DREAM. A project about non-Latin script data

The DREAM project is a large research project founded by Sapienza University of Rome, dealing with bibliographic data in non-Latin scripts. As the National Bibliographic Service catalogue (SBN) does not yet manage data in non-Latin scripts, the aim of DREAM is to offer researchers a catalogue searchable through original scripts (such as Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, etc.). One of the most remarkable features of the project is the creation of an ILS-independent working context in which the cataloguer may find and retrieve data in original script from authoritative catalogues, starting from the existing romanized ones. From a technical standpoint, the ever increasing Unicode support offered by modern operating systems, DBMSs and indexing engines makes the rapid development of the relevant software tools a concrete possibility. This in turn implies a shift in scientific focus towards the (often subtle) record linkage operations between different data sources. The authors hope that the DREAM project will gather the adhesion of other Italian libraries that perceive the same needs. Furthermore, as soon as SBN will support the management of data in non-Latin scripts, the DREAM project partners will be able to contribute with their data.