Objectives

The European Library of Information and Culture will stand on the former Porta Vittoria railway station area in connection with one of the Passante railway stations and will fill a critical gap in Italy’s national library system.
The BEIC aims to be an outstanding project on a European and international scale in many different ways: its cultural resources (the quality of its fundamental texts, acquired based on well-selected scientific criteria, the highly international nature of its documentation, its European character with particular emphasis on the different cultural currents found in the city, region and country); its support for interdisciplinary scientific research (university and non); and its computer-based and digital resources (facilitated connections to databases, a digital production center in line with the project’s specific cultural objectives, dual use of a great deal of its hard copy and digital library collections).

An important characteristic of the BEIC is that it is a reference library founded on interactive services through which users are invited and enabled to express their needs for information and culture. These needs will be met as fully as possible through access to documents contained in the library or resources that are in other locations yet may be accessed online. Its bibliographical information, assistance and orientation activities will not be limited to one sector of the BEIC but will reflect its “service style”.
The advent of the digital age, with all its potentials, has not eliminated the need to introduce modern libraries in which books, magazines, digital texts, databases and online information coexist in an integrated fashion. In fact, like never before, the last few years have seen the steady creation of many innovative libraries in France, Germany, England, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, the United States and elsewhere. Nevertheless, Italy still lacks a large structure of this kind.

Through the coherent planning of its cultural and organizational features, the new library aims to bring together the characteristics of a large-scale public reading library with those of a European-scale research library. It will complement historic public and university libraries as well as the needs of interdisciplinary research, which will constitute a fundamental approach to the advancement of knowledge on a growing scale. Its objectives also include developing an effective tool that encourages reading and an off-site education service center in connection with schools and universities in a national network through collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research.
This is one of the reasons why the library’s main sector, with its open shelves and open access, will be structured with an eye to circulate knowledge by facilitating horizontal and transversal connections among the various disciplinary sectors. Readers of all ages will enjoy a comfortable environment designed so they can read enthusiastically, calmly absorb what they’re reading, think, write and (last but not least) meet other readers.