SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE PROVIDES UNICODE HEBREW FONT
ATLANTA � Academic writers and those who publish books on the ancient world and the Bible can now use a Hebrew font that is visually pleasing on computer screen and printed page, and facilitates the exchange of texts between computers, thanks to the joint efforts of the Society of Biblical Literature, SBL Font Foundation, and Tiro Typeworks. Until now, texts composed with a Hebrew alphabet were not easily transferred from one computer to another, or would read well on screen but not on paper�annoyances familiar to those in the publishing world. The solution was to design a new typeface and take advantage of the latest developments in font technology and Unicode, a text encoding standard that assigns a unique universal code for each character and works across diverse computer platforms. The new typeface, designed in a Sephardic style suited for screen and print, provides enhanced dissimilation between similar Hebrew letters and other aids to readability.
The font is provided without cost to individuals for non-profit use; commercial use is reserved for members of the SBL Font Foundation. The font and more information about the foundation are available online at www.sbl-site.org. The SBL plans to release new Unicode fonts for Greek and Latin later this year, with other ancient languages to follow. The complete series will include all symbols needed to produce critical editions of biblical and related texts.
The Society of Biblical Literature is located on the campus of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and is an academic organization that fosters biblical scholarship through conferences, publishing, and technology initiatives. Tiro Typeworks, an independent digital type foundry located in Vancouver, Canada, specializes in custom development of multilingual fonts for scholarship and international communications.
The SBL Font Foundation is open to publishers, academic societies, Bible societies, and anyone who supports the development of the SBL fonts. Current members include the American Bible Society, largest Bible society in the world, www.americanbible.org; American Schools of Oriental Research, supporter of archeological research in the Near East for more than a century, www.asor.org; Baker Book House, publisher of a wide range of academic and general audience materials on biblical topics, www.bakerbooks.com; Brill Academic Publishers, offering books and journals of scholarly distinction in biblical studies and other fields, www.brill.nl; German Bible Society, distributor of Bibles and standard critical editions in Greek, Hebrew, and Latin, www.dbg.de; and Logos Research Systems, largest developer of Bible software in the world, now offering more than 3,000 electronic study resources, www.logos.com. To join the SBL Font Foundation, contact Dr. Kent Richards, SBL Executive Director, at Kent.Richards@sbl-site.org.
The SBL Hebrew font and documentation can be downloaded from the SBL Resources website, www.sbl-site.org/Resources/default.aspx. In addition to the font, the distribution includes two Windows keyboard drivers for Biblical Hebrew: one implementing a layout developed by SIL and one developed by Tiro Typeworks.