4 ms·

Are they solved? The quote indicated it had not been digitized and implied it would take significant effort. The Vatican library has never been digitized, and n

Are they solved? The quote indicated it had not been digitized and implied it would take significant effort. The Vatican library has never been digitized, and nobody really knows what all is in there. The HP library burned down before anybody digitized it.

snvzz 8y ago
>The Vatican library has never been digitized, and nobody really knows what all is in there. Seems like a clear case where public interest should override private property.
- Freak_NL 8y ago
  I'm sure the citizens of the Vatican City State will rise up and demand public access any day now.
  - darkpuma 8y ago
    Maybe the sovereignty of the Vatican should be clawed back. I wouldn't be the first of Mussolini's decisions to be undone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateran_Treaty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateran_Treaty
  - jaco8 8y ago
    They even might find books by Otto Corvin ....
- skookumchuck 8y ago
  The reason given for not digitizing it was "too expensive". That's the professional archivers talking again, overlooking that everyone has a digitizing machine in their pocket. I wonder how many more libraries will get lost before people start being pragmatic about this.
  - keithnoizu 8y ago
    the issue is your lay people will damage the books, or may not have access to the imaging technologies you need to read otherwise illegible text. For example in some cases with faded ink or very weak paper x-ray may be applied.
    - skookumchuck 8y ago
      Oh phooey. Sure, some of the books need special treatment. But I'm sure the vast majority are more than amenable to click turn page click turn page click turn page with one hand on the camera and the other turning pages. I've done it myself for things like family albums, scrapbooks, etc. Piece of cake. All this handwringing about needing 10000 dpi scans and advanced imaging technology means no scans will get done, and there'll be a lot of sobbing and rending of hair when the next collection gets flooded, lost, chewed by mice, rotted to dust, stolen or goes up in smoke.
      - darkpuma 8y ago
        I agree, I think these professional archivists are letting perfect be the enemy of good enough. There is no real reason they couldn't give a large team of interns armed with smartphones a crash course in how to turn the pages of a book without tearing them and set them loose digitizing entire libraries in days; then afterwards they could take their time with their high powered x-ray 10 gazillion dpi scanners or whatever the hell they'd like to use. What we're seeing from archivists is a prime example of gatekeeping and job security.
        skookumchuck 8y ago
        Finally, someone understands my point.
Mad_Mac 8y ago
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/ESA_and_Vatican_work_to_preserve_heritage_data http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/ESA_an... >Now, with the benefit of today’s technological era, the Library is digitalising their entire collection of manuscripts, which includes over 80 000 codices, mostly from the Middle Ages and the Humanism Period. https://digi.vatlib.it https://digi.vatlib.it
- sramsay 8y ago
  This is such an exciting project. And the phrase "the Middle Ages and the Humanism Period" is a bit misleading, because what we may find are transcriptions of ancient texts long considered lost. One of the most flatly incredible manuscript discoveries of the nineteenth century is a short treatise called the "Didache." We knew that such a thing existed, because writers as early as the 3rd century mention it, but it was presumed lost. An 11th century manuscript of it was found in a library in 1875, and most scholars now believe that the text dates to the first century, making it the oldest known Christian "catechism" (one which, intriguingly, seems to stand outside the Pauline tradition). Obviously, this was and is an absolutely amazing thing for students of late antiquity in general and early Christianity in particular, and it had been sitting there in plain sight (so to speak) for centuries. It would surprise me not at all if we find similar things in the Vatican collection.

snvzz 8y ago

>The Vatican library has never been digitized, and nobody really knows what all is in there. Seems like a clear case where public interest should override private property.

Freak_NL 8y ago
I'm sure the citizens of the Vatican City State will rise up and demand public access any day now.
- darkpuma 8y ago
  Maybe the sovereignty of the Vatican should be clawed back. I wouldn't be the first of Mussolini's decisions to be undone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateran_Treaty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateran_Treaty
- jaco8 8y ago
  They even might find books by Otto Corvin ....
skookumchuck 8y ago
The reason given for not digitizing it was "too expensive". That's the professional archivers talking again, overlooking that everyone has a digitizing machine in their pocket. I wonder how many more libraries will get lost before people start being pragmatic about this.
- keithnoizu 8y ago
  the issue is your lay people will damage the books, or may not have access to the imaging technologies you need to read otherwise illegible text. For example in some cases with faded ink or very weak paper x-ray may be applied.
  - skookumchuck 8y ago
    Oh phooey. Sure, some of the books need special treatment. But I'm sure the vast majority are more than amenable to click turn page click turn page click turn page with one hand on the camera and the other turning pages. I've done it myself for things like family albums, scrapbooks, etc. Piece of cake. All this handwringing about needing 10000 dpi scans and advanced imaging technology means no scans will get done, and there'll be a lot of sobbing and rending of hair when the next collection gets flooded, lost, chewed by mice, rotted to dust, stolen or goes up in smoke.
    - darkpuma 8y ago
      I agree, I think these professional archivists are letting perfect be the enemy of good enough. There is no real reason they couldn't give a large team of interns armed with smartphones a crash course in how to turn the pages of a book without tearing them and set them loose digitizing entire libraries in days; then afterwards they could take their time with their high powered x-ray 10 gazillion dpi scanners or whatever the hell they'd like to use. What we're seeing from archivists is a prime example of gatekeeping and job security.
      - skookumchuck 8y ago
        Finally, someone understands my point.

Mad_Mac 8y ago

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/ESA_and_Vatican_work_to_preserve_heritage_data http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/ESA_an... >Now, with the benefit of today’s technological era, the Library is digitalising their entire collection of manuscripts, which includes over 80 000 codices, mostly from the Middle Ages and the Humanism Period. https://digi.vatlib.it https://digi.vatlib.it

sramsay 8y ago
This is such an exciting project. And the phrase "the Middle Ages and the Humanism Period" is a bit misleading, because what we may find are transcriptions of ancient texts long considered lost. One of the most flatly incredible manuscript discoveries of the nineteenth century is a short treatise called the "Didache." We knew that such a thing existed, because writers as early as the 3rd century mention it, but it was presumed lost. An 11th century manuscript of it was found in a library in 1875, and most scholars now believe that the text dates to the first century, making it the oldest known Christian "catechism" (one which, intriguingly, seems to stand outside the Pauline tradition). Obviously, this was and is an absolutely amazing thing for students of late antiquity in general and early Christianity in particular, and it had been sitting there in plain sight (so to speak) for centuries. It would surprise me not at all if we find similar things in the Vatican collection.