IT and Libraries: Rare Persian Manuscripts of the British Library get freely accessible via Internet

The Iran Heritage Foundation, a non-political UK registered charity with the mission to promote and preserve the history, languages and cultures of Iran and the Persian world, is fundraising for an important project, which will catalogue and digitise some of the many Persian manuscripts in the British Library's collection, making these freely accessible to scholars and enthusiasts worldwide via the Internet.

The British Library Persian manuscript collection is one of the largest and best known in the world. It includes over 11,000 manuscripts originating from all over the Iranian world, ranging in time from the 12th century onwards. Many of the manuscripts are very rare texts, and illustrated volumes include some of the most famous miniature paintings of the Persian and Mughal schools.

This 3-year project will make important works from the British Library's Persian manuscript collection freely accessible via the Internet to a worldwide audience of researchers and enthusiasts. It will make the material available through online catalogues, and will help safeguard this part of Iran's heritage for future generations, while promoting the research and study of these manuscripts and their relevant subject areas on a worldwide basis.

The project as a whole will provide a uniquely valuable and unparalleled resource for scholars and lovers of Iranian culture alike. At present the British Library Persian manuscript collections can only be consulted onsite in the St. Pancras Reading Room. Access to a digital catalogue and to virtual copies of the manuscripts will facilitate individual research on every possible aspect of the collection while opening it up to a worldwide audience. The archive as a whole will be a unique cultural resource which can both be enjoyed by students and lovers of Persian culture and also used as a teaching tool for both Persian music and Persian literature.