Decorated papers

Ligatus, in collaboration with specialists in the field, is currently developing a digital tool for identifying decorated papers. This project aims to compile a database of described and photographed decorated papers in order to provide a reference collection and a tool to assist any user (expert or non-specialist) in the identification and recording of decorated papers.
A tool for non-specialists
Inspired by the catalogues of watermarks, the tool consists of a series of images of different types of decorated papers with which users can compare the papers they encounter in bound books. Users can then simply refer in their record to the paper in the Ligatus database having the closest appearance to that of the observed paper. This paper can therefore be identified and recorded without having to rely either on written descriptions or having to attempt to describe it themselves.
A standardised terminology (SKOS)
To allow categorisation and keyword searching, the images are accompanied by terms. The terminology of decorated paper used here is organised based on the SKOS standard (http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/). SKOS allows the categorisation of terms from the more general to the more specific, and facilitates interoperability between different resources, so the project's output can easily be shared.
Expanding the resource
Once set up, this resource will be open to submissions from its user-group, thus expanding the range and specificity of the examples held in the database. If needed, some basic recommendations on image requirements will be found on the website.
A research tool
Users of the resource will also be encouraged to submit bibliographical information of books in which they have found decorated papers identical or similar to the examples in the database. Where there is usually one paper and one reference, our intent is to collect as many bibliographical references as possible for the same paper and therefore create a more versatile tool with potential material for research in paper history.