The Vatican Library prints and drawings Catalogue includes the reference notes relative to the prints, geographic maps, drawings, photographs and copper plates which are preserved within the various collections of the Library.

The electronic cataloguing of the graphic materials of the Vatican Library was begun in 1986, at the same time the electronic catalogue for the printed books.

The “Prints on line” project, a more organic and specified cataloguing of the graphic collections, was begun in October of 1998. This project, still in progress, is foreseen to provide digital scans of the images, hypertext links with bibliographic reference and on-line WEB library catalogue information.

The catalogue is updated daily.

The bibliographic descriptions of the graphic material are in MARC 21 format. For print series, one reference card is given for the entire series, in addition to “analytic references” for each print of the series.

Subject matter  is chosen according to the Vatican Library “Subject headings”, which increases according to the iconographic typology.

The prints and geographic maps make up the most consistent part of the catalogue. There are presently few reference entries for the drawings, photographs and copper plates, but these sections are projected to be added in the catalogue in the near future.

The images are provide in three different dimensions (small, medium and large), with the possibility to enlarge details up to 5 times.

The images are protected by copyright of the Vatican Library and any abuse will be prosecuted according to legal norms.