The Italian Digital Library and The Cultural Tourist Network (BDI&NTC)

 

In 2003, the Committee of Ministers on the Information Society (CMSI) funded a series of highly innovative strategic projects of primary national interest considered as fundamental for the development of the IT sector and the automation of public services at national level, Among them the Italian Digital Library and Cultural Tourism Network project proposed by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities.

The project proposal, put together by the General Directorate for Libraries, Cultural Institutes and Copyright and by ICCU as well, was deemed to be of primary national interest as it sets up the technological, methodological and organizational foundations in order to ensure the evolution of the National Library Service, from being a  framework providing catalogue and research services to becoming a framework creating and disseminating new online knowledge tools. The project integrates into a single portal the SBN collective catalogue and the databases of the 16th century Italian editions, historical catalogues, manuscripts and publishing houses with the results of the digitisation activities promoted by the Italian Digital Library (BDI) Steering Committee. Following the guidelines of the Lund Action Plan, drafted by a team of experts on digitisation from various European countries, the Committee steers, coordinates and funds programmes related to the Italian institutions digitisation projects of cultural and scientific contents and establishes national standards and guidelines.

Among the project numerous goals, some are of particular importance:

  1. Defining standards and methodologies concerning:
    • Coordination of digitisation activities
    • Description and use of digital documents in accordance with the standards adopted by the National Library Services and in keeping with the directives of the Italian Digital Library
    • The portal platforms, applications and communication infrastructure
    • The management of the portal editorial contents through the use of a Content Management System (CMS) 
  2. Transferring of collections and documents in digital format, in order to enhance and promote Italy’s cultural heritage through:
    • The establishment of various digital display cases in the Italian cultural institutions preserving  and managing digital documents (images, electronic text and hypertext documents, sound recordings, videos, etc.)
    • The establishment of cultural tourism itineraries
    • The creation of new itineraries able to help tourists get to new places, institutions, documents and objects of great value, which Italy is particularly  rich in.
  3. Providing citizens with new and highly evolved tools enabling online access to Italy’s cultural and scientific heritage through:
    • The establishment of the Internet Culturale portal, which is devoted to culture and to the territory promotion
  4. Developing online commercial services through:
    • Integration with the banking system
    • Credit cards management
    • Definition of pricing and sales policies
    • Online verification of economic transactions
    • electronic allocation of income.
In February 2005 the Committee of Ministers on the Information Society (CMSI) approved the second stage of the Development of the Italian Digital Library and Cultural Tourism Network project that aims to consolidate the existing technological infrastructure and to increase and integrate the functional architecture of the new digital display case system. In particular, several digital display cases will be built up for the preservation of digital documents related to Italy’s musical heritage, and new cultural itineraries, new thematic areas and new technological instruments will be realized.