The Vienna Library offers an unusual activity. Poles are also invited.
The Vienna State Library invites you to collaborate on an important project that will save a list from being forgotten, dating back 300 years. Library staff are also happy to accept help from our fellow citizens, but there are two conditions.
The Vienna Library holds over 200,000 documents. Some were written as long as 300 years ago! Unfortunately, many of them were written in handwriting styles not widely recognized today.
Nevertheless, the library considers these lists an important resource for scientists and researchers and wants to save them from oblivion. That's why the "Crowdsourcing" project was created. However, to make this project a reality, the library will need help.
- The aim is to jointly develop the extensive collections of these two Viennese memorial archives with your help and to transcribe the handwritten documents - we read on the library's website.
The Vienna Library at the City Hall is looking for volunteers who can read and transcribe old manuscripts. Photo: Press materials / Vienna Library at the City HallThe letters, postcards, and documents in the library's collection are written in Kurrent script and other historical scripts. Therefore, the library is seeking volunteers who can decipher and transcribe ancient manuscripts.
The project, called "Crowdsourcing," is led by Katrin Kühnert. In practice, it involves transcribing old texts so that they are readable today. Texts dating from 1914 to 1934 are currently being processed, and approximately 17,000 digitized manuscripts are already available online.
The Vienna State Library is turning to crowdsourcing. Photo: Peter Oertel / UnsplashPeople from many countries participate in the program, but as Kühnert, quoted by PAP , claims, they can also be Poles.
Historical documents are still arriving at the Vienna Library"We're looking forward to working with German-speaking volunteers from around the world. We've already had people from Germany , Canada , and Australia join us. It would be great if Poles participated as well," says Katrin Kühnert .
Interestingly, the library's collection also includes documents related to our country. Interested? However, there are two conditions: Those who wish to contribute to "Crowdsourcing" must speak German and be able to read Kurrent .
Interested individuals can register via the Vienna Library's website. This is important because the institution constantly receives new historical documents.
"We have letters here that are 100, 200, even 300 years old. Only a few people can read Kurrent anymore, which is why the crowdsourcing project is so important – to ensure this skill doesn't disappear," says Susanne Lotteraner from the digital services department, quoted by the Austrian broadcaster ORF .
