The Vatican hosts the International Meeting
Conservata et Perlecta Aliis Tradere.
Biblioteche in Dialogo – Libraries in Dialogue
Pontifical Academy of Sciences – Vatican Apostolic Library 14-15-16 November 2024
Vatican City, 11 November 2024
The representatives of the major national libraries throughout the world have been invited to the Vatican from 14 to 16 November 2024 for the International Meeting, Conservata et Perlecta Aliis Tradere. Libraries in Dialogue, organized by the Vatican Apostolic Library.
The event, which will take place at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Vatican Library, is intended to initiate reflection and exchange between the Vatican and similar institutions throughout the work, on the basis of an instrumentum laboris shared in advance by the Library with the other participants.
The Vatican Library intends, with this initiative, to open a space and time for reflection dedicated to its five-centuries-long history and its current mission, which embraces the conservation of an inestimable heritage and its transmission to future generations, the care of the collections as a constant object and subject of study and reflection, and the continuity of quality professional formation through the courses held by the Vatican School of Library Science.
The discussion will focus on existing experiences or those in progress on the following topics:
Book collections: management of preservation spaces and strategies for increasing them (fundraising for new acquisitions and acquisition policies), development of systems and activities favouring direct and remote consultation.
New technologies and strategies for communication in the service of the Library: information technologies and systems, systems for the management of metadata and platforms relating to the digital collections, long-term digital archives, the challenge of artificial intelligence and the various communicative dimensions.
Cultural policies and orientation of studies: the library as a research institute able to coordinate and integrate the various research projects in an overall policy, for a new understanding of the concept of cultural impact.
The initiative will conclude with a particular audience granted by the Holy Father Francis, and will include, for participants only, two evening events:
14 November, 19.30: in the Sistine Hall of the Apostolic Library, the artist Omar Harfouch will perform one of his own compositions for pianoforte, dedicated to peace.
15 November, 20.30: in the Sistine Chapel, the Pontifical Sistine Chapel Choir will perform a concert in honour of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina for the 500th anniversary of his birth; some musical manuscripts from the Apostolic Library will be specially exhibited for the occasion in the Sala Regia.
Declarations
“Starting from the special collections it houses and its centuries-long history, the Vatican Library has for several years been engaged in innovation projects, both in the technological sphere and in the domain of conservation and study institutions, and it has received requests for collaboration from several countries. As Pope Francis often repeats, we live not in an age of change but in a genuine epoch shift, with unprecedented challenges that extend even to institutions such as libraries. And it is in this context that the Vatican Library has wished to undertake, with similar institutions, a path of exchange that offers prospects for common reflection, sharing and mutual enrichment with a view to future strategies. The dialogue, already effectively initiated some months ago with the libraries, is fundamentally based on listening, the exchange of experiences of each one, and the pooling of the most significant initiatives carried out by individual institutions in specific areas” (Archbishop V. Angelo Zani, Librarian and Archivist of the Holy Roman Church).
“It is a very valuable opportunity for dialogue and exchange, not only to explore, starting out from diverse experiences, the nature and task of libraries today, but also to look together at the new challenges that our institutions are called to face in the promotion of culture and an integral vision of man, starting from the relationship with historical and artistic documents, and the ethical and sustainable use of the various technologies” (Don Mauro Mantovani, prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Library).
“This meeting had a preparation period, which began over a year ago. There were intense internal discussions with a study group, organized and guided by the Library Government, which are reflected in the content and basic decisions. The libraries involved, similar to the Vatican Library for various reasons, showed great interest and liveliness. Thus, already in the summer months in the run-up to the now imminent meeting, discussions were organized, both plenary and sectoral, at a distance with the institutions that had joined in, taking advantage of tried and tested technologies. It was intense and beautiful task. It was possible to build and consolidate relationships and give substance to the content at stake. Now we are reaching the moment of a summary, which remains open to new developments. A beautiful adventure, then, that extends also the involvement of other colleagues in the Vatican and a group of students of the School of Library Science, who will constitute the operative point of reference for the meeting. For those who, like myself, have worked in the Vatican for years, it is the discovery of a true liveliness of approach and a collaboration that becomes closer and more aware every day, for a new moment for our Apostolic Library, a moment that does not deny its past, but which sets out with an impetus towards the future” (Antonio Manfredi, Scriptor latinus, Vatican Apostolic Library).
Further information:
Antonio Manfredi: manfredi@vatlib.it
Communication, Media:
Raffaella Vincenti: bav@vatlib.it Social media
X: @vaticanlibrary, @bibliovaticana Instagram: @bibliotecaapostolicavaticana
Accreditation and participation procedure
Journalists and media operators who wish to participate must apply, no less than 24 hours before the event, via the Holy See Press Office online accreditation system, at: press.vatican.va/accreditamenti.
The following sessions will be open to the press:
- 14 November 2024, 14:00-16:00 – Inaugural session at the Casina Pio IV;
- 14 November 2024, 19:30-21:00 – Concert at the Vatican Apostolic Library;
- 15 November 2024, ore 17:30-18:45-Concluding plenary session, at the Vatican Apostolic Library.
