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Turning the Pages™ nominated for 'best of the best' in e-Government National Awards

British Library system acclaimed for innovative use of technology to enable wider access to collections.

Hot on the heels of a clutch of other awards and nominations, the British Library has been short-listed in the e-Government National Awards 2006. The nomination is for the organisation’s TURNING THE PAGES™ programme, which allow readers to leaf through 15 of the world’s great books, including Jane Austen’s early work, the Lindisfarne Gospels and Mozart’s musical diary.

The e-Government National Awards highlight the UK’s best services which improve citizen and business transaction with councils, central government departments and other public sector organisations. The 89 finalists include a great diversity and spread of excellence in e-Government and public sector IT right across the UK. Councils, central government departments, non-departmental public bodies and voluntary organisations are all represented in this ‘best of the best’ listing.

The Turning the Pages™ project has been nominated in the Other Public Sector Body category – which seeks to recognise non-governmental, non-departmental public bodies or voluntary sector organisations which have delivered services that succeed for the target audiences. Other groups nominated for this particular award include Royal Holloway University, the Commission for Social Care Inspection and the Disability Rights Commission.

“Developing Turning the Pages™ for the web has involved a huge amount of effort for my team, building on work already being done for the galleries by curators, Clive Izard and Creative Services, and also our colleagues at Armadillo Systems,” commented the British Library’s Head of Web Services Delivery, Adrian Arthur.

“It’s good to see that the expertise of everyone involved has been recognised once again by the selection committee for a leading award.”

Many positive users’ comments have been generated through Turning the Pages™. Here a just a few, recorded at the launch of the ‘Mozart’s diary’ Turning the Pages™ on the web:

  • “It is quite breathtaking. Thank you. It must have taken a lot of work and you must be very proud of yourselves.”
  • “This is the best site I’ve come across since I’ve had the internet. Going through the different books I’ve just been whispering ‘Oh wow’ constantly! As someone who truly loves books, your site is perfect. Being able to actually turn the pages and use the magnifying glass is wonderful. I love it, I love it, I love it. Thank you and well done.”
  • “I must take my hat off and sing the praises of the British Library team for creating the Turning the Pages™ masterpieces! I have just gone through the Mozart feature and this was truly an unforgettable, interactive sensory experience. Thank you for bringing Mozart (and other great masters!) to life! I look forward to future editions.”

“Using technology in reforming our public services to fit around the needs of the citizen is essential,” says Pat McFadden (Cabinet Minister with responsibility for Transformational Government). “Organisations across the public sector all need to provide the best possible service to their users, whether individuals, businesses or whole communities. We support these awards, and in doing so we support the efforts of all those organisations who are committed to best meeting the needs of their customers.”

Winners of the e-Government National Awards 2006 will be announced on 17 January, 2007.

For further information please contact: Ben Sanderson (telephone +44 (0)1937 546126, email: ben.sanderson@bl.uk) or Lawrence Christensen (telephone +44 (0)20 7412 7114, email: lawrence.christensen@bl.uk) at the British Library Press Office. Out of Hours: +44 (0)20 7412 7150.

Notes for Editors

Images from the following items in the British Library’s collection are now available on Turning the Pages and to those visiting the Library’s Exhibition Galleries at its St Pancras headquarters in central London:

  • Lindisfarne Gospels (circa 700): one of the most magnificent manuscripts of the early Middle Ages written and decorated at the end of the seventh century by the monk Eadfrith who became Bishop of Lindisfarne in 698
  • The Luttrell Psalter (circa 1325-1335): one of the most famous medieval manuscripts because of its rich illustrations of everyday life in the early fourteenth century
  • Sforza Hours: a masterpiece of Renaissance art by celebrated artists including Giovan Pietro Birago and Gerard Horenbout
  • Golden Haggadah: a lavishly illustrated fourteenth century Hebrew Manuscript from Spain (a Haggadah is the Hebrew Service Book used in Jewish households on Passover Eve)
  • The Sherborne Missal (circa 1400): the largest, most lavishly decorated medieval service book (containing the order of service then used in the Roman Catholic Church) to have survived the Reformation intact
  • The Diamond Sutra: a Chinese Buddhist scroll printed in 868 AD, the world’s oldest, dated, printed book
  • Sultan Baybars’ Qur’an – a masterpiece of Arabic calligraphy, produced in Cairo between 1304-1306 AD (704-705 in the Muslim calendar)
  • Elizabeth Blackwell’s Herbal (1737-39): George III’s copy of a beautiful botanical text
  • Leonardo da Vinci’s Notebook (early 1500s): a collection of sketches and notes in ‘mirror writing’ by one of the main figures of the Renaissance
  • Andreas Vesalius’ Anatomy – a landmark medical work of the sixteenth century and one of the most influential works in the history of Western medicine. It contains beautifully detailed anatomical engravings by artists from the workshop of Titian
  • Jane Austen’s ‘Hitory of England’: written when she was just 15 years old, the entire 36-page document including waspish pen-portraits of key historical figures
  • The Golf Book: a masterpiece of Flemish manuscript painting. Produced in the 1540s by Flemish artist Simon Bening, this book of hours features devotional texts to accompany private prayer and painted scenes of contemporary life, work and pastimes through the seasons of the year
  • Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground (1864): the fully-digitised first version of what eventually became ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonder Land’ containing 90 pages and 37 illustrations
  • Mercator’s Atlas: a stunning 90-page digitisation of Gerardus Mercator’s sixteenth century Atlas of Europe – the most important surviving body of Mercator’s work in a single volume

Details of the opening times of the British Library Exhibition Galleries are available on www.bl.uk or by telephoning +44 (0)20 7412 7332. Turning the Pages versions of the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Sherborne Missal and Sultan Baybars’ Qur’an are also published by the British Library on CD-ROM. Further information is available from the online bookshop at www.bl.uk or by telephoning +44 (0)20 7412 7735.

To use the Turning the Pages (TtP) technology over the web you need the Macromedia Shockwave plugin which can easily be downloaded. Slightly different versions of the Turning the Pages volumes have been prepared to suit the connection speeds of people accessing the web via modems and those using broadband connections. Where we can detect the user’s settings we load the version that will give them the best experience. The TtP volumes can take anything from a few seconds to a few minutes to load, depending on the user’s computer settings. Users with modems working at 33kb per second or below will have to wait the longest.

Important information on linking to Turning the Pages from your website

If you want to link to Turning the Pages from your website you should ensure that you link to www.bl.uk/collections/treasures/digitisation.html. Where we can detect users’ system settings we automatically provide the version that suits their connection speed and screen resolution. For this to happen users need to access www.bl.uk/collections/treasures/digitisation.html from where they will be redirected to a page tailored to their needs. Linking to this URL will ensure that users get the best experience of Turning the Pages.