Italian Public Libraries Research Articles

Wikimedia projects in public libraries. Feasible ways

The main ways and experiences of participation of Italian public libraries in Wikimedia projects are introduced, with the indication of Wikisource as base to built a project model also extended to other Wikimedia platforms.

Are public state libraries efficient? An empirical assessment using network Data Envelopment Analysis

In Italy, public state libraries are multi-product organizations preserving ancient books of great historical relevance for future generations, and providing divisible services to the public. Hence, they may undertake different activities for conservation and use, which together constitute a network. This paper shows the importance of considering multi-process interactions in evaluating the overall performance of public state libraries and focuses on library operations and their sub-processes. It uses a network two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach to examine the relationship between the libraries' basic inputs, intermediate outputs and final outputs. The main result is that Italian public state libraries generally perform better in the first stage of conservation, but score poorly in the second stage of use. Some policy advice to improve the decision-making process follow

RDA: analisi, riflessioni e attività all'ICCU

The report aims to analyze the applicability of the Resource Description and Access (RDA) within the Italian public libraries, and also in the archives and museums in order to contribute to the discussion at international level. The Central Institute for the Union Catalogue of Italian libraries (ICCU) manages the online catalogue of the Italian libraries and the network of bibliographic services. ICCU has the institutional task of coordinating the cataloging and the documentation activities for the Italian libraries. On March 31 st 2014, the Institute signed the Agreement with the American Library Association,Publishing ALA, for the Italian translation rights of RDA, now available and published inRDAToolkit. The Italian translation has been carried out and realized by the Technical Working Group, made up of the main national and academic libraries, cultural Institutions and bibliographic agencies. The Group started working from the need of studying the new code in its textual detail, to better understand the principles, purposes, and applicability and finally its sustainability within the national context in relation to the area of the bibliographic control. At international level, starting from the publication of the Italian version of RDA and through the research carried out by ICCU and by the national Working Groups, the purpose is a more direct comparison with the experiences of the other European countries, also within EURIG international context, for an exchange of experiences aimed at strengthening the informational content of the data cataloging, with respect to history, cultural traditions and national identities of the different countries.

Library system of Italy

AbstractIn the European extent, Italy is the cradle of libraries and library sciences. In the past, Italian national public libraries played an important role through their vast book treasury. But only during the last thirty years have public libraries been developed following the Anglo-American public library model. Italy does not have any uniform or general legislation concerning libraries. On the state level, this area is regulated by some separate acts, while on the regional level there is a collection of various acts and regulations. Libraries are not strictly divided into general categories. It is required that the professionals engaged in Italian libraries should have secondary or university education. The level of their professional tasks depends on the type of library and its capacity. The competency for the development in the field of librarianship is assigned to The Ministry of Cultural and Environment Heritage as well as to its subordinate institutions (Central Institute for the Union catalogue of Italian Libraries and for Bibliographic Information, Central Institute for Book Pathology, Observatory for International Libraries Programmes).

Perceived Identity: Applying Grounded Theory In Libraries

This article presents a reflection on the application of Grounded Theory methodology in a study which aims at understanding how the identity of libraries is perceived by users. The Grounded Theory, elaborated in the sixties by the sociologists, Barney G. Glaser and Anselm L. Strauss, and widely applied today in empirical research in varied disciplines, is a methodology of social research and a combination of procedures capable of systematically generating a theory based on data. It is one of the interpretative methods aimed at describing the meanings attributed to phenomena under examination and is particularly suitable for exploring underlying social and psychological processes. Data are examined through different phases – open, selective, axial coding – and then elaborated. In libraries, the use of the GT is a fundamental tool in order to understand the difference between what users perceive and librarians really do. This article takes a look at the history and the main features of the Grounded Theory through its application to four Italian public libraries. The results show that users perceive the library more as "place" and "space" than "service".

AIB‐ISTAT statistics: the first time for Italian public libraries

PurposeAim of the paper is to report on the first Italian national library statistics.Design/methodology/approachNo national library statistics existed in Italy. In Italy there is no national law governing public library services and no national authority for them. The Official Publications Working Group of the Italian Library Association, in collaboration with the Central Institute for the Union Catalogue of Italian Libraries and the Italian National Statistics Institute (ISTAT), carried out a survey, financed by the University of Perugia, to collect information about the presence of official publications in Italian public libraries. A high percentage of answers was collected. The few questions, useful for the identification of the main peculiarities of the answering libraries, were able to supply for the first time some national data about Italian public libraries.FindingsThe paper presents aims and objectives of the survey, methodology, the unexpected success. ISTAT methodological office stated that the responding libraries constituted a valid sample of Italian public libraries and the results of the survey could be considered the first Italian national library statistics. Results, limits, impact and some prospectives for the future are presented.Research limitations/implicationsThe first official national statistics about Italian public libraries are an unexpected success.Practical implicationsIt has proved however that we need wider agreements among institutions and funds, to have regular national library statistics.Originality/valueThanks to this survey, for the first time we can speak about Italian public libraries in terms of numbers.

Processus in Causa Fidei. L’evoluzione dei manuali inquisitoriali nei secoli XVI-XVIII e il manuale inedito di un inquisitore perugino (review)

In the course of the renaissance in inquisitorial study now under way, a large variety of sources has been identified that directly enlightens us about the organization and activities of the Roman Inquisition and its peripheral tribunals. The most relevant are trials, sentences, the correspondence exchanged between the Supreme Congregation of the Inquisition in Rome and its outlying branches, or between the latter and its smaller outposts staffed by lower officials. These documents have long been available in Italian public and ecclesiastical libraries and archives, or dispersed abroad in such accessible repositories as the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris or Trinity College Library in Dublin. The recent, formal opening in January, 1998, of the Roman Archive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (the former Holy Office) has made available in a long, virtually unbroken series an important new source, the decreta generated by the Cardinal Inquisitors at their weekly meetings in which they expressed opinions on the matters that had come before them, frequently pertaining to queries and requests for clarification submitted by the peripheral tribunals. The aforementioned records, the vast majority still available only in manuscript, help to illuminate the actual day-to-day practice of the Inquisition.