The National Central Library of Rome: Linking Past and Future
The Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma (BNCR), founded in 1875, has as its mission is the preservation of the national cultural heritage, the development of a distinctive cultural role, and the provision of strategically planned services. It must also provide extensive coverage of foreign literature, to document the main aspects of culture and studies about Italy throughout the world. The library receives by legal deposit of all publications printed in Italy. Recently it has been involved in a structural process of change that will lead to its becoming open to users worldwide. Special attention has been paid to information technology, to meet user needs. The collections consist inter alia of over 6,000,000 monographs, c.45,000 periodicals and 85,000 manuscripts, as well as audiovisual and digital documents. The nucleus of the collections came from the Jesuit Bibliotheca Major and the monastic libraries of the Religious Orders suppressed by the Italian government in 1873. The library is involved in numerous national and international activities.