160 of them are already in digital form, and will be available online on a regional cloud platform in the very near future. They are historical scientific texts related to the development of the tanning art. The paper versions are stored, together with another 5,000 texts, in the library of SSIP (Stazione Sperimentale per l’Industria delle Pelli e delle materie tannanti – Experimental Station for the Leather and Tannery Industry). This project was discussed at the event “The Four Dimensions of Digitisation and the Libraries of the Future”. An occasion that reaffirmed that leather is culture and, during which, UNIC – Italian Tanneries confirmed the forthcoming completion of the restoration of Pompeii’s tannery.
Leather is culture
“A specialised library such as SSIP’s, which has highly scientific and technical materials, is naturally oriented towards technological innovation,” explains the director of the Pozzuoli-based organisation, Edoardo Imperiale. “Science is first and foremost, leading towards new forms of dissemination of scientific communication”. This, then, is the meaning of SSIP‘s participation in the Biblio_ARCCA – Architecture project promoted by the Campania Region. “An opportunity – SSIP explains in a note – to enhance our heritage, to make it available to businesses, scholars, institutions and young people, so that the future can be built on tradition”. Already digitalised are, therefore, 160 volumes of the SSIP Library, that will be available in the cloud shortly. An initial step that “lays the foundations – as Carmelina Grosso, Head of the SSIP Library and Documentation Centre, explains – for reflection on how to digitise the rest of our bibliographic heritage”.
The restoration of Pompeii in its final stages
The event, held last on Friday, January 21st, was also an opportunity to confirm the timeline of the restoration of the Pompeii tannery, financed by UNIC – Italian Tanneries. As Fulvia Bacchi, general manager of the Italian tanners’ association, emphasised, “the Pompeii tannery will be ready in the coming months. We started in 2008, and we are in the final stages. It’s strange to announce this on the day built to relaunch the immense heritage of the SSIP library. It all confirms that we have a history, a tradition, a path on which to build”.
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