The National Central Library of Florence has released its operating program for 2026, outlining a detailed picture of interventions, acquisitions and cultural initiatives. The presentation was made by Director Elisabetta Sciarra, who outlined the Institute’s main expenditure items and strategies, with a focus on infrastructure works, services and heritage enhancement activities. In 2026, as well as in 2025, the Library will face a decline in ordinary funding, a situation that makes it essential to develop specific projects and more strategic management of available resources. Director Sciarra pointed out that the Institute is proceeding to reduce the surplus and boost spending capacity, continuing a strategy initiated in 2024. The increase in own income will be pursued through a balance between institutional activities and complementary initiatives, in line with the tasks determined by Article 39 of DM 270/2024.
With regard to extraordinary and community resources, the program of works includes the completion in 2026 of the removal of architectural barriers and the construction of a new access on Piazza dei Cavalleggeri, as part of the NRP - Mission 1, Component 3 - Culture 4.0, Measure 1, Investment 1.2, aimed at improving physical and cognitive access to culture. Also in 2026, with funding under L.190/2014, it is planned to complete the design and start the bidding process for the renovation of the Reading Room skylights and minor skylights. Another major line of intervention concerns the recovery and restoration of the former Curtatone and Montanara barracks architectural complex, which is intended as a book depository. In the course of 2026, the contracting of the Works Management and the contracting of Minerva rts is expected, with the aim of restarting the works downstream of the price revision by INVITALIA and the definition of the team of Works Management, testing and support to the RUP.
The services and supplies sector will receive special attention, in continuity with ongoing projects. Among the planned interventions is the sorting, inventorying and digital filing of the documentary complex named after Ugo Ojetti (1871-1946), as part of the DM 491/2020 funding for the revitalization of investments and restoration of books. Cataloging and digitization services will also be carried out on historical collections already entrusted, such as the manuscripts of the Santa Croce Fund and the GRA.FO project. Large Formats, with funding DDG 5592/2024. The EPOCHE (Enhancement and Promotion of Our Cultural HEritage) project, funded through DM 157/2025, will have a grant activated for 2026.
Ordinary resources will continue to support acquisitions, including antiquarian volumes and coercive acquisitions. Cooperation with BNCR and ICCU for automatic ingestion into SBNWeb of descriptive cards via barcode scanning will also continue in order to optimize the management of legal deposit and cataloging. In 2026, the recovery of the backlog not yet cataloged will be addressed, in parallel with the usual acquisition activities of the approximately 80,000 volumes annually. The enhancement of the National Bibliography and Thesaurus will also be important. The Library plans to revise the mode of publication of the BNI - Italian National Bibliography, transforming it into an instance of the dedicated VuFind catalog with daily updates, surpassing the issue-based publication. The Semantic Indexing Searches and Tools Sector will produce a technical paper on the use of keywords in semantic indexing. In addition, a new non-curricular internship dedicated to cataloging will be activated.
Among the digitization projects, work on the Digital Library’s post-unification newspapers will continue, with a site that will produce more than five million digital objects of BNCF newspapers. In the Digital Warehouses, it is planned to produce the NBN - National Bibliography Number, in collaboration with CINECA. In addition, 2026 will see the completion of consultations for the new Regulations on the Legal Deposit of Documents Disseminated via Computer Network, implementation of Presidential Decree No. 252 of May 3, 2006, with the Library an active participant in all planned audits. The calendar of events for 2026 includes the European Heritage Days in September, Paper Sunday in October, and five additional initiatives already planned, including a return event of educational activities planned for November.
Musical lecture series with performances drawn from the Library’s holdings will continue. In the field of conservation and restoration, the BNCF confirms its role of national and international excellence, with internships for restorers and the elaboration of one of the first Plans for limiting damage to collections in Italy. Work will also be launched to sort the local chronicles preserved at Sant’Ambrogio. On the international level, the Library will maintain stable participation in CENL - The Conference of European National Librarians and in IAML - International Association of Music Libraries, as well as consolidate scientific relations with national and international universities and cultural bodies, activating curricular internships and steadily growing scientific collaborations.
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| Florence National Library: the operational program for 2026 |
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