The library of the Faculties of Magisterium and of Humanities and Philosophy

On 9th march 1944, when the Institute of Magistero Pareggiato Giovanni Cuomo started its activities in a provisional office within the provincial library, the corresponding book collection contained a few dozen volumes, offered by teachers and bought with scant available funds. Still in 1946 the first chronological entry register included no more than one hundred and eighty titles on philosophical-pedagogical topics.

A first moderate increase is achieved around the end of 40s, when the strengthening of the endowment destined for buy, the volumes donated by theMinistry of Public Education and, first of all, some private donations concur to form a fund of some consistency. The administrative documentation certifies the possession of 1565 units in 1950, which increased, only five years later, to around 3600, for a patrimonial value of around four lire million: an increase that during the hard years of reconstruction cannot even be considered too modest. The subscriptions of principal series of italian and foreign classics and the first subscriptions to periodical (‘Aegyptus’, ‘Aevum’, ‘Archivio di Psicologia’ ‘Civitas’, ‘Convivium’, etc.) together with some forays into the antiques market, they contribute, already in the early sixties, to outline the features of an organic book collection.

In 1966 the library was transferred with the Magisterium to the city center, first to the headquarters in Piazza Malta, then, due to lack of space, to the autonomous premises of Via Generale Gonzaga, where it occupies an area of about 600 square meters, more adequate to satisfy the necessities of audience that increased constantly.

After the foundation of University of Salerno in 1969-70 following the movements of the atheneum, the library of faculty of Magistero and Letters and Philosophy found a new place via Irno.

Those are undoubtedly the decisive years for the formation of a humanistic collection with a complete physiognomy which can now count on an endowment sufficient for updating and supplying primary services.

Only eight years after the transition to the new structure, the entry registers document a book heritage that has more than tripled: over eighty thousand are the bibliographic units, about eight hundred periodicals subscribed, to which are added academic documents and newspapers.

If the environmental conditions appear unsafe in the new location, adjacent to the river Irno, which do not fully guarantee the conservation measures essential to the collections, the receptivity does not raise particular problems, able to cope with a considerable, stable increase, which it fluctuates around five thousand unities per year; so much so that in the mid-eighties the library had about 120.000 volumes. A patrimony almost entirely made up of acquisition funds, since donations are scarce and sporadic and buy of discontinued collections are rather rare. Exception to notify is the one concerning the Greek scholar Carlo Del Grande, which was subsequently dismembered and disseminated in various disciplinary sectors.

In agreement with teachers and librarians, a system for marking the material is adopted, based on an alphanumeric string reflecting a division by institute: functional mechanism for the practical needs of storage and distribution at the counter; however, it will cause many problems when, many years later, it will pass almost unchanged to the 'open shelf' system.

Particular attention is dedicated to the consultation sector, where encyclopedias, yearbooks, dictionaries, Italian and foreign bio-bibliographic repertories placed according to the Dewey decimal classification, together with the latest vintages of about five hundred periodicals divided by subject areas, are immediately user availability.

Thanks to a notable fervor of activity, the catalog for authors and anonymous works is accompanied by that for subjects, the systematic and, starting from 1973, an additional catalog containing the cards of the Italian National Bibliography.

In what could be considered as the greatest library in Salerno, the flow of users was consistent that consisted of an average of more twenty thousand people - increased by the choice to guarantee the access to the whole citizenry, that, because of lengthened closure of Provincial had the lack of possibility to have the access to a huge and up-to-date book collection during many years.

The library of the faculties of Economics and Commerce and of Law

Meanwhile, autonomous life and development has the library of the faculties of Economics and Commerce and Law, allocated since its foundation, dating back to the 1970-71 academic year, in a modern building in Via Prudente.

Thanks to a policy of purchases and a constant flow of donations, the library grows quickly.

Exquisite bequeathal with remarkable scientific content enriched the book patrimony: it concerned the donations from Cenzato (historical-political themes), De Cecco(volumes of different topics, mainly jurisprudence - civil law , penal code, administrative one, roman law, etc. - but also economic, historical, medicine) De Crescenzo (jurisprudence texts and repertory in first decades of the century), Ingrosso (mainly economic subject) etc.

The book collection donated by the descendants of Giovanni Cuomo (1874-1948), the parliamentarian from Salerno to whom the Institute of Magistero Pareggiato was named in 1944 is significant in terms of quality and quantity: among the more than ten thousand volumes, particularly worthy of interest is the humanistic section, full of classics, non-fiction and magazines dating back to the 19th and 20th centuries.

