Methods of the Arabic Manuscripts Digitization

1 The authors acknowledge Saint-Petersburg State University for a research grant 2.37.175.2014. Abstract The mediaeval Arabic manuscripts are not only valuable artifacts but they also represent one of the major sources of scholar information in the field of Oriental Studies. This paper discusses the methods of Arabic Manuscripts Digitization. Over the last fifteen years a lot of Arabic manuscript digitization projects have been carried out. Digital collections of the manuscripts based on Arabic script are represented in the collections of libraries worldwide, including on-line databases. Nevertheless, these collections are restricted by their functionality: technology of metadata integration relies on the human made characteristics. While a possibility of automatic metadata introduction would facilitate the task of manuscript processing, at the same time it allows automatic quantitative and quality analysis of the manuscripts. This paper analyses different methods for classifying and retrieving historical Arabic handwritten documents and suggests the most efficient methods of their digitization.