Cambridge libraries contain hundreds of manuscripts written in Greek between the fifth and 18th centuries, from ancient Bibles to copies of Sophocles and Aristotle. A research project based at Cambridge University Library and funded by the Polonsky Foundation is conserving, digitising and cataloguing these manuscripts and making them available to everyone via the Cambridge Digital Library.

In this short film created for the Cambridge Festival 2021, meet photographer Raffaella, conservator Sam and cataloguer Chris and learn about all the processes involved in bringing these precious, often fragile books from the library shelf to the computer screen.

This film was recorded at the University Library in 2020 observing Covid-secure protocols. This means individuals appear in face-masks where appropriate for filming in the course of close work, and without masks for short periods of filming where full social distancing was feasible.