Library
Contacts
Director: Francesco D’Arelli
tel.: (+39) 06 32 855 223 – fax: (+39) 06 32 855 217
e-mail: biblio.dir@isiao.it
ILL/DD: Marcello Messana
tel.: (+39) 06 32 855 243
e-mail: biblio.ill@isiao.it
The IsIAO Library, officially opened on 4 April 2002, houses the combined collections of the libraries of the former Istituto Italo-Africano (IIA) and the Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente (IsMEO). Its assets, unique for Italy, total more than 140.000 volumes, 2.500 periodicals, 500 of which still extant, rare and precious collections (manuscripts, xylographs, ancient editions, geographic maps, photographic collections, etc.). It is a member of the Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale (SBN), through the Pole of the Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana and the Istituti Culturali di Roma, and offers quality and efficient services: interlibrary loans, internet access from several different workstations, consultation of the library assets by OPAC, photocopying service, microfilm and microfiche readers, use of multimedia products, wi-fi access. The Library is divided into two sections – Africa and the Orient – respectively the heirs of the library and documentary assets of IIA and IsMEO.
The African section is the richest in Italy and one of the best known and most used by researchers interested in the African continent and by the national and international scientific community owing to the value and rarity of its collections on Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya and Somalia. After the 1950s there was a constant increase in acquisitions referring to the African countries, with special attention focused on the human sciences.
The Oriental section stands out for the books it contains of a historical, philosophic, literary, archeological, religious history and philological-linguistic nature, devoted mainly to the civilizations of Iran and Central Asia, the Indian Sub-Continent and Tibet, East Asia and Southeast Asia. The following are of extraordinary importance: the G. Tucci collection, originating from the donation of the private library of the great orientalist and comprising some twenty-five thousand volumes, including a rich collection of xylographs and manuscripts in Tibetan, and a large number of Chinese texts of Buddhist tradition, to which must be added a Chinese collection with rare and valuable editions; a microfilm collection of several collections of Tibetan and Chinese manuscripts from the Dunhuang caves; a collection of rare texts from the National Library of Beijing, now conserved at Taipei, and important Chinese scientific periodicals; the G. Auriti, S. Mergé, L. Ricci collections, with a rich corpus of languages originating in West Asia; the P. Quaroni collection of an indological nature and the E. Dubbiosi collection, of great interest owing to the large number of Arabic language manuscripts; the M. Taddei collection recently acquired and most valuable for the study of the art of Gandhara.
Opening hours
The Library is open to the public from Monday to Friday, at the following times:
- Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays: from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
- Tuesdays and Thursdays: from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (no midday closure).
Admission
Admission to the Library is allowed to anyone over the age of eighteen wishing to consult the material conserved there.
Consultation and Distribution
All the bibliographic material is available to readers who may consult it on site during opening hours. Two rooms are available to users, with free access to the shelves: a Reading Room containing general reference texts; a Consultation Room with reference texts arranged according to specific geographic area.
Requests to consult books not on the free access shelves must be made in writing using forms provided by the Library or on line via the Library OPAC. Books are retrieved from the stack every 30 minutes starting from 9:00 a.m. (e.g. 9:30, 10:00, 10:30, etc.) and is concluded one hour before Library closing time. Two books are made available for reading at each request for a maximum of four books at any one time, excluding the days of afternoon opening in which a further two volumes may be consulted. Before leaving the Library the user must hand in the volumes received for consultation. The works may be left in deposit for three days.
Direct loan
Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 09:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Tuesday and Thursday from 09:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Bibliographic information
The service is provided by a librarian who can guide readers in their search, assist them in the consultation of the hard-copy and on-line catalogues, in order to find the works possessed by the Library and the other libraries in the National Library Service (SBN).
The information is available both on the premises and via e-mail (biblio.ill@isiao.it).
Internet access
Internet access is available through a fixed workstation or by wi-fi connection.
Copying services (Document Delivery)
Self-service photocopying facilities are offered on-site using prepaid 5, 10, or 30 euro cards.
