Capture Facscimile Metadata

Rationale

Image files are not XML files and cannot have a <teiHeader> the way our typical XML files do. Instead, we must capture information about each facsimile collection in a separate metadata file. The information in these files is standardized and must be organized exactly as described in this documentation.

Introduction

Facsimile files are divided into two sections: metadata (data about the data) and facsimile content (the actual images you will be encoding). This documentation will guide you through how to encode the metadata section. To learn how to encode facsimile content, see Encode Images in Facsimile Files.
To supplement the learning in this chapter, we have created a standardized template for our facsimile files: facsPlaybook_template. In combination with this documentation, please follow the template when adding a new facsimile file to the repository. It contains the complete content model and generous comments to help you complete each element in the file. To learn how to open and use a template, see Use LEMDO’s Oxygen Templates.

Practice: Encode Playbook Titles

Facsimile files have two <title> elements in their <titleStmt> : one with a @type value of "main" and one with a value of "full". The value "main" refers to the editorial title, while "full" refers to the play’s original title as given in the STC.
Format <title> elements as follows:
<title type="main">Henry VI, Part III, Quarto 2</title>
<title type="full">The true tragedie of Richarde Duke of Yorke, and the death of good King Henrie the sixt: with the whole contention betweene the two houses, Lancaster and Yorke</title>
In the full title, regularize double vs to w (e.g. vvith would be changed to with). Standardize long ſ as a short s. Do not capture ligatures (e.g., fl) but do capture digraphs (e.g., æ). Do not include end punctuation.

Practice: Encode Authority

The <authority> element tells us which holding library owns the copy of the playbook. Include the name of your holding library exactly as it appears in our shared orgography ORGS1, then wrap it in <orgName> . Use the @ref attribute to point to its xml:id in ORGS1. If your library does not appear in ORGS1, please email lemdo@uvic.ca and we will add it in.
A fully encoded <authority> element will look like this:
<authority>
  <orgName ref="org:BOST1">Boston Public Library</orgName>
</authority>

Practice: Encode Copyright

We use two elements to encode copyright: <availability> and <licence> . (Note that the <licence> element follows Canadian/British spelling conventions.)
The <availability> element includes the copyright statement for your playbook. Search the holding library’s website for specific information about fair use of images. Otherwise, copy and paste this statement:
<p>Although old books are not protected by copyright, the images thereof may be protected by copyright laws in the country where the book is held. Check with the holding library before you use these images for anything other than classroom use.</p>
The <licence> element is a child of <availability> . It includes the copyright license for your facsimile images. Ensure your <licence> element looks like this:
<licence>Licensed under a <ref target="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License</ref> (CC BY-SA 4.0)</licence>

Practice: Encode Identification Information

The <msIdentifier> element includes information about how to identify your particular playbook. It contains an <institution> element followed by at least one <idno> element.
In your <institution> element, provide the name of the holding library wrapped in the <orgName> element. The text nodes of the <institution> element and the <authority> should be the same.
Ideally, you will have multiple <idno> elements as children of your <msIdentifier> . Put the call number from the playbook’s holding library in the text node of the first <idno> element. For additional <idno> elements, you must find the other available identifiers (e.g., DEEP and STC numbers). On each <idno> element following the call number, add the @type attribute with the appropriate value from the drop-down list that appears in Oxygen. List the identifiers following the call number in alphabetical order by their @type value.
A fully encoded <msIdentifier> element will look like this:
<msIdentifier>
  <institution>
    <orgName ref="org:BOST1">Boston Public Library</orgName>
  </institution>
  <idno>G.176.8</idno>
  <idno type="ESTC">S111150</idno>
  <idno type="Greg">138b</idno>
  <idno type="ShakCensus">363</idno>
  <idno type="STC">21006a</idno>
</msIdentifier>

