Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico delle biblioteche italiane e per le informazioni bibliografiche (ICCU), Italy
The Central Institute for the Union Catalogue of the Italian Library and Bibliographic Information which is the technical-scientific reference for the General Direction for Library Heritage and Cultural Institutes (DGBLIC), institutionally promotes and coordinates cataloguing and documentation activities of the library heritage which is preserved in the public libraries particularly with the establishment of the National Library Serviceb (SBN).
The ICCU is responsible for setting guidelines and for producing and disseminating standard cataloguing rules covering all the typologies of materials: from manuscripts to multimedia documents. The main activities: manages the technical and scientific coordination of the National Library Service in collaboration with institutional partners it promotes the projects and services of the network and integration with other systems; carries out research and study activities on cataloguing standards in collaboration with national and international bodies; coordinates in particular the digitisation programme for Music, Manuscripts, Census of Italian 16th Century Editions, and Italian Libraries databases; publishes cataloguing guides and handbooks as well as other scientific and general bibliographic instruments, amongst which are the series on the Italian 16th Century Editions and the Catalogue of Italian Libraries; promoting initiatives on digital memory preservation both at national and international level, like the”Firenze agenda” workgroup as a coordination action in the framework of a Resolution issued by the Council of the European Union.
The Institute participates at several working groups as CoBRA (Computerised Bibliographic Record Actions); EFILA (European Forum for Implementors of Library Automation);HARMONICA (Accompanying Action on Music Information in Libraries);IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and istitutions).It is also involved in tke following Europeam projects: NEDLIB;TEL;CERL.
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