Origins and perspectives of the SBN project

Abstract

The thirty-year anniversary of the Italian library service SBN (Servizio bibliotecario nazionale) was celebrated in 2016.
The present contribution traces its origins and construction, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses, and evaluating how much of the original objectives have been disregarded or realized and to what extent of development.
It was a useful opportunity to introduce some reflections on the Italian library system, on the SBN catalogue and on the services offered by libraries to users, suggesting the need to transform the catalogue and related library services (especially the bibliographic type ones) in step with changes in users’ needs and information practices.