Publications
The project was never completed, and only ever constituted a provisional version of its eventual incarnation in book form. Fritz Saxl who had been trying to dillute Warburg’s work in writing, was always planning to publish a biography which he failed to do.
Paying Tribute
The editors of the material (facsimile) suggest a certain sequence of reading the images. In some of the books, which are currently published on the Mnemosyne Atlas and the Bilderreihen, the italic text indicates the notes stemming from Warburg and his circle whereas the regular text indicates the editors identification and interpretation of the material.
Digitization Programme
The library is left half empty with only 3000 users per year while achieving 750.000 book downloads per year. (source: Dr François Quiviger)
The Assistant Librarian of the Warburg Institute, Dr François Quiviger, who is in charge of the digitization programme17 started his project by finding existing links to digitzed books online and contacted the Google Books Department to ask for the permission of hyperlinking their books. Google Books agreed under the condition that their watermark “Google Books” should be kept visible in the document. The Warburg Institute respects the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act which states the duration of copyright as 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last remaining author of the work dies. Furthermore the Library is in the process of giving access to manuscripts in a digital format, for example the ‘Cabala mineralis’ (Simeon ben Cantara, Paris : J.C. Bailly, 1986). It is also constantly improving its iconographic database, with the section on Gods and Myths (http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/gods-myths/) being the biggest today.
François Quiviger speculates that librarians will work in a team with an IT technician and take on a role of a research-philosopher in the future. As in the Henry Moore Institute, the librarians will engage in a publishing process of filtering resources, finding books and selecting writings. Referring to William Morris and Steve Jobs, the technological means will contribute to the changes in society. The librarian will have to acquire the technical skills (learning software) necessary to scan and retain the qualities of the text and images printed on paper. He believes that libraries will become portable and give access to their collections using a subscription system and open source networks. (MARC Framework) 18