Preserving Malta’s Written Heritage through Open Access

Through long-term collaboration between the Open Science Department of the University of Malta Library and the Department of Maltese in the Faculty of Arts, an extensive project is being carried out to make newspapers, journals, and other historical Maltese publications available on the Open Access Repository (OAR@UM).

One of the main aims of this project is to provide academic researchers and other interested individuals with remote access to these materials for their studies. The project also helps to protect printed copies of these newspapers and journals—some of which have become very fragile—from excessive physical handling.

The digital copies uploaded so far include the following:

• In-Naħla (1908–1912, 1928), a newspaper edited by Agostino Levanzin that published Levanzin’s novel Is-Saħħar Falzun in parts; articles on the history of Malta; histories of specific towns and villages; accounts of specialised artistic fields such as sacred music; first publications of poems by various poets; opera librettos; biographies of Maltese and foreign figures; reviews; and fictional dialogues on current affairs or topical issues.
• Il-Ħabib (1912–1928), a newspaper edited by Ġużè Muscat Azzopardi, which has a long history linked to the Maltese language and literature. It features various forms of writing, including articles on crafts, skills, tools, and traditions; the first publication of works by leading poets; prose translations from Italian; serialized long-form articles on subjects such as emigration; biographies; and transcripts of public lectures delivered by Ġużè Muscat Azzopardi.
• Il-Polz – Organu tal-Moviment Qawmien Letterarju (1967–1974; 1977–1984), a literary journal that published the aims of the Moviment Qawmien Letterarju (Literary Revival Movement); early essays on the style and poetics of Maltese Modernist poets; the first publication of many Modernist literary works; writings on the literary and cultural evenings organised by the movement; reviews of books published during the period; and critical studies.

Online access to these research sources has already been of great benefit to students and independent researchers studying Maltese literature, the history of writing in Maltese, and the biographies of notable figures in the Maltese cultural field. The project has also been of considerable value to linguists who are developing electronic datasets of registers, idioms, collocations, grammatical paradigms, and other linguistic features of Maltese across its historical development.

One of the major advantages of the digital format of these publications produced by the Open Science Department of the Library is the ability to convert the image of each word into computer-readable text (OCR). This allows researchers to search for specific words or specialised themes across the issues, and then to apply digital analytical tools installed on their personal computers.

Both departments have agreed to continue this valuable collaboration, which is making Maltese-language materials and their digital analysis increasingly accessible to anyone interested in studies related to them.

Minn In-Naħla sa Il-Polz: Gazzetti u Perjodiċi Antiki Online

Permezz ta’ kollaborazzjoni fit-tul bejn id-Dipartiment tax-Xjenza Miftuħa (Open Science Department) tal-Librerija tal-Università ta’ Malta u d-Dipartiment tal-Malti fil-Fakultà tal-Arti, qed jitwettaq proġett estensiv biex jittellgħu gazzetti, perjodiċi, u ħarġiet oħra antiki bil-Malti fir-Ripożitorju b’Aċċess Miftuħ (OAR@UM). Wieħed mill-għanijiet ta’ dan il-proġett huwa li r-riċerkaturi akkademiċi u persuni oħra b’interess fil-materjal ta’ dawn il-ħarġiet ikollhom aċċess remot biex iwettqu l-istudji tagħhom. Dan il-proġett jgħin ukoll biex il-kopji stampati tal-gazzetti u r-rivisti, li f’ċerti każijiet saru fraġli ħafna, ma jkomplux jitgħarrqu minħabba l-użu.

Il-kopji diġitali li ttellgħu sa issa huma dawn li ġejjin:
Il-gazzetta In-Naħla (1908-1912, 1928) ta’ Agostino Levanzin li toffri, fost oħrajn, il-faxxikli tar-rumanz Is-Saħħar Falzun ta’ Levanzin stess; artikli fuq l-istorja ta’ Malta; l-istorja ta’ xi bliet u rħula; l-istorja ta’ oqsma speċjalizzati ta’ arti, bħall-mużika sagra; l-ewwel pubblikazzjoni ta’ poeżiji ta’ poeti differenti; libretti tal-opri; bijografiji ta’ persunaġġi Maltin u barranin; reċensjonijiet; u djalogi fittizji dwar kwistjonijiet jew suġġetti attwali.

• Il-gazzetta Il-Ħabib (1912-1928) ta’ Ġużè Muscat Azzopardi, bi storja twila marbuta mal-lingwa u l-letteratura Maltin, u li fiha artikli fuq snajja’, ħiliet, għodod, u drawwiet; l-ewwel pubblikazzjoni ta’ xogħlijiet ta’ poeti ewlenin; traduzzjonijiet ta’ proża mit-Taljan; artikli twal (mifruxin f’ħafna ħarġiet) fuq suġġetti bħall-emigrazzjoni; bijografiji; u taħditiet pubbliċi ta’ Ġużè Muscat Azzopardi.
• Ir-rivista letterarja Il-Polz - Organu tal-Moviment Qawmien Letterarju (1967-1974; 1977-1984), li tinkludi l-għanijiet tal-Moviment Qawmien Letterarju; artikli bikrin fuq l-istil u l-poetika tal-poeti Modernisti Maltin; l-ewwel pubblikazzjoni ta’ għadd kbir ta’ xogħlijiet letterarji Modernisti; kitbiet dwar is-serati letterarji u kulturali tal-Moviment Qawmien Letterarju; reċensjonijiet dwar il-kotba ppubblikati tal-perjodu; u studji kritiċi.
• L-aċċess online għal dawn is-sorsi ta’ riċerka diġà serva tajjeb ħafna lill-istudenti u r-riċerkaturi indipendenti li qed jistudjaw il-letteratura Maltija, l-istorja tal-kitba bil-Malti, u l-bijografiji ta’ persunaġġi magħrufin fil-qasam ġenerali tal-Malti. Dan il-proġett qed jgħin ħafna wkoll lil riċerkaturi fil-qasam tal-lingwistika li qegħdin jibnu data elettronika ta’ reġistri, idjomi, kollokazzjonijiet, paradimmi grammatikali, u elementi oħra tal-Malti fl-iżvilupp lingwistiku tiegħu.

Wieħed mill-vantaġġi l-kbar tal-format diġitali ta’ dawn il-ħarġiet, magħmul b’metodoloġija professjonali u b’apparat speċjali mid-Dipartiment tax-Xjenza Miftuħa tal-Librerija, huwa l-faċilità li x-xbieha ta’ kull kelma tinqaleb f’test moqri mill-kompjuter (Optical Character Recognition [OCR]). Dan jippermetti li r-riċerkaturi jfittxu għal vokabularju speċifiku jew għal temi speċjalizzati fil-ħarġiet, u li mbagħad japplikaw fuqhom għodod diġitali installati fil-kompjuter personali tagħhom.

Iż-żewġ dipartimenti qablu li jkomplu b’din il-kollaborazzjoni siewja li qed tagħmel il-materjal bil-Malti u l-analiżi diġitali tiegħu dejjem aktar aċċessibbli għal kull min huwa interessat fi studji marbutin miegħu.