Innovation: On-line to Vatican

IBM is turning to Rome in a pilot project providing electronic access to selected works from the Vatican Library to scholars worldwide. Founded in the mid-14th century, the library houses many of the world's rarest books and manuscripts. But staff and space constraints mean only about 2,000 reader cards can be issued annually. The project will examine the feasibility of creating an image database of fragile and precious documents and making them available on networks.