A Conference Celebrating 100 Years of the Gennadius Library (1926–2026)

From Private Libraries to Public Knowledge: Collecting, Curating, and the Future of Libraries

On the occasion of its centenary (1926–2026), the Gennadius Library of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens is organizing a conference on April 21–22, 2026, which will bring together twenty scholars, librarians, bibliographers, historians, archivists, book historians, and collectors.

The President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr. Constantine An. Tassoulas, will deliver the opening remarks of the conference.  

The symposium will focus on three interrelated themes: the world of private collections and their transformation into public institutions of knowledge; the history of printing, classification, and the organization of knowledge; and the challenges and opportunities of openness in the digital age.

With the Gennadius Library as its point of reference, the symposium also highlights diverse traditions of collecting, libraries, and knowledge organization practices across different cultural contexts, with particular emphasis on the future of libraries as laboratories of innovation through digitization projects, open-access platforms, and the use of artificial intelligence.

Simultaneous interpretation will be provided.

Program

Tuesday, April 21

16.30                                    Registration

16.45                         Welcome. Introduction

Bonna Wescoat. Director, American School of Classical Studies at Athens

Andreas Zombanakis, Chairman, Overseers of the Gennadius Library

17.00                         KEYNOTE ADDRESS

H.E. the President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr. Constantine An. Tassoulas

17.20 - 18.00          Session I.Α: Joannes Gennadius: The Founding Collection

Chair: Maria Georgopoulou

Dr Marianna Christopoulou, Historian

In the Beginning Was Gennadius: The Collector and His Vision

Irini Solomonidi, Senior Librarian, The Gennadius Library

The Making of a Library: Joannes Gennadius and the Legacy of a Founding Collection

18.00- 18.15   Coffee Break

18.15 - 20.15          Session I.Β: Joannes Gennadius: The Founding Collection

Chair: Vera Andriopoulou

Dr Geri Della Rocca de Candal, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Università La Sapienza, Roma

       Joannes Gennadius's incunabula: collecting and cataloguing, behavior and patterns

Dr Paolo Sachet, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Università La Sapienza, Roma

Joannes Gennadius's incunabula: booksellers and trade environment

George Tolias, Director of Studies, École pratique des hautes études

The Maps in the Collection of Joannes Gennadius

Stauros Grimanis, Historical and Paleographical Archives / National Bank Cultural Foundation

After the Fall of Constantinople and before the Establishment of the Greek State:
The Post-Byzantine Manuscript Collections of the Gennadius Library

Wednesday, April 22

10.00 - 11.30          Session II: The Legacy of the Gennadius Collection

Chair: Irini Solomonidi

Leonora Navari, Bibliographer

The Gennadius after Gennadius

Popi Polemi, Historian, Ηead of the "Filippos Iliou" Bibliology Workshop (National Library of Greece)

The Historian Philippos Iliou as a Reader of the Gennadius Library

Evangelia Balta, Emerita Director of Studies, National Hellenic Research Foundation

The Scholarly Legacy of Eugène Dalleggio at the Gennadius Library

11.30- 11.45   Coffee Break

11.45 – 13.15          Session III: Collectors and Their Libraries

Chair: Kristian Jensen

Dr Jason McElligott, Director, Marsh's Library, Dublin

Exquisite and Rare: The Personal Library of Benjamin Guinness

Anna Karakatsouli, Professor, Theatre Studies, University of Athens | Director of the Book History Lab

Private Libraries as Historical Evidence: Examining the Greek Far-Right

Sakos Oikonomopoulos, Mechanical-Electrical engineer, Founder of ZENON Industrial Automation

The Epitome of the Mathematical Syntaxis by Regiomontanus. A landmark Edition in the Evolution of Science

13.15 – 14.30 Lunch for participants

14.30 – 15.30 Tour of the exhibition: “Gennadius Library 100. A Century of Inspiration.” Makriyannis Wing (on campus)

15.45 – 16.45             Session IV: Special Collections and Digital Research Tools

Chair: Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan

Cristina Dondi, Professor of Modern History, Università La Sapienza, Roma; Secretary of the Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL)

Technology and the digital future of libraries and collections: the role and experience of the Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL)

Ioannis Kokkonas, former Professor of Historical Bibliography, Ionian University

The Gennadius Library’s Collection of Early Greek Printed Books as a Resource for the Development and Training of Digital Tools in Analytical Bibliography

16.45-17.00   Coffee break 

17.00 – 18.30          Session V: Artificial Intelligence and Cultural Heritage

Chair: Claudia Fabian

Dr. Natalia Vogeikoff, Doreen Canaday Spitzer Director of Archives, American School of Classical Studies at Athens

AI in the Archives: An Overview of Recent Developments, Risks, and Future Directions

Eirini Kaldelli, Senior Researcher at the Artificial Intelligence and Learning Systems Laboratory, National Technical University of Athens

Advancing Cultural Heritage Data through AI: Automated Enrichment and Human Expertise

Stamatios Busses, Maria Konstantinidou, Basilis Gatos, Konstantinos Palaiologos, Democritus University of Thrace and Institute of Informatics & Telecommunications at National Centre for Scientific Research “Demokritos”

From Image to Logos: New Technologies Applied to Palaeography and Manuscript Studies

18.30-18.45 Coffee break

18.45 – 20.15          Session VI: From Private Libraries to Public Knowledge

Chair: Maria Vassilaki

Professor Bill Sherman, Director, The Warburg Institute, University of London

Aby Warburg and the Renaissance of the Library

Kristian Jensen, Retired Head of Collections and Curation at the British Library, past Chair of CERL

The transition from private to public collection, in the light of an ethics of responsibility

Maria Georgopoulou, Director, The Gennadius Library

The Gennadius Library as a Research Center. Opportunities and Challenges