In the mid-1980s, subscriptions to periodicals and official publications amounted to about a thousand; for just under half, the last year is available on exhibitors directly accessible to teachers and students.

A marked growth is achieved in the field of international studies: the library becomes the seat of a European Documentation Center, receiving free and regular publications of the EEC, to which are added the Acts of the Council of Europe and the collection of treaties of the UN, as well as numerous essays on international and comparative law.

The library of mathematical, physical and natural sciences

Founded in 1976, firstly placed in uncomfortable locals in via Vernieri, the library of Mathematical, physical and natural sciences (which will later take the name of Library Center of the Scientific Area) obtains a more suitable location upon transfer of the faculty to which annexed, occupying, in the academic year 1977-1978, the central body of the first university building located in the Irno valley, between Baronissi and Lancusi.

Although many logistical problems remain to be solved, the new arrangement offers the possibility of allocating large spaces for the book deposit, the consultation rooms, the offices.

Departments and institutes opted for centralization from the outset, devolving almost entirely the book material at their disposal to the new body.

Unluckily, in November 1980, the earthquake involved the new structure; the phase of reinstatement was long and strenuous, during which the collections were moved provisionally to a restricted wing of university headquarter.

Starting from March 1985, the Engineering book collections are aggregated, which will subsequently flow into the central library of the Fisciano campus, following the fate of the faculty.

Towards centralization

Those are the crucial years for the definition of a new policy of university libraries. There was already talk of a centralization of services in 1974.

The hypothesis is concretely advanced, however, in the document prepared by Augusto Placanica in view of the conference on the subject organized by the university in 1977.

The principal themes were associated with the absence of coordination , the following fragmentation of bibliographic complex, the duplication of purchases and the wastefulness of the financial resources - and inadequate management of department libraries caused by the lack of qualified staff, inadequacy and shortage of spaces that increased the difficulties of access to the documentary patrimony from teachers and students: problems that in those years were perceived by the whole national university world.

Having a clear position for the choice to unify, the Placanica relation concluded: « the library being technical instrument that requests high levels of specialisation in the structures and staff, the library must be centralized with the purpose of guaranteeing homogeneity in the conservation and collocation of book patrimony[...] the distributed services must be analogously homogenous [...] the systems of cataloguing, classification , subject indexing, decimalisation must be homogenous and united».

Finally, in line with the relation of the professor Pier Luigi Spadolini, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Education, councils of faculty and commissions of coordination shared the choice of a only centralized library even though the departmental units were still working. The process of creating the university library system is suspended, which will only come to fruition many years later.

After 1982, a central office of libraries provide for leading the old structure toward the unifying solution doing the groundworks of centralization and disciplining and organizing activities of three libraries of department from an administrative and catalogue point of view, after reconsiderations and centrifugal pushes, next it made room for two autonomous library organism: the first one, that of department of science in Baronissi, with interdepartmental characteristics, founded officially thanks to a rector decree in 1992; the other one, the center of Services of Atenheus for libraries, situated in the campus of Fisciano founded after five years because of remarkable delays occurred during the phase of construction of the new central library within Fisciano’s campus.

Current situation

Recently, after the foundation of the Library Center of Atheneum (Rector decree n. 3735 on 30 December 2010) and the deactivation of two pre-existing organisms, the organisation of the library system of Atheneum was completed (whose rules were approved with the rector decree number 3701 on 24 December 2010). Currently the CLA is structured by two central libraries - the first one for the humanistic polo, the other one for scientific polo - both detached within Fisciano’s university campus, to these is added the library of the department of Medicine and Surgery, situated on Baronissi campus.

Central library of the humanistic section “E.R Caianiello”

The center library of humanistic section- entitled in this way for the physicist Eduardo Renato Caianiello - was founded in 90s based on a project elaborated by technical office of Italposte, designed by Neapolitan architect Massimo Pica Ciamarra. It contained the book collections that concerned the humanistic, jurisprudence, economic sections. Furthermore, it has more six hundreds studying seats, for eighteen rooms of consultation.

