My quest across the digital divide to save the Slavic manuscripts

摘要

Like many of you, I am a librarian. While earning an M.S. and an M.L.I.S., I worked with special collections at the Society of Folk Dance Historians, Saint Elias Orthodox Church, the University Catholic Center, and the Austin (Texas) GraduateSchool of Theology. I created electronic catalogs for some and advised others on preservation. Seeing the needs of these institutions, I decided to pursue a Certificate of Specialization, and that led to the quest that I'll describe here. What started this quest? While researching a homework assignment in 1999, I stumbled across the Summer School in Digital Preservation of Slavic Medieval Manuscripts in Sofia, Bulgaria. When I discovered those deeply hidden collections, rent and silently suffering the dust and mold, I decided to dedicate my life to salvaging them from the devastations of time. I attended the Summer School, which convinced me of the manuscripts' value and their need for help. Thus started my education in digital preservation and access, and my quest to save the treasured Slavic medieval manuscripts. In the U.S., I spent more than 2 years fighting many battles, slaying the dragons of computer technology, preservation and conservation technology, and global ignorance of the importance of manuscripts. I saturated my mind and heart with digitization theory. Then appeared the dragons of anxiety over the complex technological issues, and my own lack of strength. Yet, where there is a will, there is a way! I applied for and failed to receive grants to go back to Bulgaria, but the manuscripts could not wait. Back in November 2000, with my own money matched by funds raised from my church parish, I had donated a computer to the manuscript collection at the Historical and Archival Church Institute (HACI) in Bulgaria while I was there for a conference. This donation opened the portals to the collection and, a year later, HACI invited me to conduct research there through an academic practicum.