Editing Vatican Library (section)

==Library organization==

===Catalogue===
The collection was originally organized through notebooks used to index the manuscripts. As the collection grew to more than a few thousand, shelf lists were used.<ref name=UofA/> The first modern catalogue system was put in place under Father [[Franz Ehrle]] between 1927 and 1939, using the [[Library of Congress]] [[card catalogue]] system. Ehrle also set up the first program to take photographs of important works or rare works.<ref name=UofA/> The library catalogue was further updated by Rev. [[Leonard Boyle|Leonard E. Boyle]] when it was computerized in the early 1990s.<ref name=UofA/>

===Reading and lending===
[[File:Milkau Biblioteca Vaticana - Bücherschrank 279-2.jpg|thumb|[[Bookcase]] in the Vatican Library]]

Historically, during the [[Renaissance era]], most books were not shelved but stored in wooden benches, which had tables attached to them. Each bench was dedicated to a specific topic. The books were [[chained library|chained to these benches]], and if a reader took out a book, the chain remained attached to it. Until the early 17th century, academics were also allowed to borrow books. For important books, the pope himself would issue a reminder slip.<ref name=UofA/> Privileges to use the library could be withdrawn for breaking the house rules, for instance by climbing over the tables. Most famously [[Pico Della Mirandola]] lost the right to use the library when he published a book on theology that the [[Papal curia]] did not approve of.<ref name=LocShape>{{Cite web
| title = The Library of Congress: ''Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library & Renaissance Culture - The Vatican Library - A Library Takes Shape: Books, Benches, and Borrowers''
| website = [[Library of Congress]]
| access-date = 2 August 2014
| url = https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/vatican/vatican.htmlll#altsbbab
}}</ref> In the 1760s, a bill issued by [[Clement XIII]] heavily restricted access to the library's holdings.<ref name="God's Librarians" />

The Vatican Library can be accessed by 200 scholars at a time,<ref name="digitize">{{cite news|last1=Taylor|first1=Lesley Ciarula|title=Digitizing history: 82,000-manuscript collection Vatican Library goes online|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/05/02/digitizing_history_82000manuscript_collection_vatican_library_goes_online.html|access-date=28 July 2014|work=Toronto Star|date=2 May 2013|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402104228/http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/05/02/digitizing_history_82000manuscript_collection_vatican_library_goes_online.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and it sees 4,000 to 5,000 scholars a year, mostly academics doing [[post-graduate]] research.<ref name=nbcnews/>