With around 3 million documents, the WBÖ paper slip catalogue is the most extensive physical collection of Bavarian lexis in Austria. In order to secure this collection in the long term, the material has also been digitized in image format since 2017. Over 1.6 million paper slips have been scanned so far (as of 08/2024). Scanning the slips requires careful and sometimes time-consuming manual preparation, as the material is available in different formats, paper types and qualities.
The digitization of the paper slips also takes into account the scientific criterion of traceability. For this purpose, the data records of the WBÖ document database are linked to the corresponding paper slips. The digitized original documents can be viewed using a viewer, allowing any incongruities between the receipt database and the underlying paper slips to be identified. This service will also be available to the public in an open source version in the medium term.
Last but not least, the digitization of paper slips also forms the basis for the full-text digitization of the entire WBÖ paper slip catalogue. Since 2024, procedures have been tested to make the part of the paper slip catalogue not yet in the document database (letters A, B/P, C) accessible using machine learning methods. This digitization also enables an automated linking of the scanned paper slips with the existing data records in the document database.