Medieval and Early Modern Data Bank (89)
Willard McCarty (MCCARTY@VM.EPAS.UTORONTO.CA)
Fri, 17 Feb 89 22:01:26 EST
Humanist Mailing List, Vol. 2, No. 621. Friday, 17 Feb 1989.
(1) Date: Thu, 16 Feb 89 16:49:34 PST (21 lines)
From: Hilde Colenbrander <USERDLDB@UBCMTSG.BITNET>
Subject: Medieval and Early Modern Databank
(2) Date: Fri, 17 Feb 89 11:36:02 PST (53 lines)
From: "CONNIE GOULD" <BL.CCG@rlg.uucp>
Subject: answer to question about MEMDB
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 89 16:49:34 PST
From: Hilde Colenbrander <USERDLDB@UBCMTSG.BITNET>
Subject: Medieval and Early Modern Databank
"The Medieval and Early Modern Data Bank (MEMDB) is a resource project
established at Rutgers University and cosponsored by The Research
Libraries Group, Inc. ... MEMDB currently is available in a pilot
version that runs on personal computers. It contains a master data
set of 13,256 medieval currency exchange rate quotations compiled
by Dr Peter Spufford of the University of Cambridge for his
Handbook of Medieval Exchange ... usable on any AT-class personal
computer with ten megabytes of available hard-disk storage ..."
To obtain a copy of the information leaflet from which the above
was taken, write to:
MEMDB,
Dept of History, CN 5059
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
New Brunswick, NJ 08903
The September 1988 price was US$250.
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------59----
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 89 11:36:02 PST
From: "CONNIE GOULD" <BL.CCG@rlg.uucp>
Subject: answer to question about MEMDB
I received a request today for more information on the Medieval and
Early Modern Data Bank. This is a project undertaken jointly by
The Research Libraries Group, Inc. (RLG) and Rutgers University.
The PC prototype is now available; a larger, on-line, version will
be disseminated on the Research Libraries Information Network in
1990.
The Medieval and Early Modern Data Bank (MEMDB), the first
non-bibliographic database to be developed by RLG, will provide
scholars with an electronic reference library of information on the
medieval and early modern period, roughly A.D. 800 to 1800. It
currently contains over 13,000 medieval currency exchange
quotations from Europe, Byzantium, the Levant, and North Africa--the
core of what will eventually be a greatly expanded database of
information on wages, prices, demographics, property holding, and
many other subjects.
The prototype, which runs on AT-class computers with ten megabytes
of available hard disk storage, has been designed to be easy to use
by scholars and researchers. MEMDB is a flexible reference tool
that allows users to retrieve both the scholarly source and
background text for search results. It also allows items to be
exported standard work processing, database, and spreadsheet
programs.
MEMDB's directors are Rudolph M. Bell, Professor of History, and
Martha C. Howell, Associate Professor of History, both at
Rutgers. Last year, European offices were opened in Leiden and
Brussels to provide European users with direct access to the
prototype and also to serve as centers for the acquisition and
distribution of data.
Copies of the prototype cost $250 and can be obtained on 5.25- or
3/5-inch diskettes from The Medieval and Early Modern Data Bank,
Department of History, CN 5059, Rutgers University, New Brunswick,
NJ 08903. (MEMDB is not available in a version that will run
on a Macintosh.) Martha Carlin, Executive Director, will be happy to
answer any questions at BB.MXC@RLG.Bitnet or 201/932-8316.
If there are questions about RLG and its automated information
system, RLIN, I'd be happy to answer them.
Connie Gould (BL.CCG@RLG.Bitnet)
Research Libraries Group