SCIENCE & EDUCATION

Oxford's Bodleian Libraries and the Vatican's Biblioteca Apostolica plan to digitise 1.5 million ancient texts to make them available online.

The two libraries announced the four-year project after receiving a £2m award from the Polonsky Foundation.

Dr Leonard Polonsky said his aim was to ensure researchers and the public have free access to historic and rare texts.

Greek manuscripts, 15th Century printed books and Hebrew early printed books and manuscripts will be digitised.

The three subjects were chosen "for the strength of the collections in both libraries and their importance for scholarship in their respective fields", a Bodleian spokeswoman said.

The libraries say the digitisation will "virtually unite" materials that have been dispersed between the two collections over the past few centuries.

Sarah Thomas, Bodley's librarian, said: "Transforming these ancient texts and images into digital form helps transcend the limitations of time and space, which have in the past restricted access to knowledge.

"Scholars will be able to interrogate these documents in fresh approaches as a result of their online availability."

Two thirds of the material will come from the Vatican Library and the rest from the Bodleian.

The University of Oxford's Bodleian Libraries form the largest university library system in the UK and includes the famous principal library, the Bodleian.

full text of the article: BBC News website

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