75831 - History of the Book and Library Science (1)

Academic Year 2024/2025

  • Docente: Paolo Tinti
  • Credits: 6
  • SSD: M-STO/08
  • Language: Italian
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Humanities (cod. 8850)

    Also valid for First cycle degree programme (L) in History (cod. 0962)
    First cycle degree programme (L) in Humanities (cod. 8850)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will possess basic knowledge about the history of the book, from manuscript to printing and down to the contemporary age of digital publishing. Also the book trade, readership and its many ways of exploitation in the modern and contemporary eras. They will know about the formation, organization, cataloguing and conservation of libraries, including the planning and management of library collections and services in an international and technologically advanced perspective. They will be capable of collecting, selecting, processing, and summarizing complex documentary data and information so as to formulate independent conclusions and opinions. They will organize information logically and outline it with methodological rigour, care and precision.

Course contents

The course is divided into two parts: Book History and Library Science.

Students who take the 6 CFU program can choose part 1 or part 2, according to their preference.

Unit 1 - The Coming of Printed Book

The coming of the printing, around 1450, spelt cultural and technical innovations. Furthermore early printed books were committed to meet the expectation of their readers, who had always been accustomed to the form of the manuscript.
In the 15th century, the book in cuna, i.e. "in the cradle", the so-called incunable, gained gradually its own forms and structures, so that in the early 16th century it became almost the same object nowadays known and used by readers.
The incunable, mostly without title page, page numbers, was often decorated and illuminated, as well as rarely printed on parchment rather than paper, a definitely more common support.
Since 15th century illustrations appeared in printed books; moreover a more complex page design, as well as many paratextual elements (first of all, the title page), were experimented in them.

Unit 2 - The library and its services

Privileged place for the selection, organization, use and storage of knowledge, the contemporary library has changed spaces, functions and services targeted to its public, more and more extended due to networks and digital innovations. After a brief institutional framework of the different types of libraries, students will learn to know their main resources, the systems’ set-up and the service models, the cataloguing mediation standards, the peculiarity of the different collections, due to the diversified services that libraries aim to offer, according to their mission.

Readings/Bibliography

Unit 1 - Book History:

1. L. BRAIDA, Stampa e cultura in Europa, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2000;

2. L. FEBVRE - H.-J. MARTIN, La nascita del libro, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1977 oppure F. FORMIGA, L'invenzione perfetta : storia del libro, Bari-Roma, Laterza, 2021.

ALL THE STUDENTS will retrieve, explain and comment one record, dealing with an European Fifteenth century edition, taken from the following online catalogue: ISTC, Incunabula Short Title Catalogue [https://data.cerl.org/istc].

Only remotely, in the virtual classroom of the History of Book and Library Science course, from February to July 2023, a practical training in the use of ISTC will be organized. The training aims to provide students with a good knowledge of the ISTC, with practical exercises.

ONLY NON ATTENDING STUDENTS will also study one of these titles:

1. C. REATTI, Tra aula e torchio. Libri e scuola a Bologna da Napoleone all'età della Restaurazione, Bologna, CLUEB, 2020;

2. M. G. TAVONI, Storie di libri e tecnologie: dall'avvento della stampa al digitale, Roma, Carocci, 2021;

3. G. MONTECCHI, Storia del libro e della lettura, Milano-Udine, Mimesis, 2015, vol. 1: Dalle origini ad Aldo Manuzio

Erasmus students could read an essay in English or Spanish or French, according to Professor's suggestion.

Unit 2 - Library Science:

1. G. GRANATA, Introduzione alla biblioteconomia, Bologna, il Mulino, 2009, OPPURE: G. MONTECCHI - F. VENUDA, Nuovo manuale di Biblioteconomia, Milano, Editrice Bibliografica, 2022.

2. M. GUERRINI, Biblioteconomia, Roma, AIB, 2023.

Non attending students (module 2: Library and Information Science) will NOT add additional reading but are invited to contact the teacher (no email please).

Erasmus students could read an essay in English or Spanish or French, according to Professor's suggestion.

NB: In the present bibliography the texts are quoted in the first or most authoritative Italian editions. Each reprint of the same is as equivalent.

Teaching methods

Frontal lessons, with the aid of multimedia tools.

Lessons will take place in libraries of Bologna and Emilia-Romagna, in sight of some Fifteenth and Sixteenth century editions, both Italian and European.

In the event that the COVID19 health emergency continues, the University will be able to establish alternative methods of teaching delivery (e.g. distance teaching, mixed teaching, etc.).

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending.

The final exam will be an oral one, with questions aimed to verify the student's knowledge of the themes discussing during frontal lectures (only for attending students) as well as those treated in the program's texts.

Non-attending students will have to take an oral final exam about the themes treated in the program's texts.

The assessment will concentrate particularly on the skill displayed by the student in handling the sources and material in the exam bibliography and his ability to find and use information and examples to illustrate and correlate the various themes and problems addressed in the course.

The assessment will thus examine the student's:

- factual knowledge of the subject;
- ability to summarise and analyse themes and concepts;
- familiarity with the terminology associated with the subject and his ability to use it effectively.

Top marks will be awarded to a student displaying an overall understanding of the topics discussed during the lectures, combined with a critical approach to the material and a confident and effective use of the appropriate terminology.
Average marks will be awarded to a student who has memorized the main points of the material and is able to summarise them satisfactorily and provide an effective critical commentary, while failing to display a complete command of the appropriate terminology.
A student will be deemed to have failed the exam if he displays significant errors in his understanding and failure to grasp the overall outlines of the subject, together with a poor command of the appropriate terminology.

Final exams are scheduled at least 7 times an academic year, usually following that date:

‐ 2 in September-November
‐ 2 in January-March
‐ 3 in May-July

Teaching tools

In order to get preliminary knowledge to improve classwork, students who have never taken the History of the Book or the Library and Information Science will be able to read profitably one or more of the following titles.

Unit 1 - Book History

1. E. BARBIERI, Guida al libro antico: conoscere e descrivere il libro tipografico, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2006;

2. F. BARBIER, Storia del libro. Dall'antichità al XX secolo, Bari, Dedalo, 2005;

Unit 2 - Library Science

3. Guida alla Biblioteconomia, a cura di M. Guerrini, Milano, Editrice Bibliografica, 2008.

Students who require specific services and adaptations to teaching activities due to a disability or specific learning disorders (SLD), must first contact the appropriate office: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students.

Office hours

See the website of Paolo Tinti