New public libraries in Italy: Trends and issues

SummaryAll over the world local governments are investing in urban planning projects aimed at revitalising neighbourhoods and creating new city centres. Public library buildings are often central to these projects as attractive magnets for the larger public. In recent years, Italy too has committed itself to such initiatives. However, rather than building brand new establishments, the local authorities prefer to renovate and adapt historical buildings to library functions. While small and medium-sized cities are proactive in this process, big cities and metropolitan areas lag behind and, even when they succeed in approving a project, they have a lot of difficulty in carrying them out. In this essay, three examples of libraries recently opened to the public are described from the organisational point of view: the Sala Borsa Library in Bologna, the San Giovanni Library in Pesaro and the San Giorgio Library in Pistoia. The BEIC (Biblioteca Europea di Informazione e Cultura = European Library of Information and Culture) project will also be outlined. The essay intends to show that these libraries are consistent with international library trends regarding mission and organisation of services and collections; however, in Italy, administrative and political constraints often raise hard to overcome obstacles, particularly in big cities.