OMAR was built at the University of Freiburg (Germany), in cooperation with the Information Technology Center of the University of Tübingen (Germany). The database contains images of approx. 2.500 Arabic manuscripts (in full text, 134.000 images) from Mauritania together with the corresponding bibliographical metadata.

The scans were taken from microfilms, stored at the University of Freiburg, whose originals are preserved at the IMRS (Institut Mauritanien de Recherche Scientifique) in Nouakchott (Mauritania). The microfilms were taken by Ulrich Rebstock, Rainer Oßwald and Tobias Mayer during several research visits to Mauritania between 1978 and 1997.

A detailed description of these undertakings can be found in Ulrich Rebstock: Maurische Literaturgeschichte (MLG), Vol. I-III (contents and introduction as PDF).

The database was realized with the financial support of the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg and the German Research Association (DFG).