Practice: Encode Table of Contents

The <msContents> element functions like a table of contents for your printed playbook. It allows you to index your playbook’s contents, which may otherwise be difficult to navigate. Each entry in your <msContents> will follow this pattern:
<msItem>
  <locus from="015" to="015"/>
  <title>Title page</title>
</msItem>
The <locus> element specifies the page range, while the <title> element describes the content included within that range. Given the diversity of information that can appear in early printed playbooks, every <msContents> entry must follow these guidelines:
Create a new <msItem> for the following information: book cover(s), endpaper, spine, title page, blank page(s), and each page of the play text itself.
Group other miscellaneous content as frontmatter (if it appears before the play text) or backmatter (if it appears after the play text).
Leave a comment if your playbook is missing any pages.
A fully encoded <msContents> will look like this:
<msContents>
  <msItem>
    <locus from="001" to="001"/>
    <title>Book cover</title>
  </msItem>
  <msItem>
    <locus from="002" to="014"/>
    <title>Blank page</title>
  </msItem>
  <msItem>
    <locus from="015" to="015"/>
    <title>Title page</title>
  </msItem>
  <msItem>
    <locus from="016" to="016"/>
    <title>Blank page</title>
  </msItem>
  <msItem>
    <locus from="017" to="075"/>
    <title>Henry VI, Part III</title>
  </msItem>
  <msItem>
    <locus from="076" to="089"/>
    <title>Blank page</title>
  </msItem>
  <msItem>
    <locus from="090" to="090"/>
    <title>Book cover</title>
  </msItem>
</msContents>

Practice: Encode Physical Description

We use the <physDesc> element to describe the physical characteristics of a printed playbook. <physDesc> elements generally include three pieces of information:
The total number of pages, size in centimetres, and type of publication you are encoding (e.g. folio, quarto, octavo, or manuscript). Format this information as follows: [64] p ; 18 cm ; 4⁰.
A physical description of the item, quoted directly from your holding library’s website and wrapped in <quote> with a paranthetical citation pointing to the webpage from which you got the information.
A <typeDesc> element, which describes the type used in your playbook. This will generally be either Roman or Gothic type.
A fully encoded <physDesc> will look like this:
<physDesc>
  <p>[64] p ; 18cm ; 4⁰. <quote>Boston Public Library (Rare Books Department) copy halfbound in early calfskin and brown paper, rebacked in brown goatskin with the title stamped in gilt along the spine. Armorial bookplate of the Barton Library. BPL perforation stamp on title page. Bibliographical inscription in the hand of J.O. Halliwell-Phillipps on front flyleaf with description from Halliwell sale of May, 1857, laid on. Final leaf (H4) lined in brown paper</quote> (<ref target="https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S75C4565407">Boston Public Library catalogue entry</ref>).</p>
  <typeDesc>
    <p>Printed in Roman type.</p>
  </typeDesc>
</physDesc>

Name a Facsimile File

Once you have created your facsimile metadata file, you must name it and add it to the lemdo/data/facsimiles folder. When naming your file, use the prefix facs_ followed by the name of the facsimile folder that your file corresponds to.
Examples:
facs_FEm_Q2_BPL_1.xml contains the metadata for the Boston Public Library copy of the second quarto of Fair Em with the shelfmark Copy 1.
facs_MND_Q2_BL.xml contains the metadata for the British Library copy of the second quarto of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Prosopography

Isabella Seales

Isabella Seales is a fourth year undergraduate completing her Bachelor of Arts in English at the University of Victoria. She has a special interest in Renaissance and Metaphysical Literature. She is assisting Dr. Jenstad with the MoEML Mayoral Shows anthology as part of the Undergraduate Student Research Award program.

Janelle Jenstad

Janelle Jenstad is a Professor of English at the University of Victoria, Director of The Map of Early Modern London, and Director of Linked Early Modern Drama Online. With Jennifer Roberts-Smith and Mark Beatrice Kaethler, she co-edited Shakespeare’s Language in Digital Media: Old Words, New Tools (Routledge). She has edited John Stow’s A Survey of London (1598 text) for MoEML and is currently editing The Merchant of Venice (with Stephen Wittek) and Heywood’s 2 If You Know Not Me You Know Nobody for DRE. Her articles have appeared in Digital Humanities Quarterly, Elizabethan Theatre, Early Modern Literary Studies, Shakespeare Bulletin, Renaissance and Reformation, and The Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies. She contributed chapters to Approaches to Teaching Othello (MLA); Teaching Early Modern Literature from the Archives (MLA); Institutional Culture in Early Modern England (Brill); Shakespeare, Language, and the Stage (Arden); Performing Maternity in Early Modern England (Ashgate); New Directions in the Geohumanities (Routledge); Early Modern Studies and the Digital Turn (Iter); Placing Names: Enriching and Integrating Gazetteers (Indiana); Making Things and Drawing Boundaries (Minnesota); Rethinking Shakespeare Source Study: Audiences, Authors, and Digital Technologies (Routledge); and Civic Performance: Pageantry and Entertainments in Early Modern London (Routledge). For more details, see janellejenstad.com.

