Old Library, New Era


	Father Leonard Boyle is converting the Vatican Library, a repository of almost 2 million rare books and manuscripts, from the exclusive preserve of popes and scholars to a resource for Web users all over the world. (Photograph by Massimo Siragusa)

he Vatican library, once the preserve of a privileged few, has taken a populist turn. Its director, the Reverend Leonard Boyle, is working hard to bring rare, centuries-old manuscripts to the Internet.

"We have all these wonderful books, but they're of no use until they're read," says Father Boyle, a 71-year-old Benedictine priest and computer aficionado. "With this project, we are able to draw the world of learning closer together."

Until recently, only a couple of thousand scholars annually used the Vatican Library's collection, which includes almost 2 million books and 150,000 historical documents, some dating to the second century. Now, an online pilot project has brought 20,000 pages of manuscripts to researchers in Ohio and Rio de Janeiro.

Soon, anyone with access to the Net will be able to view the collection, which includes the oldest manuscript of the Bible, a 15th-century version of Ptolemy's Geography, and priceless volumes spanning the fields of philosophy, history, and medicine.


	In addition to the world's oldest Bible and other religious documents, the library houses manuscripts such as this 13th-century text about birds. (Photograph by Massimo Siragusa)


	Father Boyle, who views technology as a great ally to disseminating information is digitizing the Vatican Library's collection with the help of IBM. (Photograph by Massimo Siragusa)

Putting the fragile documents online will help protect them from damage and theft, two of preservation's major enemies. Last year, an American scholar shook the Vatican when he swiped three pages of a 600-year-old manuscript and put them up for sale.

Making the library available in cyberspace is the next logical step in a progression that began in 1451. That's when the library, once open only to popes, began to welcome Roman clerics and scholars in the spirit of the intellectual humanist movement. "Humanism was in the air when this library was opened up," Father Boyle recently told the Washington Post, "and humanism is in the air still."

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