Unavailable Collections
At present, all of the Library’s collections are unavailable for consultation.
The Vatican Library is closed to the public since July 14, 2007 for important refurbishment works which are expected to last for three years. The refurbishment could not be delayed because of serious structural problems in a wing of the sixteenth-century building which houses the Library. Technicians have established that it is impossible to reinforce the floors and other structures without closing the Library to the public. The management of the Library had sought to avoid inconvenience for the public, e. g. by moving more than 300,000 volumes out of the areas where the floors had begun to weaken; but the experts have decided that the refurbishment works could not be postponed. Once the necessity of the structural work had been established, it was decided to take this opportunity to modernize certain parts of the building, including new air conditioners and elevators. Likewise, a general reorganization of the Library’s collections will also be undertaken.
During the closure, many of the Library’s books will be moved to temporary stacks. However, copies of manuscripts and of rare books are available through the photographic reproduction service, which will continue to operate. Orders may be made, as usual, by following the instructions which may be found on this site (Photographic Reproductions).
Please note that the Vatican Film Library of the University of St. Louis, USA, has in its possession more than 37,000 microfilms of manuscripts from our library, including most of the collections of manuscripts in Greek, Latin, and modern languages, as well as some material in Arabic, Hebrew and Ethiopian. The Vatican Film Library also possesses a large collection of manuscript catalogues, including all the published catalogues and copies of the unpublished inventories of the Vatican Library, the complete “Studi e Testi” series, and many works on palaeography, codicology, miniature painting and other disciplines which are useful for the study of manuscripts and of their texts. It also possesses the microfilm edition of the Palatine Library (more than 12,000 printed books) and of the Cicognara Library (more than 4,800 titles regarding art history, architecture and archaeology).
At present, all of the Library’s collections are unavailable for consultation.
The Vatican Library is closed to the public since July 14, 2007 for important refurbishment works which are expected to last for three years. The refurbishment could not be delayed because of serious structural problems in a wing of the sixteenth-century building which houses the Library. Technicians have established that it is impossible to reinforce the floors and other structures without closing the Library to the public. The management of the Library had sought to avoid inconvenience for the public, e. g. by moving more than 300,000 volumes out of the areas where the floors had begun to weaken; but the experts have decided that the refurbishment works could not be postponed. Once the necessity of the structural work had been established, it was decided to take this opportunity to modernize certain parts of the building, including new air conditioners and elevators. Likewise, a general reorganization of the Library’s collections will also be undertaken.
During the closure, many of the Library’s books will be moved to temporary stacks. However, copies of manuscripts and of rare books are available through the photographic reproduction service, which will continue to operate. Orders may be made, as usual, by following the instructions which may be found on this site (Photographic Reproductions).
Please note that the Vatican Film Library of the University of St. Louis, USA, has in its possession more than 37,000 microfilms of manuscripts from our library, including most of the collections of manuscripts in Greek, Latin, and modern languages, as well as some material in Arabic, Hebrew and Ethiopian. The Vatican Film Library also possesses a large collection of manuscript catalogues, including all the published catalogues and copies of the unpublished inventories of the Vatican Library, the complete “Studi e Testi” series, and many works on palaeography, codicology, miniature painting and other disciplines which are useful for the study of manuscripts and of their texts. It also possesses the microfilm edition of the Palatine Library (more than 12,000 printed books) and of the Cicognara Library (more than 4,800 titles regarding art history, architecture and archaeology).
Finally was able to get onto the Official Vatican Library to find the above information. I did notice that the University of St. Louis has an agreement with the library regarding their microfilms, which I suppose would be handy but not for the scholars who would need the actual library for their work.
Vatican Library closure irks scholars 
By David Willey BBC News, Rome
The library's closure is a blow for many researchers
One of the world's oldest public libraries, the Vatican Library, has closed for rebuilding.
It is not expected to reopen before September 2010.
The reading rooms were unusually full last week.
Bespectacled university professors, graduate students from famous universities around the world, monks wearing brown and black habits, and Biblical researchers from more than 50 countries were sitting elbow-to-elbow at desks piled with documents and crowded with laptops and ancient manuscripts.
They were working desperately against time to complete their work before the closing down for the next three years of this powerhouse of academic research.
Hive of activity
You could have heard a pin drop in the library. Everyone talks in whispers. There was an unmistakable sense of controlled hysteria among library staff, scurrying around to retrieve urgently needed books for scholars from the 60km (37 miles) of stacks spread over seven floors, some of them underground.
Many researchers had queued for hours to get a square metre of desk space. Vatican authorities had doubled the number of readers' chairs from 100 to 200 in an attempt to satisfy the sudden spurt in demand since the announcement of the closure of the library for the first time in its 500-year history.
Even during the first and second world wars the library remained open.
