Generalkataloge zu Handschriften österreichischer Bibliotheken

The disclosure of the numerous Austrian manuscripts libraries and their publication in printed catalogues that meet today’s demands have been desired for a long time. As a consequence, a project was launched in the 1970`s under the aegis of the Commission for Palaeography and Codicology of Medieval Manuscripts (KSBM) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) by Herbert Hunger, president of the ÖAW, and Otto Mazal, head of the Manuscript Department at the Austrian National Library (ÖNB). In addition to catalogues dealing with specialised genres, a comprehensive disclosure in the form of general catalogues for all Western manuscripts kept in Austrian libraries followed which was sponsored by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). For financial reasons this all-encompassing endeavour was never realised. The results, however, have been catalogues dealing with individual collections, published as "Denkschriften der ÖAW". The University and Regional Library in Innsbruck (ULB Tirol) has participated in this project from the beginning. Seven volumes have been published hitherto, the 8th volume is prepared for print, while the work on the 9th volume is in progress. In total the entire series will comprise ten volumes. In addition, former employees of the Innsbruck cataloguing project have initiated further manuscript projects. The FWF’s demand for open access to the compiled data is met by the collaboration with the database www.manuscripta.at