Vatican Library Going Digital
One of the oldest libraries in the world, the Vatican Apostolic Library is planning to digitize many of the rarest and most valuable documents in existence, including the 42 line Latin Bible of Gutenberg. EMC announced that it is providing 2.8 petabytes of storage to support the Vatican Library digitization project which consists of a catalogue of 80,000 historic manuscripts and 8,900 “incunabula” (a book printed before 1501).
EMC will help the Vatican preserve delicate texts in an ISO-certifiable digital format to protect these manuscripts from deterioration and decay from repeated handling. The final stages will result in 40 million pages preserved in digital reproductions. Working with its systems integrator partner Dedagroup, EMC will provide 2.8 petabytes of storage capacity across its various storage solutions over the first phase of the nine-year project, which is expected to take three years.
Monsignor Cesare Pasini, said “The Apostolic Library contains some of the oldest texts in the world that represent a priceless legacy of history and culture,” Prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Library. “It’s very important that these documents are protected, and at the same time made available to scholars around the world. Thanks to the generosity and expertise of supporters such as EMC we are able to meet these goals, preserving a treasure-trove of rare and unique texts in a format that will not suffer from the passage of time.”
Michele Liberato, President, EMC Italy said “The Apostolic Library is one of the oldest libraries in the world and we have a duty to ensure that the knowledge and beauty of the manuscripts in it are available to all in the future. This project will help to preserve and make available a unique heritage of knowledge.”
