From 3rd to 7th January 2011 at the “Domus Carmelitana - Sant’Alberto” in Rome, the IX assembly of the Carmelite Librarians Association (ABC/CLA) was held, in which approximately 20 members of the various provinces of the Order participated. The work, directed by Fr. Mark Attard, O. Carm., consisted in the communication of the updates taking place in the various libraries after the previous meeting, which took place in Madrid in 2009. Fr. Giovanni Grosso, O. Carm., presented the principal activities of the Institutum Carmelitanum (particularly the project “Bibliotheca Carmelitana Nova”), after which the use of new information technologies, online systems of cataloguing, and the digitalization of rare books and ancient documents was discussed. The General Archivist, Fr. Emanuele Boaga, O. Carm., put forward a valuable intervention regarding the instruments of “conserving the collective memory”, archives and libraries, illustrating points of agreement and differences. Fr. Ivan Hrusa, O.Carm., formerly the archivist of the Curia, presented the structure and the physiognomy of that archive. Apart from these meetings, the group visited the Basilica of San Martino ai Monti and the “Titulus Equitii” beneath it, the General Curia, the Carmelite and general libraries at CISA, and concluded the meetings with a visit to the Vatican Apostolic Library which was recently renovated.

The next meeting of the Association with take place in a year and a half, from 23rd (arrival) to 28th (departure) July 2012, probably in Prague in the Czech Republic.