Local network catalogues
ONLINE GENERAL CATALOGThe Braidense and Mediateca Online General Catalog (OPAC SBN) allows you to check whether a volume is owned and to borrow or read it in one of the Library’s rooms. Or, for Cd roms and Dvds, to listen to them or view them in the Media Library. Books acquired by the Library since 1994 and all volumes that can be borrowed have been cataloged in SBN.
The Braidense has begun the recataloguing of its retrospective holdings: the General Catalog now includes more than 50,000 volumes published before 1830. For works published before 1899 and not included in the General Catalog, it is necessary to consult the Library’s Manuscript Catalog, and for later ones, until 1958, the General Card Catalogue.
Manuscript catalog
Manuscript catalog in 127 volumes
• Does not follow a precise code of cataloging rules
• Greek classics have the author’s name in the Latin form
• modern authors until the eighteenth century in the form of the Latinized name (example: Cartesius)
• sometimes the first name and not the last name is mentioned (example: Dante and not Alighieri, Walter and not Scott Walter)
– anonyms are grouped by affinity of subject or genre into large classes expressed in very often Latin terms, ordered alphabetically
– classes may consist of particular types of publications; for example:
Lexica: dictionaries and encyclopedias
Diaria (Anglia, Gallica, Germanica, Italica etc.): periodicals
Nuces: wedding publications
Itinera: reports of travel and exploration
Orationes: texts of speeches delivered in public
Jurisprudentia: legal works
Mathesis: works of mathematics
Leges, Statuta: normative texts
– some geographical names of political and territorial entities and cities are in Latin (Anglia, Ispania, Mediolanum etc.)
– alphabetical ordering is not strictly adhered to
– internal cross-references are not perfect
Lists manuscripts dated to 1550.
The inventory is arranged by location with index of chronology, copyists, places of copying, and possessors and patrons.
Indicates in topographical order the works in the fund donated by the Lattes brothers.
In five manuscript volumes:
– catalog of 15th-century Milanese editions, in chronological order (1 vol.)
– catalog of Aldine editions of the 15th-16th centuries, in chronological order (1 vol.)
– catalog of 15th-century editions, in chronological order (3 vols.)
N.B. the 3rd volume is divided into 2 parts, the second part is the catalog of printers, in alphabetical order
• Catalogo delle pergamene
A manuscript volume collects the scrolls, cited in chronological order.
• Catalog of manuscripts
By author in four volumes, compiled in the 19th century and subsequently updated.
Reports data from almost exclusively Western manuscripts, membranous and paper, from the 12th to the 20th century.
General tabbed and on microfiche catalogs
Modern general catalog of printed works entered in the Library from 1891 to 1994.
The card catalog brings together in alphabetical sequence all printed material in the library up to the end of 1994.
The works are catalogued according to the Italian Rules of Cataloguing by Author (RICA) and since 1986 described according to the International Standard Bibliographic Description Monographic Publications (ISBD(M)) code.
Given the activity of recataloguing the Library’s oldest holdings and subsequent acquisitions, it is also possible to find works from before 1891 in this catalog.
It covers works that entered the Library from 1891 to 1954.
It is on microfiche.
Consultation is difficult due to the lack of a syntactic and semantic subjectification control code.
The section of works from 1955 onward (black label) on index cards is compiled using the subject index of the National Central Library of Florence according to the Italian Rules for Subjectification.
It covers works that have entered the Library since 1980.
It is organized according to the Dewey Decimal Classification (CDD) 19th edition scheme limited to certain classes:
– 000 general works
– 010 bibliography
– 020 librarianship
– 030 general encyclopedias
– 050 general periodicals
– 070 general publishing
– 080 miscellaneous writings
– 090 bibliophilia
– 300 social sciences
– 301 – 307 sociology
– 320 politics
– 330 economics
– 360 social work
– 370 education
– 390 folklore
– 686.2 typography and printing
– 700 arts
– 710 – 760 fine arts
– 792 theater
– 800 literature
Tabularly, it describes the entire holdings of newspapers, journals, official publications and academic proceedings.
Periodicals are described according to the Intenational Standard Bibliographic Description Serials (ISBD(S)) code of rules.
The heading of each entry is given by the first word of the title of the periodical that is not an article.
The location of the microfilm of the work, if any, is given.
If the work is microfilmed, the original cannot be consulted.
Available in Consultation Room
Available in Consultation Room
Paper and microform catalogs
Older books, up to 1899, are listed in the Library’s Manuscript Catalog; newer books, up to 1994, are included in the General Card Catalogue.
In addition to these, other thematic or particular collection catalogs are available.
Some of the ancient books have already been re-catalogued in the online General Catalog.
Collective catalogs
The Library has participated since its inception in the National Library Service by contributing to the SBN Opac to the services of Azalai, the bibliographic catalog of Lombardy’s universities, as well as to numerous national and international cataloging projects for special materials.
Through these catalogs it is possible to identify works belonging to the Braidense.
Music catalogs
VAI AI CATALOGHI MUSICALIThe Music Fund Research Office of the Braidense National Library is part of Service XI – Special Materials and Music of the library.
It was established in 1965 to house the research on Italian music sources conducted by Claudio Sartori and Mariangela Donà; it includes the national catalog of music manuscripts and printed music up to 1900: more than 300,000 cards, many of which have not yet been included in other repertoires.
Other minor catalogs include: the catalog of musicians’ correspondence, a catalog of music literature, and the original cards of Claudio Sartori’s catalog of Italian librettos printed before 1800.
Since 1978 it has been housed in the Library of the Milan Conservatory of Music.
The printed music catalog has been fully transferred to the SBN Music database and is now an integral part of the National Library Service, accessible via the Web with a dedicated music search mask.
The catalog of music manuscripts has been digitized and is available via the web.
The Office collaborates with the Central Institute for the Single Catalogue to maintain music materials in SBN, to develop standard formats for music, standards for cataloguing music, and for the registry of Italian music libraries.
Internationally, it collaborates with the IAML (International Association of Music Libraries) in maintaining the Unimarc codes for music material, with the RILM (Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale), hosting its Italian branch, and with the RISM (Répertoire International des Sources Musicales), for cataloging music manuscripts and maintaining the international acronyms of music libraries.
Suggest new acquisitions
To submit proposals for new publications to the acquisitions office, please fill out the form below.
To find out if the Library owns a certain publication you can search the Online Catalog.
Donations
The Library accepts individual volumes or entire collections sent as gifts, as long as they are not materials already in the Institute’s possession.
Only works of non-fiction and local interest related to the Lombard area are accepted.
Periodicals, theses and self-published publications are excluded.
Donations that do not fit these criteria will not be accepted. There is no obligation for the library to return to the donor.
For more information please send an email to: