The Alessandrina University Library of Rome is a branch facility of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, whose activities are coordinated by the Directorate General for Libraries and Cultural Institutes.
Established by Pope Alexander VII Chigi to serve the Studium Urbis of Rome, the Library was designed by architect Francesco Borromini who created the large monumental hall adjacent to the Church of St. Ivo, inside the Palazzo della Sapienza, on the current Corso del Rinascimento. By the end of 1670, when it was opened to the public, the Library had about 30,000 volumes and was equipped with an alphabetical catalog by authors and a catalog by subject.
In the following centuries it was enriched by significant purchases and donations, while the logical arrangement of the collections was perfected. In 1810, the Library obtained the printing rights for the entire territory of the Papal States and in 1870, with the transition to the Italian State, those for the province of Rome. When the spaces designated for book collections became insufficient, the Library was moved in 1935 to the building of the Rectory of the new university city.
In the 1980s, the original building was renovated to provide the library with more space for services. The Library was included in the structure of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities when it was established in 1974. Since 1990, the Library has been part of the National Library Service and is responsible for the Network of State Public Libraries of Rome RML.
The Library’s profile is currently essentially historical, humanistic, and legal, although, at least until the end of the 19th century, it still had the possibility to offer scientific works and fundamental updated manuals. As a result and based on Presidential Decree 5 July 1995 no. 417, the mission and institutional functions of the Library are:
- to collect and preserve what pertains to the above-mentioned profile from Italian and foreign editorial production, taking into account the needs of users;
- to oversee the growth of the provincial archive of publications received by legal deposit (Law 106/2004 and subsequent amendments);
- to conserve and enhance its historical collections;
- to document holdings, provide bibliographic information, and ensure the circulation of documents;
- to coordinate with the University La Sapienza of Rome in the forms deemed most suitable in terms of services and acquisitions;
- to coordinate with local authorities aimed at enhancing its role as a reference for the province of Rome.
The Library has a general reading room where it is possible to study with one’s own books, a multimedia room, a catalog room with exhibition space, a humanities room with works for open consultation, dedicated to consulting the Library’s works, a bio-bibliographic room intended for consulting ancient, rare, and valuable documents as well as freely consulting works related to bibliography, codicology, the history of publishing and printing, and the history of book illustration.
