Research Talk by Alberto Campagnolo

The intersection of book conservation, codicology and digital humanities

The talk was delivered on 19th Match 2025 by Alberto Campagnolo, as part of the DIS research seminars series.

This lecture explores the intersection of book conservation, codicology, and digital humanities, focusing on how we investigate the material aspects of historical books and manuscripts through advanced digital tools. At the Book Heritage Lab at KU Leuven, we examine structural and visual elements of documentary heritage, applying methodologies that capture details essential for both conservation and scholarly research. Examples from ongoing projects—including methods for visualizing manuscript gathering structures—will demonstrate how digital tools document, preserve, and reveal new perspectives on the physical narratives embedded in historical texts. This session covers emerging methodologies and considers both challenges and possibilities for those working at the crossroads of traditional and digital approaches to heritage.

Alberto Campagnolo (ORCID: 0000-0002-8672-8400) trained as a book conservator in Spoleto, Italy, and has worked at institutions such as the Vatican Library. He holds a degree in Conservation of Library and Archive Materials from Ca’ Foscari University Venice and an MA in Digital Culture and Technology from King’s College London. He completed his PhD at the Ligatus Research Centre, University of the Arts London, focusing on the automated visualization of historical bookbinding structures. Currently, he is Assistant Professor and Director of the Book Heritage Lab at KU Leuven and Senior Researcher on the ERC-funded PRIMA project, investigating modern manuscript codicology. Alberto collaborates with Dot Porter on the VisColl project, a tool for modeling the gathering structures of books in codex format. Additionally, he serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Paper Conservation and is on the Executive Board of the IADA (International Association of Book and Paper Conservators).