ARPAC - Cultural Heritage Division

Elisabetta De Toma

Head of Administrative Division

Mission

The division’s mission is to oversee the organisation and delivery of bibliographic and documentary services across Bologna campus libraries and ensure the coordination of all units within the University Library System. It coordinates bibliographic and documentary services at the Bologna University Library and ensures the preservation and enhancement of the Historical Archive's documentary heritage, while promoting initiatives related to Umberto Eco and his work, including the establishment of the working library and archive named after him. Furthermore, the division manages the Zeri Photo Library and ensures the preservation and enhancement of the University's photographic collections, providing managerial, administrative and financial oversight for the University Museum Network as well as promoting and taking part in innovative national and international projects and networks focused on enhancing services and cultural heritage.

Main activities

• Overseeing the organisation and delivery of bibliographic and documentary services across Bologna campus libraries, including administrative, managerial and staffing aspects.
• Managing the administrative and financial operations of Bologna campus libraries and central University bibliographic services.
• Protecting, preserving, enhancing and developing the entire bibliographic, documentary and archival collections of the Bologna University Library and Historical Archive, ensuring their organisation, management, ease of use and accessibility and supporting research activity also through collaborative projects with the other organisational entities of the University.
• Overseeing the legal deposit service assigned to the University Library by current legislation.
• In coordination with the University Library System, ensuring coordination and strategic development of library services across all the University’s organisational entities, including quality standards, through staff training and professional development activities.
• Establishing and implementing library service standards.
• Coordinating, managing and developing central library services, particularly the Bologna SBN network catalogue, the national ACNP periodicals catalogue, the AlmaDL digital library and centralised cataloguing.
• Coordinating the operation of the network of open access services for research publications and data provided by the library system.
• Coordinating the work of the University working group on Information Literacy.
• Coordinating the negotiation, acquisition, access management and monitoring of electronic resources, also by taking part in national negotiations and CARE-CRUI agreements.
• Overseeing University tenders for library materials and other library services and supplies, also within the framework of public procurement agreements.
• Acting as a liaison for the preservation and promotion of the University’s photographic heritage.
• Managing and promoting the Zeri Photo Library, ensuring the cataloguing, digitisation and online availability of photographs, while safeguarding, preserving and ensuring access to related photographic and archival materials.
• Ensuring the implementation of initiatives of the Umberto Eco International Centre for the Humanities aimed at promoting the scholar’s legacy and the themes he explored.
• Ensuring the establishment and management of Umberto Eco’s modern working library and archive named after him.
• Providing managerial, administrative and financial oversight for the University Museum Network.
• Promoting and/or participating in innovative national and international projects and networks focused on enhancing services and cultural heritage.
• Promoting and/or participating in local development projects for library services to broaden access beyond traditional University users, expanding public services for the community in synergy with local institutions.
• Ensuring internal and national monitoring and measurement of library services and performance.
• Enhancing the use of University documentary systems to support research and teaching processes.
• Managing relations with external institutions for integration and/or cooperation in library services.
• Managing inventory records for bibliographic materials and the deaccession process according to University regulations.
• Ensuring preparatory and executive procedures for funding allocated to the University Library System by University bodies and organisational entities or other institutions.
• Ensuring the data deposit and preservation process (including metadata etc.) and related infrastructure, overseeing data-derived publications (publishing outlets, contracts with publishers, open access), any dataset publication, and developing or acquiring tools and infrastructure for third-party access.