They are organized through the system of scaffale aperto that guarantee the direct access to people for the book material. The book patrimony consists of more 800.000 units and more 6383 paper periodical (2167 of them are prevalent). The series of donations, private funds and special collections are remarkable (especially during the years 2005-2019) Each of them is reserved to a catalogue dedicated in the opac. There is a constant increase of informative resources in electronic form: the library contains a great deal of databases - that concern different disciplinary sectors and get the connection with thousands periodical online, a great number of them can be almost consulted full-text via remote access. The collective atenhaeum catalogue, entirely digitized enhanced during some years thanks to the totality of catalogue dates that derived from many libraries of departments (some of them also physically united in the central library during 2013 and 2019). Like many other italian university libraries, the project management software is Ex-Libris Alma. In offices the audience can have the access to the consultation of Opac by using self-service specific seats; naturally they can also consult by using the Internet(or on version mobile) navigating the site of Atheneum. Nowadays a database on platform Oracle is available for online consult, it contains almost 450000 records catalogued with Unimarc form.

Because of the adhesion to the project Thesis, the catalogue contains almost 19000 record associated with degree thesis discussed in salerno athenaeum (from the foundation to the first years of 80s) with reproduction of the frontispieces and bibliographies.

A multimedia room is open to people; it contains twelve workstations. Within the library, a Center of European Documentation is active and it takes part in a wide informative net with the purpose of making the documentation about European Union and its politics accessible to the audience. The Library “E.R Caianiello”, to sum up, contains a consistent book ancient patrimony(cen. XV-XIX) made up by the Ventimiglia fund with cilento origins and from acquisition of University on the ancient market and numerous special, private funds.

The Library of the Scientific and technological camp

It was founded on 3rd May 2013. Based on a project elaborated by the roman architect Nicola Pagliara, it is situated in Fisciano’s campus on a wide plot of more 2000 square meters and expand overall for eight floors, five of them are visible from the the outside (the access plan is included) and three are underground.

It has a total capacity of 350.000 bibliographical units and collects the book funds that still concern libraries of faculties of Mathematical Physical and Natural Sciences, Engineering and Pharmacy. The series of donations and private book funds are consistent also in this library.

The whole patrimony flows into the only catalogue of Athenaeum, that is enriched by a software Ex Libris Alma and it is collocated depending on the Dewey Decimal Classification (CDD). The user locations are almost 540, distributed in seven consulting room.

With the purpose of controlling the book patrimony and process of loan, the library uses the technology RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification). The other services (orientamento, reference, documentazione specializzata) are similar to the those of the other distributed by center library.

The library of Faculty of Medicine

In Baronissi’s university campus, a third library structure with 40 studying seats is active, specifically dedicated to necessities of research, teaching department of Medicine and Surgery. It has a recent formation and collects some thousand textbooks and some scientific magazines that are bought recently, beyond some private donations with prevalently historical themes. The private donations from inherited of surgeon Matteo Della Corte from Salerno has a particular consistency.

Information resources

Currently, in its complex, the library system of Atheneum has informative rich resource - database, periodical, ebook,with online access.

The Portal of libraries in Atheneum guarantees the structured access to the resources and documental services and reports other tools of bibliographic research from a national and international point of view (opac, metaopac, collections, digitals). Thanks to the implementation of a discovery tool (Primo of Ex Libris, in the customized version Ariel) every resource that are associated with remote and local collections (articles, books, magazines, e-book, digital objects, thesis, bibliographic records and other) can be located and searched from an only access seat.

The portal (Electronic Archive for Academic Studies and Researches) has a constant expansion, the open archive of University of Studies of Salerno. Originated as a institutional safekeeping of thesis discussed in Athenaeum, available entirely via web for the free consult, because of actualization of principles of The Berlin Declaration and the Messina declaration, contained some scientific publications with free access and Salernum - digital salern library, a collection of documents and books about salern topics or production.

After 2012, Elea started to flow into Pleadi, the Portale for the scientific and electronic italian literature on open Archive and Institutional safekeeping; it is one of the most important european platform of open access (like OpenAire, OpenDoar, Roar).

To sum up, in the context of three-year planning MIUR 2013-2015 the atheneum libraries, in relation to the interuniversity convention, started to take part in the SHARE project (Scholarly Heritage and Access to Research) obtained a common platform of access to library services, sharing Service Charter with the University Federico II, L’Oriental , Parthenope and Suor Orsola Benincasa di Napoli, Sannio, Basilicata and Salento.

From 2017, the collections became further enriched after the adhesion of CBA to Media Library On Line (MLOL), the first italian net of public, academic, scholastic libraries for the digital loan: in this way the users can have a series of ebooks, audio video resources, e-learning and many other; having the access to them is possible through a great deal of compatible devices(computer, e-reader, tablet, etc.).