The meeting with our visitors from Leipzig University on May 20th had a main objective to discuss the details of academic exchange and lay the groundwork for joint project on digitizing Arabic graphic holdings of The Nikolai Lobachevsky Scientific Library.
Several years ago Leipzig University launched the project on digitizing Islamic manuscripts from the university's collection. Those manuscripts are medieval texts in Arabic, Farsi, and Turkish reflecting historical and cultural values of the Muslim East. Digital versions of the documents are then published on a certain website with free public access.
Now the administration of Leipzig University has decided to bring the project to a new, international level. Also discussed topics within the framework of the project were sharing experiences in manuscripts scanning. Yet more detailed planning will take place this autumn.
Note: Leipzig University is one of the oldest universities in the world offering a wide variety of programs in science and humanities. Among the people associated with Leipzig University were founders of experimental psychology: Wilhelm Wundt and Theodor Fechner. Inspired by lectures Wundt delivered and his laboratory Vladimir Bekhterev during his time at the University of Kazan made some of his greatest contributions to neurological science. He established the first laboratory of experimental psychology in Russia in 1886 to study the nervous system and the structures of the brain.