IT and culture: British Library to partner with National Library of Singapore to digitise Malay manuscripts

At the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) 2013 meeting, Roly Keating the British Library’s Chief Executive signed an agreement with Mrs Elaine Ng the Chief Executive Officer of the National Library Board (NLB) of Singapore to put an extensive range of materials of interest to Singapore online.

The project will digitise the British Library’s collection of Malay manuscripts, together with early maps of Singapore and archival material relating to Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles – the British official responsible for the founding of the city of Singapore.

The project is possible thanks to a kind donation of £125,000 from William and Judith Bollinger which will fund the digitisation work for 5 years and is part of an on-going project between the British Library and the National Library Board of Singapore. The first stage of the project, now underway, will digitise over 100 Malay manuscripts and letters from seventeenth to nineteenth century resulting in over 16,000 high resolution images.

These rare materials are being digitised in the British Library and will be available on the Library’s Digitised Manuscripts online, as well as the National Library Board of Singapore BookSG website. To date these items could only be viewed by visiting the British Library’s reading rooms at St Pancras – this project will make them freely accessible online to people with an interest in Malay manuscripts across the world.