# Digital Restoration Initiative: Reading the Invisible Library

Progress over the past decade in the digitization and analysis of text found in cultural objects (inscriptions, manuscripts, scrolls) has led to new methods for reading inaccessible text due to condition, the "invisible library." W. Brent Seales explains the development of non-invasive methods for revealing hidden or inaccessible text, showing results from text restoration projects on Homeric manuscripts, Herculaneum material and Dead Sea scrolls. Focusing in particular on a new approach for virtual unwrapping or unrolling -- Reference-Amplified Computed Tomography (RACT) -- the talk examines how machine learning becomes a crucial part of the imaging pipeline. RACT may be the pathway for rescuing still-readable text from some of the most stubbornly damaged materials, like the enigmatic Herculaneum scrolls.

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2018
- By: Library Of Congress
- Genres: Science
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2021692338/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/2021692338?play=1)