KU Leuven Libraries has invested in an integrated approach to strengthen the discoverability and accessibility of physical resources through digital access, thereby supporting and stimulating research, education, and heritage activities.

The Digitisation and Enrichment of Collections Service creates, manages, and enriches data through metadata creation, digitisation, and imaging and serve as experts in these fields. Through state-of-the-art infrastructure such as the Imaging Lab and the Scan Hub, both fragile heritage materials and modern documents are digitised. These processes are supported by metadata creation and embedded within a broader policy framework for the preservation and management of physical collections. The team follows the latest developments in the field with regards to technical aspects and concerning digitisation project management and legal matters.

To make this often invisible expertise visible, Digitisation and Enrichment of Collections of KU Leuven Libraries developed the YouTube series “How KU Leuven Libraries Digitises” (in Dutch). Through a seriest of 4 videos you can discover, step by step, how materials are prepared, handled, placed under controlled lightning, scanned, and described. They show the people, equipment, and procedures behind the digitisation workflow. Discover the series below, or directly on Youtube.

If you want to know more about KU Leuven Libraries digitisation process, visit the website.

1. Safely handling

2. Metadata creation

3. Imaging Lab

4. Scan Hub

The project

Arabic Collections Online (ACO) is an online library specialized in providing Open Access to Arabic books and manuscripts in several scientific domains. ACO started its digitization project with the aim of providing free and global access to Arabic language content, which is currently not widely available. The project already offers access to over 16.000 volumes, however the goal of the project is to digitize 23.000 Arabic volumes. The topics range from philosophy and religion to political sciences and technology, and include both volumes from the classical Islamic period as well as more recent volumes.

Functionalities and use

The web pages are designed symmetrically, where the left side of the page is written in Latin script (i.e. English or transliteration) and the right side offers the same functionalities in Arabic. The search functions are likewise designed to facilitate queries on multiple levels (such as title, author, subject, place of publication, etc.) in English, Arabic transliteration and Arabic scripture. Under the header ‘search’, the website includes some search tips for the use of transliteration. The ACO project applies the Library of Congress transliteration system.

The ACO website is definitely a useful tool for researchers who are looking for specific Arabic source materials, as well as for students who want to gain a quick overview of the variety of digitized Arabic sources.

Questions about this database can be directed to the subject specialist Eastern Studies.