La Biblioteca Universitaria Alessandrina di Roma is a peripheral structure of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, whose activities are coordinated by the General Directorate for Libraries and Cultural Institutes.
Established by Pope Alexander VII Chigi to serve the Studium Urbis of Rome, the Library was designed by the architect Francesco Borromini, who drew its large monumental hall, adjacent to the Church of S. Ivo, inside the Palazzo della Sapienza, on the current Corso del Rinascimento. At the end of 1670, when it was opened to the public, the Library owned about 30,000 volumes and was equipped with an alphabetical catalog by authors and a catalog by subjects.
In the following centuries it was enriched by significant purchases and donations, while the logical arrangement of the collections was being perfected. In 1810 the Library obtained the printing right for the entire territory of the Papal State and in 1870, with the transition to the Italian State, the one for the province of Rome. When the spaces allocated to the book collections became insufficient, the Library was moved in 1935 to the building of the Rectorate of the new university city.
In the eighties of the last century, the original complex was renovated to provide the library with larger spaces to be used for services. The Library was included in the structure of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities at the time of its establishment in 1974. Since 1990 the Library has joined the National Library Service and is responsible for the Hub of the State Public Libraries of Rome RML.
The profile of the Library is currently essentially historical, humanistic, and legal, although, at least until the 19th century, it still had the possibility to offer updated scientific works and fundamental manuals. Consequently, and based on D.P.R. July 5, 1995, no. 417, the mission and institutional functions of the Library are:
- to collect and preserve what of Italian and foreign editorial production is relevant to the above profile, taking into account the needs of the users;
- to oversee the growth of the provincial archive of publications received for legal deposit (L.106/2004 and amendments);
- to preserve and enhance its own historical collections;
- to document the 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 in view of enhancing its role as a reference point for the province of Rome.
The Library has a general reading room where it is possible to study with personal books, a multimedia room, a catalog room with exhibition space, a humanistic room, with works available for free consultation, dedicated to the consultation of the Library’s works, a bio-bibliographic room intended for the consultation of ancient, rare, and valuable documents as well as for the free consultation of works related to bibliography, codicology, the history of publishing and printing, the history of book illustration.
