18-20 September 2019
The Centre for Research on Chemical, Physical and Microbiological Pollution - Highly Sterile Environments (CIAS) and the University of Ferrara Library System developed the study day Safeguarding and passing on knowledge. Recovery, promotion and correct conservation of library heritage for the International Trade Fair for Restoration, Museums and Cultural Enterprises.
Over the course of the day, many different professionals connected to the analysis, protection and restoration of cultural heritage took part in discussions on issues that regard in particular the safeguarding of library heritage, as well as the use of audiovisual methods and new technologies to spread knowledge of cultural heritage.
The International Trade Fair for Restoration, Museums and Cultural Enterprises (26th Edition, Ferrara Fiere Congressi) was also the ideal backdrop for the presentation of the video-documentary Through ancient papers and parchments: A journey of restoration made by the Library System in collaboration with SEA@ (the University of Ferrara Centre for Technologies for Communication, Innovation and Distance Learning), with the sponsorship of the Emilia-Romagna Archival and Bibliographical Superintendency, the Emilia-Romagna Institute for Artistic, Cultural and Natural Heritage, and the Italian Library Association. Emilia-Romagna Section.
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2018-2019
The project "Video-story of a restoration"
To complete the journey undertaken in 2016 with the video Anatomy for use and intelligent design: The story of a restoration, the video-documentary Through ancient papers and parchments: A journey of restoration illustrates the restoration of the first volume of the Commentaria eruditissima by jurist Felino Sandeo (Lyon, 1548), a piece kept at the Law Library under inventory 72582, located in ANTICO III A 691.
With a main theme built on the phases of restoration, the video describes, with scientific rigour but an accessible tone, the restoration techniques, the profession of conservator of ancient books and other professions connected to the study of publications (experts in history of law, bibliologists etc.) and books as artefacts (paleographers for handwritten parts, microbiologists and entomologists for attacks from mould, bacteria and insects etc.), as well as theinstitution that oversees their protection.
The purpose of the video is to provide even an inexperienced viewer with an idea of the scientific and technical content and professional skills needed for the treatment of an ancient book, a cultural item to be protected and promoted to encourage its use by all citizens.
The video-documentary was presented on 14th March 2019, during the conference The Library that grows (Milan, Palazzo Stelline, 14-15 March 2019), during the workshop organised by the Unife Library System, with the sponsorship of the AIB Emilia-Romagna Section and the collaboration of the AIB's National Commission for University and Research Libraries.
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2018 - 2019
The project Natura Naturata came out of a virtuous collaboration between lecturers and students from the Degree Course in Industrial Product Design, run by the University of Ferrara Architecture Department, and the University Library System.
Thanks to the Product Design 2 Workshop course, which aims to "direct students towards the study, comprehension and experimentation of the potential of design in the promotion of artistic and cultural heritage": the work of the students in the Academic Year 2018/19 took the form of projects for an exhibition of the university's historical library collections, a treasure to be shared with all citizens.
The study, which was carried out with the guidance of the lecturers, led to the creation of the exhibition Natura Naturata. Masterpieces in the libraries of the University of Ferrara (University of Ferrara Chemistry and Biology Library of S. Maria delle Grazie, 19 April - 1 May 2019); this was the first exhibition created thanks to ten years of work reorganising, studying and cataloguing the University of Ferrara's ancient library collections, along with a few restorations. For the exhibition, an activity to evaluate the impact of the initiative on its participants was performed for the first time, using various survey tools. The project also involved the publication of the exhibition catalogue.