The Italian national digital newspaper library

Abstract

The National Central Library of Rome, for the wealth of the periodic collections it conserved, since 1908 has been invested with the role of establishing and conserving the National Collection of periodical publications (Emeroteca). This task, arising from the specific attentions to the periodicals by director Domenico Gnoli and enhanced by his successor Giuliano Bonazzi, which also corresponded to the creation of a rich hall of newspapers and magazines, exposed to public consultation, went with the years fading. The participation of the Library, as coordinator, in the Google Books project that allowed the digitization of all Italian periodicals not subject to copyright restrictions, and the launch of a massive digitization campaign of the microfilms of the owned newspapers allow to rethink the original project and to create a digital national library for periodicals and newspapers to be constantly enriched with the participation of other institutions interested in the project.