The Photo Library is engaged in organising historical photographs, starting with the definition of photographic collections by major thematic areas: places, churches, monuments, collections, history and events. The prints are placed in polypropylene envelopes and stored in suitable rigid cardboard binders complying with conservation standards. The data is then catalogued and computerised using Excel files (Rome Major Basilicas, Rome Churches, Rome Palaces, Rome Villas, Rome Squares, Rome Museums, and Ferper Collections).

With regard to the glass negatives, after an initial cataloguing of the historical file in Excel, between November 2016 and March 2024, an extensive project was carried out to review, dust and secure all the plates stored in the 36 historical cabinets of the Photo Library (approximately 44,000), which were then scanned for ease of access.
At the same time, a detailed cataloguing process was undertaken, starting with the historical records compiled in the 1930s, which, however, were limited to identifying the object, its location, inventory number and any catalogue number. This activity involved the compilation of Excel files, rich in information on both the negative and the subject depicted, which were then transferred to digital files within a database accessible via the online Catalogue. Currently, approximately 12,200 images are available for consultation, belong to the first 13 cabinets of the collection.

The project was presented on 25 November 2021 as part of the Thursday at the Museums programme, entitled: “The Vatican Museums Photo Library. Technology and conservation in the service of knowledge”.
In December 2025 the catalogue was expanded with the first collection of film negatives: the A.R.M. (Arte Religiosa Moderna – Modern Religious Art) Collection, comprising 790 6x7 films dating from 1973, the year of the entry of the works into the Modern Religious Art Collection.
In August 2024 the process of digitising approximately 6,200 plates from the archives, unpublished and valuable material, and 2,000 plates from the Busiri Vici Collection began, which was completed in October 2025. In the last months of the same year, the scanning of A.D. films was also started, documentation relating to the Decorative Arts collection, which was established in October 1999 with the transfer of jurisdiction of the objects from the Vatican Apostolic Library to the Vatican Museums.