Why visit Italian Libraries?
Italian Libraries Overview
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SBN
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Library Terms
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This section will show you how to use the shared SBN catalog to find a book near you. The SBN website is located at www.sbn.it.
The first step in using SBN’s online catalog is to figure out which of the participating libraries is closest to you. From the SBN homepage you can do this by clicking "Info SBN" and then “I Poli e le biblioteche SBN” (SBN Poles and Libraries).
For example, if you were based in Bologna, you would look at the Emilia Romagna section of the list and identify “Polo unificato bolognese,” as the pole nearest you. By clicking on the link to "Polo unificato Bolognese," you will access a list of Bolognese libraries, whose catalog records are included in the SBN system. Most of their codes (codice anagrafe) begin with BO, as in BO0304 for the Biblioteca comunale dell’Archiginnasio in Bologna.
Once you begin searching the online catalog, you will see more codes. But you can always return to the list of "I poli e le biblioteche SBN" through the "Info SBN" option on the SBN homepage if you need more information about them.