Joey Takeda

Joey Takeda is LEMDO’s Consulting Programmer and Designer, a role he assumed in 2020 after three years as the Lead Developer on LEMDO.

Mahayla Galliford

Project manager, 2025-present; research assistant, 2021-present. Mahayla Galliford (she/her) graduated with a BA (Hons with distinction) from the University of Victoria in 2024. Mahayla’s undergraduate research explored early modern stage directions and civic water pageantry. Mahayla continues her studies through UVic’s English MA program and her SSHRC-funded thesis project focuses on editing and encoding girls’ manuscripts, specifically Lady Rachel Fane’s dramatic entertainments, in collaboration with LEMDO.

Martin Holmes

Martin Holmes has worked as a developer in the UVic’s Humanities Computing and Media Centre for over two decades, and has been involved with dozens of Digital Humanities projects. He has served on the TEI Technical Council and as Managing Editor of the Journal of the TEI. He took over from Joey Takeda as lead developer on LEMDO in 2020. He is a collaborator on the SSHRC Partnership Grant led by Janelle Jenstad.

Navarra Houldin

Training and Documentation Lead 2025–present. LEMDO project manager 2022–2025. Textual remediator 2021–present. Navarra Houldin (they/them) completed their BA with a major in history and minor in Spanish at the University of Victoria in 2022. Their primary research was on gender and sexuality in early modern Europe and Latin America. They are continuing their education through an MA program in Gender and Social Justice Studies at the University of Alberta where they will specialize in Digital Humanities.

Sofia Spiteri

Sofia Spiteri is currently completing her Bachelor of Arts in History at the University of Victoria. During the summer of 2023, she had the opportunity to work with LEMDO as a recipient of the Valerie Kuehne Undergraduate Research Award (VKURA). Her work with LEMDO primarily includes semi-diplomatic transcriptions for The Winter’s Tale and Mucedorus.

Tracey El Hajj

Junior Programmer 2019–2020. Research Associate 2020–2021. Tracey received her PhD from the Department of English at the University of Victoria in the field of Science and Technology Studies. Her research focuses on the algorhythmics of networked communications. She was a 2019–2020 President’s Fellow in Research-Enriched Teaching at UVic, where she taught an advanced course on Artificial Intelligence and Everyday Life. Tracey was also a member of the Map of Early Modern London team, between 2018 and 2021. Between 2020 and 2021, she was a fellow in residence at the Praxis Studio for Comparative Media Studies, where she investigated the relationships between artificial intelligence, creativity, health, and justice. As of July 2021, Tracey has moved into the alt-ac world for a term position, while also teaching in the English Department at the University of Victoria.

Orgography

Boston Public Library (BOST1)

LEMDO Team (LEMD1)

The LEMDO Team is based at the University of Victoria and normally comprises the project director, the lead developer, project manager, junior developers(s), remediators, encoders, and remediating editors.

Metadata

Authority title Capture Facscimile Metadata
Type of text Documentation
Publisher University of Victoria on the Linked Early Modern Drama Online Platform
Series Linked Early Modern Drama Online
Source
TEI Customization created by Martin Holmes, Joey Takeda, and Janelle Jenstad; documentation written by members of the LEMDO Team
Editorial declaration n/a
Edition Released with Linked Early Modern Drama Online 1.0
Encoding description Encoded in TEI P5 according to the LEMDO Customization and Encoding Guidelines
Document status prgGenerated
Funder(s) Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
License/availability
This file is licensed under a CC BY-NC_ND 4.0 license, which means that it is freely downloadable without permission under the following conditions: (1) credit must be given to the author and LEMDO in any subsequent use of the files and/or data; (2) the content cannot be adapted or repurposed (except in quotations for the purposes of academic review and citation); and (3) commercial uses are not permitted without the knowledge and consent of the editor and LEMDO. This license allows for pedagogical use of the documentation in the classroom.