The TU Berlin’s extensive holdings are well cataloged in analogue form. The approximately 100,000 minerals in the collection, which dates back to the eighteenth century, were documented in inventory books when they entered the collection. Moreover, a card catalogue sorted by mineral name contains further information about the specimens and is available to researchers.
The goal of the pilot digitization project was to lay the groundwork for the urgent digitization of this historically and scientifically significant collection. To this end, the project digitized minerals collected by a German miner who worked in the Tsumeb Mine in Namibia.
Data from the relevant section of the inventory book was transcribed and linked with keyword file data for the recorded minerals. Photographs were taken of some of these objects, as well as their labels, which often exist in various versions from different production periods. The mineral names were enriched with reference data, including taxonomic information from several different systems, as well as a list of scientific and common names in German and English.
Project outcomes
Structured, linked data on 1,753 collection objects and 7,635 index card entries; the data is now temporarily being stored in a temporary database (data hotel) awaiting further processing.
Photographic documentation of 206 selected items, along with corresponding labels. These digital copies have already been shown at an exhibition at the minerals’ place of origin in Tsumeb, Namibia.
Data Inspector front-end for visualizing the data, as well as digital copies for internal use.
Basis for calculating the labor and material resource expenses involved in the collection’s possible overall digitization in the future.
The results of the pilot digitization project are also being used to create a demonstrator for showcasing objects on our collections portal.
