The Vatican Apostolic Library, which holds 80,000 documents of immense importance and immeasurable value, including the oldest surviving copy of the Bible and drawings and writings from Michelangelo and Galileo, has partnered with a cyber-security firm to defend its ambitious digitisation project against criminals.

The library has faced an average of 100 threats a month since it started digitising its collection of historical treasures in 2012, according to Manlio Miceli, its chief information officer.

"We cannot ignore that our digital infrastructure is of interest to hackers. A successful attack could see the collection stolen, manipulated or deleted altogether," Miceli told the Observer.

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The library's prefect, Msgr. Cesare Pasini told Vatican News that the revamped website, www.vaticanlibrary.va, was inaugurated on July 16 to serve researchers who, because of the lockdown, have not been able to visit the library in person. On June 1, the library reopened to only a small number of scholars each day.

In the interview with Vatican News, Pasini said that developing a "modern and up-to-date tool" that is "at the service of visitors" would help fulfill Pope Francis' goal of "reaching the peripheries." Read more

Over the past five years, the Vatican has been digitising its records. Many of these are very old.

The system being used - known as "FITS", which is short for flexible image transport system format was developed in the 1970s.

The European Space Agency and NASA developed the program in the 1970s when they were working on radio astronomy projects.

Besides helping preserve original documents, the FITS system also provides information so the data can be decoded quickly.

This means future programs will still be able to decode the information even when the technology being used today becomes obsolescent.

A ceremony at the Vatican last Friday formally agreed the Vatican-ESA co-operation will continue for another year.

"Our collaboration is based on the common intention by our two institutions to promote the long-term preservation of images in electronic format," Monsignor Cesare Pasini, Prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Library on the ESA website said.

"Thanks to our co-operation with ESA, the Vatican Library has found the courage to make an innovative choice to use the FITS format for long-term storage."

Pasini noted how the recent seismic events in Italy have further highlighted the importance of the preservation of information and to accommodate changes in information storage technology.

"The Vatican Apostolic Library and ESA are two examples that attest to the approach of collaboration for global benefit," said Josef Aschbacher, Director of Earth Observation Programmes at ESA.

"While ESA provides global information about the state of our planet through satellite observations, the Vatican Apostolic Library offers a unique source of wisdom that has contributed to the development of our society and culture," he said.

Source

• Observing the Earth
• eNews Park Forest
• Radio Vatican
• Image: The Telegraph

The two libraries in 2012 announced a four-year project to digitize some of the most important works in their collections of Hebrew manuscripts, Greek manuscripts and early printed books.

The 2 million pound ($3.3 million) project is being funded by the Polonsky Foundation, which aims to democratize access to information.

"We want everyone who can to see these manuscripts, these great works of humanity," Monsignor Cesare Pasini, the prefect of the Vatican Library, told The Associated Press. "And we want to conserve them."

Among the first works up on the site Tuesday, at http:/bav.bodleian.ox.ac.uk are the two-volume Gutenberg Bibles from each of the libraries, the first-ever books set on type-face in the mid-1400s by printer Johannes Gutenberg in Germany, heralding the age of the printed book in the West.

The online collection also includes an illustrated 11th century Greek bible and a beautiful 15th-century German bible, hand-colored and illustrated by woodcuts.

Sources

AP/CBC News
ABC News
BBC
Image: Bodleian Libraries/University of Oxford/CBC News