Stationers' Register Online: A Case Study of a Byte-Reduced TEI Schema for Digitization (tei_corset)

Abstract

This article examines the process of customization, digitization, up-conversion, and proofreading that took place as part of the Stationers' Register Online (SRO) project at the University of Oxford. This pilot SRO project received institutional funding to digitize the first four volumes of the book-entry Register of the Stationers' Company. This is an important source for book history in Britain as the Stationers' Register was the primary means through which ownership of texts was asserted, disputed, regulated, and monitored from 1577 until 1924. The article concentrates on the technical aspects of creating a byte-reduced TEI schema (tei_corset) which, because of the arrangement with the keying company, saved a significant amount of money. It looks at the creation of that schema, the up-conversion of the resulting XML, and the difficulties of proofreading such a large quantity of material.

Keywords

• customization
• ODD
• conversion
• digitization
• book history