The project is a collaboration with the LIGATUS RESEARCH UNIT, UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS LONDON – CAMBERWELL COLLEGE OF ARTS and includes condition assessment surveys of the manuscripts and early printed books, development of a boxing programme for the most vulnerable MSS and the creation of a conservation workshop at the monastery.

Condition assessment surveys of the bound manuscripts (2001–06) and early printed books (2007–08) have generated the information needed to determine the library’s conservation needs, plan work in the future conservation workshop and target the manuscripts in greatest need of repair.

The survey of the manuscripts was the most comprehensive and detailed ever carried out on a collection of this size. 35 conservators made 15 visits to the monastery in teams of four to six, recording details of 3,307 manuscripts.

The printed-book survey pioneered the use of the direct collection of electronic data using touch-screen technology. The survey assessed 1,000 volumes equivalent in importance and value to the bound manuscript collection.