By Charles Igwe
Ancient manuscripts and books that once could only be seen by visiting scholars are being brought into the digital age, as the Vatican Apostolic Library and other Catholic institutions in Rome adopt high-tech tools to safeguard their historic collections.
The Vatican Library holds some of the world’s most treasured documents: about 80,000 handwritten manuscripts, 2 million printed books, 100,000 archival documents, and vast collections of medals, coins, and graphics. To ensure preservation, each manuscript set for digitization is first examined by the conservation workshop, both before and after scanning, to check for any deterioration or damage from the process.
Among the latest innovations is the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to help in tasks like cataloguing illustrations and transcribing medieval Greek handwriting. Robotics is also deployed to handle fragile materials more safely and efficiently. Timothy Janz — former vice prefect of the Vatican Library, now “Scriptor Graecus” — explained that such tools aid in making the collection available to readers and preserving them for future generations — echoing the original mission set out by Pope Nicholas V in the 15th century.
Elsewhere in Rome, Catholic libraries are joining in. The “Alexandria Digitization Hub” is using robotic scanners to process some university library materials at rates of up to 2,500 pages per hour. These digitized works are then made searchable, translatable, and accessible in part through AI-driven tools.
Still, there is caution. Scholars involved underline that despite the promise of AI, some parts of manuscripts—such as marginal notes, glosses, or slight textual differences—cannot yet be handled reliably by machine alone. The human expert remains essential for verifying and interpreting such details.