A five euro card allows 25 A4 copies, a ten euro one 60 and a thirty euro card 200.
Cards may be purchased exclusively using a debit or credit card.
Catalogues
On-line catalogue
The Library is connected to the National Library Service (SBN) network through the IEI-Istituti Culturali di Roma pole and shares a joint OPAC (www.istituticulturalidiroma.it).
Card catalogue
Oriental Section:
- authors
- subjects
- periodicals
- anastatic edition of Tibetan texts
- Chinese texts
African Section:
- authors
- subjects
- miscellanea
- periodicals
Other catalogues
Chinese texts of the Vittorio Emanuele II Central National Library of Rome.
(ILL) loan
National interlibrary loan
8 euro for each volume requested (1 IFLA Voucher) + 5 euro for delivery.
(The 5 euro are charged only to the users requesting the service and not to the libraries)
International interlibrary loan (except Library of Congress)
8 euro for each volume requested (1 IFLA Voucher) + 8 euro to deliver request.
(The 8 euro to deliver the request are charged only to the users requesting the service and not to the libraries)
Library of Congress (Washington D.C., USA)
24 euro for each volume requested (3 IFLA Vouchers) + 8 euro to deliver request.
(The 8 euro to deliver the request are charged only to the users requesting the service and not to the libraries)
Delivery mode
The libraries interested may access the service using normal postal services, fax or e-mail.
The volumes on loan are available solely for consultation in the library and users are not allowed to take them away.
The duration of the loan period is thirty days starting from the date of despatch.
Volumes must be returned exclusively by registered mail in a bubble envelope or padded box.
Method of payment to activate the service
1. Payment into postal current account no. 97312003 made out to Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente – Servizio Tesoreria
2. Payment by bank debit or credit card but only on the Library premises.
Document Delivery Requests
The price of the photocopies requested by Libraries or private individuals is as follows:
From 1 to 20 pages € 2,00 per page
From 1 to 50 pages € 1,50 per page
From 1 to 100 pages € 1,00 per page
Tre price of the .pdf file is as follow:
From 1 to 20 pages € 1,00 per page
From 1 to 50 pages € 0,75 per page
From 1 to 100 pages € 0,50 per page
(N.B. the number of pages is referred to the volumes copied and not single A4 copies).
For a number of copies exceeding 100 pages a cost estimate should be requested.
The Document Delivery service is provided in compliance with the regulations governing the reproduction of documents conserved in public libraries, in particular Law no. 633 of 22 April 1941 and subsequent amendments.
The Oriental section of the IsIAO Library contains a special collection of original xylographs and Tibetan manuscripts collected by Giuseppe Tucci (1894-1984) during his scientific expeditions in Western Tibet (1933, 1935) and Central Tibet (1937, 1948).
At the time of the donation the material represented a true rarity, the uniqueness of which, with the passing of time and after the publication of the Tibetan texts in India, in the People’s Republic of China and in the Autonomous Region of Tibet itself, lost some of its interest. Nevertheless, the collection still contains unpublished or hard to access works which, together with all the others, represent a collection of fundamental importance. It should also be noted that the great value of the Collection also consists, particularly today, in its library material made up of xylographs and manuscripts, some of exquisite workmanship and true evidence of an ancient, long lost art.
Thanks to a research project funded by the National Research Council and initially directed by Luciano Petech, after many years’ work, the Tucci Collection has been completely catalogued and today may be consulted thanks to the two volumes by E. De Rossi Filibeck.
The Institute received as a donation from his widow the personal library of Prof. I. Gershevitch (1914-2001), the distinguished Iranistic scholar, former professor at the University of Cambridge, member of the Lincean Academy and corresponding member of IsIAO.
The library, offered to the University as a free loan, is currently housed in the premises of the Department of History and Methods for the Conservation of Cultural Assets of the University of Ravenna and has yet to be catalogued, is a significant reflection of the range of Prof. Gershevitch’s studies and interests and contains some 2000 monographs, 4000 extracts and 40 periodicals.
