category xml:id="abridgement"> <catDesc/> <category xml:id="papers"> <catDesc/> <category xml:id="documents"> <catDesc/> <category xml:id="extract"> <catDesc/> <category xml:id="gloss"> <catDesc/> <category xml:id="selection"> <catDesc/> <category xml:id="diagrams"> <catDesc/> <category xml:id="notes"> <catDesc/> <category xml:id="letters"> <catDesc/> </classDecl> </encodingDesc>

Added values to <respStmt>
In addition to  the element <respStmt> has been used to link a statement of responsibility to a name, which is not the author. Following the ENRICH working practice the value "trl" has been used for "translator" and the value "com" for compiler from the MARC Code List for Relators.

<msContents class="#letters"> <msItem> <author key="n80145329" ref="http://viaf.org/viaf/90056948/"> <persName xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc" type="standard">Rashīd al-Dīn Ṭabīb, 1247?-1318</persName> <persName xml:lang="ara">رشيد الدين فضل الله <addName xml:lang="ara" type="laqab">طبيب</addName> </persName> <respStmt> Compiler <persName xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc">Muḥammad Abarqūhī<foreign xml:lang="ara">محمد ابرقوهي </persName> <persName/> </respStmt> <title xml:lang="eng" type="desc">Collection of letters dating from <date calendar="Hijri-qamari" from="0670" to="0690">670 to                                   690 <date calendar="Gregorian" from="1272" to="1297">1272 to 1291. <listBibl> [record in printed catalogue] </listBibl> <textLang mainLang="per">Persian</textLang> </msItem> </msContents>

Bibliograpghic references under <listBibl> and
For this project we have made free use the <listBibl> and   Element. Information refering to the intellectual content of the manuscript are nested in <msItem> and may contain an link to the source catalogue and/or a an analysis of textual relationships.

Reference(s) to the source record(s)
In Cambridge we are currently using a number of printed catalogues as sources for the TEI records. A jpg version of these can be retrieved from the Cambridge University Library website. For the OCIMCO records priority was given to the most essential information on personal names, titles and dates while potentially more elaborate descriptions of the manuscripts can be found in the original catalogue. A link to every individual record -where available- is given under <ListBibl> in a seperate   Element nested in <msItem>.

<msItem> <author key="n83055935" ref="http://viaf.org/viaf/90045618/"> <persName xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc" type="standard">Fīrūzābādī, Muḥammad ibn Yaʻqūb, 1329-1414 or 15</persName> <persName xml:lang="ara">فيروزابادي، محمد بن يعقوب </persName> /author> <title xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc">Qāmūs Fīrūzābādī <title xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc" type="alt">al-Qāmūs al-muḥīṭ <title xml:lang="ara">قاموس فيروزابادي <title xml:lang="ara" type="alt">القاموس المحيط <listBibl> Browne 1900>no. 755      </listBibl> <textLang mainLang="ara">Arabic</textLang> </msItem>

For the early Persian manuscripts we found descriptions in two of E.G. Browne’s catalogues. However largely overlapping in content, reference has been made to each record under   linking to the individual ''' </recordHist>

Textual relationships
We used the type attribute in <listBibl> and to define bibliographic relationships of texts. Nested within <msItem> the value text-relations specifies textual affiliations with other works which may be intergral to the text described.

Examples of "text-relations":

<msContents> <msItem class="#commentary"> <author key="nr91037727" ref="http://viaf.org/viaf/90046369/"> <persName xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc" type="standard">Quṭb al-Taḥtānī, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad, 1294 or 5-1364 or  5</persName> <persName xml:lang="ara">قطب الدين الرازي</persName> <title xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc">Sharḥ al-risālah al-shamsīyah <title xml:lang="ara">شرح الرسالة الشمسية <listBibl> <bibl type="text-relations">Commentary on the <title xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc">al-Risālah al-shamsīyah xml:lang="ara">الرسالة الشمسية of <persName xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc" key="nr93027510" >Qazwīnī, ʻAlī ibn ʻUmar, 1203 or 4-1276 or 7 xml:lang="ara">نمجم الدين علي الكاتبى القزوينى .</persName> <textLang mainLang="ara">Arabic</textLang> </msItem> </msContents>

<msItem n="2" xml:id="a2" class="#gloss"> ff. 5b-45b <persName xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc" type="standard" >anonymous</persName> <title xml:lang="eng" type="desc">Glosses <listBibl> <bibl type="text-relations">Glosses to the <title xml:lang="ara-Latn-x-lc">Risālah fī ādāb al-baḥth <foreign xml:lang="ara">رسالة في اداب البحث  of <persName xml:lang="ara-  Latn-x-lc">Samarqandī, Muḥammad ibn Ashraf, 13th cent</persName> <persName xml:lang="ara">السمرقندي، محمد بن اشرف</persName> </listBibl> <textLang mainLang="ara">Arabic</textLang> </msItem>

References to other manuscripts
To indicate other copies of the same work or other volumes i.e. physically seperate objects, the value related items in the type attribute of the   element was used, nNested in.

</adminInfo> <listBibl type="related-items"> Other copies: Oo. 6. 32, and Add. 199 . </listBibl>

</adminInfo> <listBibl type="related-items"> Other copies: Add. 191, which contains the entire dictionnary; and Add. 181, containing the first part of this work. </listBibl>

The element, calendars and chronograms
For the OCIMCO project we use the calendar values hijri-qamari and/or Hijri-shamsi, for the Islamic.

<date calendar="Hijri-qamari" when="1046">1046 <date calendar="Gregorian" when="1636">1636

In the Islamic tradition a date may be given in the sum of the alphanumeric value of letters, a chronogram. If this date refers to the copying of the text, i.e. the origin of the manuscript, it is nested in.

In the colophon <locus from="458a" to="458a">f. 458a the date of completion is given <date rend="colophon" calendar="Hijri-qamari" when="1066">1066 <date calendar="Gregorian" when="1656" >1656 . The chronogram <locus from="458a" to="458a">f. 458a giving the date of completion<date rend="chronogram" calendar="Hijri-qamari" when="1017">1017 <date calendar="Gregorian" when="1608">1608-9.

However, if the date/chronogram refers to the composition of the original work and represents an addition to the intelectual content, it is nested in.

Compiled in <date rend="chronogram" calendar="Hijri-qamari" when="1046">1046 as shown in the chronogram at the end <locus from="761b" to="761b">761b which runs:<foreign xml:lang="per">از پی تاريخش بی قال و قيل گفت خرد منتخب بی بديل