Visit to the Archbishop’s Curia in Floriana - Digital Archives of the Archdiocese of Malta

Fr.VicGeorge Vassallo gave an overview and explained how the planning of the digitization project started in September 2010, 15 months before they started digitizing microfilms on 9^th December 2012. The official launch of the website was held on the 7^th November 2012. The aim of this project is to make the manuscripts and records accessible to researchers and the general public.

The digitization process faces challenges such as: 

• the deteriorating state of the microfilms ( due to chemical reaction in fluctuating temperatures and humidity)
• the large amount of microfilms to be digitized  ( approximately  3 yrs to digitize 8000 items )
• the lack of funds to sustain this project ( EU funding unsuccessful/ project already costing 157,000 euros)
• limited human resources
• online security ( 5 to 6 hacking attacks a day)

However, Fr. Vassallo pointed out that the website has proven to be very successful, with around 167,000 hits till the end of January of this year, and visitors spending an average of 12-13 mins on the site, with most users coming from France, UK, Malta, Australia, Bahrain and Spain. The website offers very efficient services for its users including face book, twitter, google share, easy access to digital materials and various links.

We were introduced to the digitization process by Ms. Carmen Galea who explained how the process works. The microfilm reels (original and negative) are placed in the scanning machine, and scanned in real-time. We were able to view the image on the computer which filters and corrects each page to be seen clearly in 600dpi in PDF format and downloaded at a charge of 50c per page.

It was a very interesting and informative visit. The digitization project being carried out is remarkable and a visit to their website is highly recommended. Here is the link http://archives.maltadiocese.org/

Archbishop's Curia Panoramic photo of the courtyard