People will soon be able to read historical documents held at the National Library without setting foot in the grand 18th century building in Piazza Regina, Valletta.
“Making the library accessible doesn’t only mean making the stairs more accessible but also opening the doors to people who don’t usually come here to look for information,” said Oliver Mamo, National Librarian and CEO of Malta Libraries since 2012.
Speaking from his office on Old Treasury Street, within the building of the National Library, Mr Mamo said the new digital archives, called DigiVault, will be launched within weeks.
The first documents to be digitised are those in high demand, including newspapers and Nostradamus’s prophecies. Although some 50,000 images have already been captured, the digitisation process will be ongoing and can never be completed as the library is always acquiring new material.
The publication of new documents also means that the library is running out of space.
While there are plans to redesign the building to make better use of the space, Mr Mamo is actively looking for an offsite storage location, or repository, to store second copies of all publications issued since 1925.
“The library ran out of space around 2007. Although since 1925 the national library has been given a copy of every publication, it buys a second copy – which is the one handed out to people who come looking for information here – in order to preserve the original.
“However, we keep both copies within the same building, risking losing both in the case of a fire.
“The collection at the library needs to be split between here and a repository outside of Valletta. If we stored the copies in another place, we’re not only ensuring the safety of at least one copy, but also freeing up some space.
“Meanwhile, at this repository, we can also store and preserve the originals of digitised documents in a much more stable environment,” Mr Mamo added.
A lot of money is spent on restoration. Restoring a volume costs some €1,000
Shifting the focus from restoration to preservation is a priority for the National Librarian.
“A lot of money is spent on the restoration of documents. Restoring a volume costs some €1,000. However, we first need to tackle the source that made the document in that state, in this case, the environmental conditions.”
In the absence of an alternative place with better conditions, Mr Mamo said preservation could start from the reading room itself.
Turning the page from the top right corner rather than the bottom corner reduced the risk of tearing the page, for example. Not wearing gloves when leafing through old documents also reduces the risk of tearing the pages. Wearing gloves diminishes the feeling in the fingers and leads to rougher handling of the documents.
The oldest document at the library is a letter by King Baldwin handing over land to the monks of S Salvatore de Monte Tabor in Jerusalem in 1107. This property as well as the original document passed into the hands of the Hospitallers in the 13th century.
Another important document, signed by Pope Pascal, indicates that the Papacy was approving the establishment of the Order of St John in 1113.
Meanwhile, the eldest fragment is an Egyptian papyrus dated 300BC.
The “ultimate aim” of the National Library is to provide cataloguing services to libraries abroad. At the moment, when the US Library of Congress buys a Maltese book, the cataloguing details are provided by an agent in North Africa.
“As a Mediterranean hub, I see a potential in doing this ourselves and not just for Maltese publications,” Mr Mamo said, noting however that there was a local cataloguing backlog and librarians were still being trained.
Most librarians relied on their memory when looking for a document.
“This works if someone asks for Della Descrizione di Malta. However, what happens if people ask for the content, and not the title of a document, like the inventory of the first museum in Malta?
“It’s the same book, but in the absence of a cataloguing system, it will either take longer to find the document or the librarian would not know what to look for. People need to be trained to probe library users who are looking for something in particular.”
DigiVault will be available on www.libraries.gov.mt.