VisColl (Visualising Collations) provides a system for building models and visualising the physical construction of books in codex format. Since 2013, the project has developed a robust framework for describing complex book structures and generating advanced visualisations. At the core of codex technology lies the gathering, or quire: a structural unit created by stacking sheets and folding them to form leaves.

The study of this physical structure—collation—is distinct from textual collation. While the practice of building collation formulas for printed books is well specified, there is no single standard for manuscript collation; in both cases, collation data is traditionally recorded in highly compact and dense expressions called collation formulas. VisColl transforms this 'dense' material data into standardised, interoperable records that provide a 'physical fingerprint' to complement traditional descriptive metadata.

The VisColl project uses this community as a central, open-access repository for its primary outputs, including the VCEditor software, the VisColl Data Model, and a growing collection of structural models from diverse manuscript and early printed traditions. By providing tools for rigorous structural modelling, the project ensures that even fragmented or geographically isolated volumes are described according to modern standards. As a collaborative initiative supported by an international consortium, these resources are intended to benefit manuscript scholars, book historians, conservators, curators, and cataloguers, fostering interdisciplinary research and digital stewardship across the heritage sector.