Within the framework of the international project Codicis, which is financed by the European Union
In order to improve the protection of the documentary heritage in Arequipa, the San Pablo Catholic University (UCSP), carried out the training course for trainers in management and conservation of archives and heritage libraries. This training is part of the international project codicis, led by UCSP and financed by the Erasmus+ program of the European Union.
The course seeks to have more specialized personnel who understand the value of ancient documents and texts and know how to handle them, since it is the first thing required for their conservation and management. It was aimed at members of San Pablo who were instructed by experts from Spain and Italy for 5 months, from September 2022 to January of this year.
The topics they discussed were: history of the book, digitization of ancient texts, preservation and conservation of bibliographic and heritage material; and management of heritage centers. The sessions were hybrid (virtual and in-person) and included theoretical and practical activities.
There were 9 participants in the training. They will be instructors in the replication courses contemplated by the Codicis project, along with other specialists from the partner universities of this initiative. In these replication courses, librarians and archivists from different cities in the country will be trained, who will receive scholarships to be part of this training.
The graduates of the course are Enrique Briceño Medina, director of the UCSP Library, Carmen Chávez Núñez, Edwin Montes Fernández, Tania Ramírez Cabrera, Henry Vílchez Chávez and Justo Noguera Almanza, staff from the same area; Patricia Calvi de Quintanilla and Lucía Galdos Arenas, director and administrator of the San Pablo Editorial Fund, respectively; and Andrea Ocampo Maceda, teaching assistant at the same university.
Codicis is a project that brings together 9 institutions from Peru, Bolivia, Mexico, Spain and Italy, seeking to strengthen capacities for the recovery and conservation of documentary and bibliographic heritage in Latin America and is being carried out under the leadership of the Center for Peruvian Studies of the Saint Paul.
The other partner institutions with the UCSP are: University of Piura (Peru), the Benemérita Autonomous University of Puebla and University panameric (both from Mexico), the Universities Mayor of San Andrés and Bolivian Catholic Saint Paul (both from Bolivia) and the universities of Barcelona and Incoma (both from Spain) and Catania (Italy).
“The Codicis project is concerned with the protection of heritage and culture, which helps us understand our identity as Peruvians. The training time has been hard work, now our graduates have the task of training more people to protect our documentary heritage,” said Mgtr. Pamela Cabala, coordinator of the Codicis project and director of the Center for Peruvian Studies at UCSP.
For his part, the rector of San Pablo, Alonso Quintanilla, highlighted the importance of the Codicis project, as it is the largest among all those that this university executes together with the European Union. “San Pablo is very committed to this initiative, as it makes us come back into contact with books from another perspective, a scientific and poetic perspective,” he said after congratulating the graduates of the training course and asking them to make their efforts pay off. fruits in favor of the cultural heritage of the region and the country.
The second part of the Codicis project includes the implementation of a conservation and restoration laboratory among the affiliated universities. It should be noted that San Pablo already has this environment, which, together with the digitization laboratory of 2014, has been working on the rescue of collections of ancient documents and texts.
It should be noted that the UCSP already has experience in this work, as it has cataloged and digitized historical newspapers such as La Bolsa, El Republicano, El Deber, the correspondence of former president José Luis Bustamante and Rivero, and has new projects underway.
The graduation ceremony took place in the facilities of the Víctor Andrés Belaúnde Library of San Pablo. The UCSP Research Director, Dr. Patricia Castillo Araníbar, also participated in this activity.
Arequipa, May 10, 2023
See original note: Here
