Personal libraries of eminent historic figures: a comparison between Italy and USA

Abstract

In Italy, the debate on personal libraries of eminent historic figures intensified in the first decade of 21st century. While the occasional previous studies on the subject were mostly conducted from a liberal arts point of view (i.e. personal libraries were studied either for their rare and precious documents or for bibliographical, biographical, historical, literary and philological purposes) the studies undertaken since 2000 focus on the concept of biblioteca d’autore: its definition, its distinctive features, and what must be done when a private library becomes open to the public. On the other side, the liberal arts approach is still prevailing in English-speaking countries and France, with the exception of a 2010 survey conducted among ARL (Association of Research Libraries) member libraries, investigating the technical procedures applied to personal libraries.
This paper analyzes and compares the Italian organization and management process practices and the ARL member libraries practices: the tools employed to ensure visibility in the Internet (OPAC, discovery tools, Web 2.0 tools etc.), the choice between maintenance or alteration of the original organization, the item-level cataloging (characteristics, purposes, standards and cataloging choices). In particular, it focuses on the innovations introduced by the REICAT (Italian rules of cataloging) in the item-level cataloging. In conclusion, today Italy seems to be a step forward USA in the proper management and promotion of personal libraries.