One wing of the 16th Century building which houses the library was found to be structurally unsafe earlier this year. The accumulated weight of books was simply too heavy for the foundations of the building.
The Vatican Library was started by Pope Nicholas V in the early 1450s with an initial 350 Latin manuscripts. By the time he died in 1455, the collection comprised some 1,500 documents and was already the largest in Europe.
The collection now contains more than 1.5 million printed books, in addition to 150,000 precious manuscripts, the earliest of which date back to the days of the late Roman Empire.
Scholars under pressure
One of the library's greatest treasures is the Codex Vaticanus, the world's oldest Bible, written by hand in the days of the first Christian Emperor Constantine, early in the 4th Century AD.
Vatican engineers gave the 100-strong library staff only three months to remove 350,000 books from the endangered wing.
Scholars around the world protested against the lack of warning. The emergency closure interrupted academic research in many countries.
Scott Mandelbrote of Peterhouse college, Cambridge, told me he had to rush out to Rome to finish some library research earlier this summer, disrupting his university classes. "The Vatican Library has resources that you can find nowhere else in the world," he said.
But Ambrogio Piazzoni, deputy head of the Vatican Library, told me: "The library is now closed. There will be no exceptions, although scholars can continue to request photocopies and microfilm until the library reopens in September 2010."- Taken from the BBC News Page.
By David Willey BBC News, Rome
The library's closure is a blow for many researchers
One of the world's oldest public libraries, the Vatican Library, has closed for rebuilding.
It is not expected to reopen before September 2010.
The reading rooms were unusually full last week.
Bespectacled university professors, graduate students from famous universities around the world, monks wearing brown and black habits, and Biblical researchers from more than 50 countries were sitting elbow-to-elbow at desks piled with documents and crowded with laptops and ancient manuscripts.
They were working desperately against time to complete their work before the closing down for the next three years of this powerhouse of academic research.
Hive of activity
You could have heard a pin drop in the library. Everyone talks in whispers. There was an unmistakable sense of controlled hysteria among library staff, scurrying around to retrieve urgently needed books for scholars from the 60km (37 miles) of stacks spread over seven floors, some of them underground.
Many researchers had queued for hours to get a square metre of desk space. Vatican authorities had doubled the number of readers' chairs from 100 to 200 in an attempt to satisfy the sudden spurt in demand since the announcement of the closure of the library for the first time in its 500-year history.
Even during the first and second world wars the library remained open.
One wing of the 16th Century building which houses the library was found to be structurally unsafe earlier this year. The accumulated weight of books was simply too heavy for the foundations of the building.
The Vatican Library was started by Pope Nicholas V in the early 1450s with an initial 350 Latin manuscripts. By the time he died in 1455, the collection comprised some 1,500 documents and was already the largest in Europe.
The collection now contains more than 1.5 million printed books, in addition to 150,000 precious manuscripts, the earliest of which date back to the days of the late Roman Empire.
Scholars under pressure
One of the library's greatest treasures is the Codex Vaticanus, the world's oldest Bible, written by hand in the days of the first Christian Emperor Constantine, early in the 4th Century AD.
Vatican engineers gave the 100-strong library staff only three months to remove 350,000 books from the endangered wing.
Scholars around the world protested against the lack of warning. The emergency closure interrupted academic research in many countries.
Scott Mandelbrote of Peterhouse college, Cambridge, told me he had to rush out to Rome to finish some library research earlier this summer, disrupting his university classes. "The Vatican Library has resources that you can find nowhere else in the world," he said.
But Ambrogio Piazzoni, deputy head of the Vatican Library, told me: "The library is now closed. There will be no exceptions, although scholars can continue to request photocopies and microfilm until the library reopens in September 2010."- Taken from the BBC News Page.
This particular news article I found while trawling Google looking for infomation pertaining to the Vatican Library. I heard that the Library was to close its' doors, but I didn't realise that they were closing for 3 years! I can understand the scholars frustration as stated in the article the library has the resources that you can't find anywhere else in the world. There was more in the article but I thought that this says it all.
1 comment:
Hi Natalie
Your blog is looking great. You've got a lot of excellent content - remeber to cite your sources clearly and accurately though. Your post from 'Vatican Library closure irks scholars' by David Willey BBC News, Rome looks mostly qoute material but is not identified as such. This type of citing will be crucial for your report.
By next term you should have uploaded 5 posts to your blog and be well on your way to putting your research findings together in an organised way.
Remember to read through the webCT content about images, videos and copyright issues to help you with your blogs. There is also some helpful information about organising your research material under the CUSRAD02A link on the homepage.
Also, when you finish up with your final post can I ask you to reflect on your research process more fully. You have very little of this type of comment so far. If you are not sure how to do it, have a look at some of the other student blogs.
Keep up the good work!
Linda
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