From the point of view of digital information management it appeared therefore not desirable to build a separate system for each digital collection. Several digitisation projects have already been carried out, and many more are planned for the near future. KB policy precribes that all digitisation projects will be incorporated within the existing technical environment. It will be possible, for instance, to study certain decorative motifs or images or the development of the work by a master (artist) via his miniatures. The website will present the images that will be catalogued according to Iconclass. Although a selection of the representations was made accessible in 1986 on the now almost obsolete analog Optical Disc, increase of interest is expected in the website on which vividly coloured representations from history bibles, books of hours, gospels and other manuscript books from the Middle Ages will be fully searchable. The original books may only be consulted within the library walls. It has a unique cultural value for a varied and relatively wide audience. The medieval illuminated manuscripts form a precious and fragile collection that is frequently consulted. These include representations from famous books such as the Beatrijs, Jacob van Mearlant's Spieghel Historiael and the chronicles of Froisart. The new service will contain no less than 7.500 images. The KB holds the largest collection of Dutch medieval manuscripts.
The Koninklijke Bibliotheek (The National Library of the Netherlands) is developing a web-based system for electronic access to miniatures, historiated initials and margin decorations in illuminated manuscripts from the Northern Netherlands.
Patricia Alkhoven, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague (NL) Illuminated Manuscripts Online: the Functionality of Complex Information
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