The manuscripts held in institutions such as archives, libraries and museums are certainly to be considered among the major document typologies requiring great care and accuracy in preservation , due to their fragility. To this end, and in order to promote the dissemination of cultural heritage, many institutions are attempting to digitize their own manuscripts.
In order to support these initiatives and with an eye towards interoperability, the ICCU established a Working Group for the digitisation of manuscript material, staffed by ICCU experts; librarians from the National Central Libraries of Rome and Florence, the National Library of Naples, the Laurentian Library, and the Association of Italian Ecclesiatical Librarians, members of the International Society for the Study of the Medieval Latin Culture, archival experts  from the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism and the University of Macerata, art historians from ICCD and from the National Gallery of Modern Art.
The working group aims to draft guidelines for supplying methodological tools and technical indications. It will analyse each step of the digitisation process, starting from inventorying, cataloguing and description activities going on with scanning, creation of metadata, legal context and final use. Case studies and completed projects will also be examined.