My Word with Douglas E. Welch

As organizations are shuttered indefinitely due to ongoing coronavirus embargoes, more and more institutions seem to be taking steps to make their collections accessible and explorable by virtual means. Whether this is due to the altruistic aspect of art that seeks to bring meaning to life during troubled times, or the ways in which the disruption of business-as-usual has enabled many of us to get into the “deep cuts” of our to-do lists, the result is an abundance of truly beautiful online resources to delight and divert us during self-quarantine efforts. Recent among these, the University of Pennsylvania Libraries announced a new addition to “OPenn” — the Manuscripts of the Muslim World project.