Over time, the Photo Library has conducted research and studies that have been published in the “Bollettino dei Monumenti, Musei e Gallerie Pontificie” (Bulletin of Pontifical Monuments, Museums and Galleries) and in volumes resulting from various collaborations. These activities have covered a wide range of areas, with particular attention to the historical photographic heritage in relation to museum collections and historical exhibitions, as well as the study of photographers, primarily Romualdo Moscioni, whose archive is the highlight of the collection.
Topics related to the constitution and organisation of the collections, particularly those dedicated to Rome, were also explored in depth, as were the historical events linked to the creation and development of the collection and the Photographic Archive, now known as the Photo Library.

Of particular importance are the studies linked to the organisation of or participation in conferences or exhibitions, as well as collaborations with academic and museum institutions, aimed at defining joint scientific projects, all of which have been published. Among the many contributions are those by Paola Di Giammaria, in the volumes: Immagini e memoria: gli Archivi fotografici di Istituzioni culturali della città di Roma (Images and Memory: The Photographic Archives of Cultural Institutions in the City of Rome), Rome 2014; Michelangelo e la Cappella Paolina. Riflessioni e contributi in occasione dell'ultimo restauro (Michelangelo and the Pauline Chapel. Reflections and Contributions on the Occasion of the Latest Restoration), Edizioni Musei Vaticani 2016; and Alfabeto Fotografico Romano (Roman Photographic Alphabet), exhibition catalogue, Rome, Palazzo Poli, 2017, to which Cristina Gennaccari also contributed.
Among the most recent publications, the essays dedicated to the Ferper Fund in the Atti della giornata di studio in memoria di Guido Cornini (Proceedings of the study day in memory of Guido Cornini), Edizioni Musei Vaticani 2025, and on Romualdo Moscioni's Apulia Monumentale in the catalogue of the exhibition Apulia Monumentale. Il viaggio di Romualdo Moscioni (Monumental Apulia: the journey of Romualdo Moscioni), Altamura (BA) in 2024, are worthy of mention.

The Photo Library collaborates with numerous organisations, institutions and bodies. These include the Vatican Apostolic Library, L'Osservatore Romano, the ICCD (Central Institute for Cataloguing and Documentation), the Central Institute for Graphics, the Municipal Photographic Archive of Rome, the Photo Library of the Hertziana Library, the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, and the American Academy in Rome.
On the occasion of the centenary of the Raphael celebrations, the Photo Library organised a photographic exhibition entitled Raffaello in Vaticano. La memoria fotografica del divin pittore tra fine ’800 e primo ’900 (Raphael in the Vatican. The photographic memorial of the divine painter between the late 19th and early 20th centuries), which was subsequently transformed into a digital exhibition – the first to be published on the Vatican Museums website – due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. This was followed by another digital exhibition, also in the Catalogue section, dedicated to L’Apulia Monumentale di Romualdo Moscioni. L’uso della fotografia come documento nell’Italia postunitaria (Romualdo Moscioni's Apulia Monumentale. The use of photography as document in post-unification Italy).

The most recent studies have resulted in the publication Domenico Anderson (1854–1938) fotografo in Vaticano (Domenico Anderson (1854-1938) Photographer in the Vatican) edited by Paola Di Giammaria, with the collaboration of Alessia Lobosco, Edizioni Musei Vaticani 2025, which provides an in-depth exploration of the work of the photographer and the company of the same name. By means of meticulous archival research, the book also reconstructs the relationship between Domenico Anderson and the Directorate of the Vatican Museums at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The book also analyses the photographic techniques adopted by the photographer in his most important commissions, including the renowned photographic campaign carried out in the Sistine Chapel and in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace.

In 2025, on the occasion of the Jubilee Year and coinciding with the centenary of the death of Romualdo Moscioni, the leading photographer in the collection, the Photo Library curated the exhibition The Seven Churches of Rome. The Jubilee itinerary in the photographs of Romualdo Moscioni (1849–1925), held in rooms XVII and XVIII of the Pinacoteca (9 October 2025 – 7 March 2026). The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue (edited by Paola Di Giammaria, with the collaboration of Francesca Martusciello, Edizioni Musei Vaticani 2025). Seven sections, one for each church, with seven glass negatives and a large collection of silver bromide gelatine photographic prints, structure the exhibition and catalogue created for the occasion and recount the figure and highly personal style of this master of the lens.

The Photo Library offers training internships for young graduates in art and archaeology with particular experience in the history of photography and photographic archives (infostages.musei@scv.va).