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NEW! Interview: Mohammad Abbas talks about his role as head of the new Library Department of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, the nations parliament in Baghdad.
Exclusive interview with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
Interview with Judith Krug, 1995.
Interview: Andrew Pace Explains Why OCLC’s “Quick Start” Is a Sea Change . An April 24 conversation with American Libraries Editor in Chief Leonard Kniffel on OCLC's foray into web-scale management.
Read This Now: ALA’s Award-winners Represent the Best for Library Collections.The chairs of many of ALA's book and media award committees discuss their selections. Includes a complete review of RUSA's Outstanding Reference Sources.
Stimulate Your Library: How libraries can benefit from the 2009 stimulus bill.
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American Libraries: The First 100 Years, a timeline, 1907–2007
Top Ten Reasons to be a Librarian
10 Reasons Why the Internet Is No Substitute for a Library
12 Ways Libraries Are Good for the Country

Vatican Library to Close for Three Years

The 559-year-old Vatican Library will close for urgent repairs July 14 and not reopen until September 2010. Vatican officials made the announcement, which came as a surprise to scholars and historians, April 26, emphasizing that the work was needed to safeguard some 72,000 manuscripts housed in an underground bunker built only 25 years ago.

Library Prefect Raffaele Farina said the bunker needed extra fireproofing, upgraded electrical wiring, and new emergency exits. “We also need air conditioning and humidity controls to preserve the manuscripts better,” Farina said in the May 4 Guardian, “and we must reduce the dust.” The BBC News reported May 3 that the Vatican’s reading room would be used by the library’s conservators while the bunker is restored.

Farina also said a 16th-century section of the library will have its floors and ceilings reinforced to take the weight of heavy equipment, and a 15th-century wing will similarly be reinforced to support modern shelving.

Posted May 4, 2007.

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Vatican Library to Close for Three Years

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