Damascus Public Library Catalogue

This project provides a searchable database and REST API with the historical catalogue data for the Damascus Public Library after its founding in 1882.

University background

I majored in Islamic Studies (MA) in 2018. Part of my MA thesis was an analysis of a library catalogue that was created in Damascus in 1882. Back then, all previously independent collections of endowed books and manuscripts were collected and put together into a newly established public library, which later became the Syrian National Library after independence.

The catalogue for this new library was a printed book detailing every single item and its provenance and therefore alluring for the study of the history of reading and scholarly life.

Back in 2018 I compiled this (manually) into a LibreOffice Base database (having no clue about databases I used a single table) and used it for my research.

Current Situation

I now work as a software developer (my website), having left academia and the humanities behind. However, this project still holds a special place in my heart and provides me with a great opportunity to bridge my interests.

Original Research

I doubt there is much value to be gained – but the original MA thesis as a result of my research on a subsection of this data is available for download.

My thesis was written in German.

Download

What I did here

I normalized the original Base documents and created a proper relational database in PostgreSQL for it. Then, I created a small web application to provide a searchable interface for the catalogue.

Ways to query the data

There are two ways to query the data:

For both, find usage instructions on the Manual Page.