The Mirabile Digital Library (MDL)

Abstract

The Mirabile Digital Library (MDL) is a digital initiative developed within Società Internazionale dello Studio per il Medioevo Latino (SISMEL) to provide open-access electronic editions of Medieval Latin texts published in its scholarly series. Originating between 2018 and 2020 with the support of the Zeno Karl Schindler Foundation, the project promotes a strongly integrated digital environment that combines XML-TEI encoding with the bibliographical, codicological, and reference databases already available on the Mirabile platform. The redesign of MDL addresses long-standing issues concerning metadata management, synchronization with the internal archives, and technical constraints that had limited both the import and the accessibility of texts. Synergy with other projects – such as Te.Tra. – has enabled a significant enhancement of the platform’s user experience. The MDL experience highlights the central role of XML-TEI for the creation of interoperable digital resources, while also emphasizing the need for shared protocols to manage complex components such as stemmata codicum, cross-references, and stable identifiers (permalinks). The new MDL thus emerges as a more flexible and updated environment, designed to support ongoing research on the transmission and study of Medieval Latin literature