Fragmente – Fragmentkunde – Fragmentforschung.

Departing from a history of the term fragment and its definition in book and archive history, the paper offers a classification of fragmenting processes and the resulting types of handwritten fragments. Furthermore, it presents the state of research and the potential of fragments in research and teaching as well as the internationally standardized digital image and metadata formats primarily in the international portal Fragmentarium, and highlights the characteristics of fragments which pose a special challenge in the allotation of signatures to fragments and the labelling of digital imagery. An overview of the primary fragment platforms and recent literature concludes the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]