A PDF version of the Guidelines will be made available here.

Version 1.1 (December 2022)
Marieke van Delft
Additions: Marian Lefferts

Website: https://pda.cerl.org
Login: create an account

After registering, you will be sent an email to confirm your address and choose a new password. Please keep an eye on your SPAM box in case the registration mail gets lost there.

Consent By making use of the account you have created for the Provenance Digital Archive, you consent to the following:

• Your name will be displayed with the records that you create
• Descriptions of provenance information that you create will be made available to all under a CC0 license
• You must ensure that images you upload are free from copyright. Any images that you contribute will be made available as IIIF and under a CC0 license

If you have uploaded an image to the CERL PDA before, your account may have been migrated already. Then just request a password reset.

Preferably, the entire page with a provenance mark is photographed so one sees the context of use of the mark. Please add a second image with a detail of the specific provenance mark. If a page of the book that you describe contains more than one evidence of provenance, for example two inscriptions by two different former owners, you should create two entries in the PDA, one for each former owner. We hope that in a future version of the PDA, it will be possible to highlight the specific provenance mark you describe. Until then the second image with the detail is required.

The PDA is meant for unique provenance marks. Therefore, for repetitive marks such as Ex Libris, Armorial Bindings or Library Stamps of a specific former owner, one description is sufficient. If the same mark is used multiple times in various books, the mark is only described once in the PDA. Inscriptions can be repetitive, but when the former owner uses a different wording or the former owner’s handwriting has changed substantially, an inscription can be added twice or more times. The decision whether a mark should be described separately is up to the editor creating the description. Therefores, before adding a new image, check if the image is already available in the PDA by searching with the elements you plan to describe the provenance mark: name of the former owner (user of the provenance mark), subject of the image, text on the mark or ICONCLASS code. Then act as follows:

• If you cannot find the provenance mark in the PDA, create a new item;
• If the mark is already described, do not insert it a second time; click on the image and then you can add the source with the second instance in the Notes field at the bottom of the screen. We strive to turn this into a linked field in the future; for now only add the URL of MEI, a library catalogue etc.
• Descriptions can only be edited by the person who made the initial contribution, and the general PDA-editor; the name of the creator of the description is displayed in the record.

You start the description of a new provenance mark by selecting “Upload New Item” in the blue bar at the top of your screen.

First, upload your image(s). NB: only JPG’s are allowed. There you can upload one or (if needed) more images of the provenance mark, preferably no larger than 2 MB. Please ensure that all images are free of copyright. Then describe the provenance mark by filling in the fields on the PDA input form. Fields with an * are obligatory

Source URI
Paste a URI in this field, e.g.:

• HPB: the Heritage of the Printed Book Database; you find the URL in HPB by clicking the “cite” image with your right mouse button and copy the link, for ample: http://hpb.cerl.org/record/GB-UkOxU.01.013365380
• MEI: Material evidence in Incunabula Database, for example: https://data.cerl.org/mei/02100998
• ISTC: Incunabula Short-Title Catalogue, for example: https://data.cerl.org/istc/is00670300
  

In certain instances, pasting the URI in the box will ensure that Bibliographic details are automatically added to the PDA record.

Bibliographic details
If the source of your provenance mark does not occur in any of these bibliographical resources, you can manually add relevant information to the fields of the Bibliographic details (Author, Title, Imprint).

Institution Name
Institution names are based upon the CERL "Holding Institutions" Database. For more information or to add a missing institution, please contact: Marian Lefferts, CERL Executive Manager

Shelfmark
Insert the shelfmark of the item containing the provenance mark you are describing.

Location in source
Picklist. Describe the location choosing one of the options from the picklist; a page or folio number can be inserted in the box right of the pick list. Before the number, you must add fol. or p.

Transcription
Transcribe the text (if any) on the provenance mark in normal use, i.e. do not use capitals if these are not used in a common sentences; give the text as it is meant, i.e. solve the u-v, i-j etc. in Latin[“virtus” instead of “virtvs”] and if possible, give a translation between brackets [ …].

Language
Picklist. Choose the language of the text on the mark

Century
Picklist. Choose the century in which the mark was in use; multiple centuries are possible.

Date
The date in this field should be as specific as possible; general information on dates is given in the Century field. For persons, give the biographical dates. If no date can be found, leave the field empty.

Iconclass
Via the information button [questionmark] the most used codes are given. For more information, for example to describe the figures on the image, use: http://iconclass.org/help/outline.

Technique
Use a term form the picklist. If you miss a technique, please send an email to Marieke van Delft, PDA Coordinator.

Width and Height
Give these in cm, rounded up or down to halves (2,5 cm)

Place of use
This means the place where the provenance mark was used or/and the Former Owner (user of the provenance mark) lived. Type the name of the place of use and the name will be retrieved. If not, see Missing Names below. You can also add the name of a country if you do not know a specific place or region where the mark was in use. Please verify the form of the name of the country in use in the CERL Thesaurus. There is some delay in the retrieval of the geographical names from the Thesaurus, so you may have to wait until it appears.

Former Owners
Here comes the name of the user of the provenance mark. Insert the name of the Former Owner as specific as possible. This field is connected to the CERL Thesaurus. If you type a name, a person or institution pops up. If this is the right one, you insert it by clicking. Please verify the form of the name of the former owner in use in the CERL Thesaurus. There is some delay in the retrieval of the names from the Thesaurus, so you may have to wait until it appears. If you do not know the former owner, please leave the field empty; in the presentation the words “Unidentified Owner” will appear. And do not forget to tick the Can You Help box.

Missing names
Place names and Former Owners are retrieved from the CERL Thesaurus Database. If no name pops up when typing, try some different spellings. If then still no name pops up, please open the CERL Thesaurus (https://data.cerl.org/thesaurus/_search) in a new tab and search for the name. If the name lacks in CERL Thesaurus, you can add it with the button ‘Add missing lookup items’. A new form opens where you can choose between Place, Former Owner (person) and Former Owner (Institution). Insert the place or former owner and it will be kept in the CERL Thesaurus and your description. There can be some delay when saving new names in the Thesaurus, so you might have to wait before it turns up.

Can You Help forum
If you could not identify the image, please give all the information about the image you have and tick this box. The image will then show up in the Can You Help forum at Arkyves and other scholars might be able to help you to identify it. If you could not identify the image, please give all the information about the image you have and tick this box. The image will then show up in the Can You Help forum at Arkyves and other scholars might be able to help you identify it.

Notes
In this field you can add information you were not yet able to provide: for example URL’s of other books with the same image. Other useful information such as bibliographical references, references to other provenance websites, information about a former owner etc. For some elements new fields might be defined in the future.

These guidelines are compiled for describing provenance marks in the PDA. You can link from MEI to the CERL PDA through inserting the Permanent link from the CERL PDA in the appropriate field in MEI.