News Release (November 2008)  

HARRASSOWITZ is assigned distributor for Parker Library on the Web:

HARRASSOWITZ is pleased to announce that it has been selected as the exclusive world-wide distributor and agent for Parker Library on the Web, a digital collection from the Parker Library of Corpus Christi College Cambridge.

Parker Library on the Web is a collection of high-resolution digital images representing almost 200,000 manuscript pages in the world-famous Parker Library, a peerless collection of medieval manuscript materials fundamental to scholarship in a broad range of humanistic disciplines.

Parker Library on the Web is the product of more than five years' joint work by Stanford University, Corpus Christi College and the University of Cambridge, executed with generous support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and additional support from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.

A partial, Beta version of Parker Library on the Web is currently available at Stanford. On October 1, 2009, the Beta site will be replaced with a complete, full-function implementation available by institutional license only, although a basic version intended for non-specialists will be made available without charge.

"The Parker Library on the Web is an amazing accomplishment and a milestone in the digitization of manuscript collections," notes Dr. Knut Dorn, Managing Partner of HARRASSOWITZ and Director of Library Services. "We are proud to have been given the role of distributing partner and look forward to working closely with Corpus Christi College and the Stanford University Libraries."

The major advantage is the new range of accessibility of the precious manuscript collection, as Dr. Christopher de Hamel, Donnelley Fellow Librarian of Corpus Christi College, comments: "In theory, it has been open to readers since 1574, but for several centuries it was almost impossible to gain admission. These days we are glad to welcome scholars of all nationalities to see and study the treasures of the Parker Library. Corpus Christi College is delighted that the new Parker Library on the Web facility now allows even more people access to these breathtaking manuscripts, which are truly the heritage of the world".

For further information please contact service@harrassowitz.de.