Printed books assessment

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The survey of the printed books was done using digital tools. We focused on three important aspects of the survey:
  • The structure of the collected data: bookbinding descriptions and the relevant conservation related data can conveniently fit a hierarchical data structure model. We used the schema language RelaxNG to map that hierarchical model and created our records in XML documents based on that schema. This allowed automatic validation of our resulting documents with which we ensured that obvious mistakes were corrected before leaving the Monastery.
  • The inputting of the information: an interactive form was created to transform the hierarchical data model into a user-friendly form. We used a utility called JAXFront to do this in a semi-automatic way. This utility runs on Java and it is free for non commercial use. An example of the working layout of the survey team in the form of a demo for the software can be found here.
  • The photography of the books: photography was done using a digital camera with on site quality control and simple photo management tools.