Project details
- Project Officer/PI: Neil Harris, Univ. of Udine – Bibliography
- Participating institutions: University of Udine, University of Bologna, University of Turin, Sapienza University of Rome, CNR–Institute for Applied Computing (IAC)
- Collaborating institutions: CERL and ICCU
- Project Duration: 36 months starting January 2027
- Funding Body: Italian Ministry of Research – PRIN HYBRID, HPC strand
- ERC Domain: Social sciences and humanities (SH) + Physical sciences and engineering (PE)
Project overview
BIBRIDGE: Bridging High Performance Computing and Bibliographical Research to Explore Europe’s Printed Heritage
A new three-year research project funded by the Italian Ministry of Research brings together universities and the National Research Council (CNR) to combine advanced computing, artificial intelligence and traditional bibliography.
BIBRIDGE (Bridging HPC, Big Data, and Material Bibliography in the Study of the European Printed Heritage) is a new interdisciplinary research project funded under the Italian Ministry of Research’s PRIN HYBRID programme, HPC strand. Starting in January 2027 and coordinated by Neil Harris (University of Udine), the project brings together researchers from the Universities of Udine, Bologna, Turin and Rome Sapienza, and the Institute for Applied Computing (IAC) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR).
BIBRIDGE aims to transform the study of Europe’s early printed heritage by integrating High Performance Computing (HPC), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advanced data analysis with traditional bibliographical expertise.
A central objective, developed in collaboration with the Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL), is the clustering and enrichment of the Heritage of the Printed Book (HPB) database, containing approximately ten million records relating to books printed between 1450 and 1850. Advanced computational methods will help identify relationships, duplicates and inconsistencies across bibliographical records, while expert bibliographers will validate and interpret the results.
In collaboration with ICCU, the project will also support the integration of Italian incunabula records into the national library catalogue (SBN), improve the description of editions printed in non-Latin scripts, and enrich international bibliographical databases through the analysis of physical features such as watermarks, paper formats and printing technologies.
In collaboration with ICCU, the project will also support the integration of Italian incunabula records into the national library catalogue (SBN), improve the description of editions printed in non-Latin scripts, and enrich international bibliographical databases through the analysis of physical features such as watermarks, paper formats and printing technologies.
By bringing together expertise in the Humanities and Advanced Computing, BIBRIDGE seeks to develop new methods and research infrastructures for the study, preservation and understanding of Europe’s printed cultural heritage.