Study group for the cataloguing of proclamations, broadsides and single-sheet publications

The need to make available everything in our heritage has been perceived for a long time. This brings attention toward the cultural heritage that has been neglected for too long, such as Proclamations, Broadsides and Single-sheet Publications.

Many libraries possess large quantities of such materials preserving them in boxes, binding them in volumes or distributing them through other sources. The interest in these materials is great, particularly in maintaining the historical memory contained within. Unfortunately, the lack of cataloguing treatment has often rendered these materials unusable as census, cataloguing projects and the re-cataloguing of antique book collections have revealed.

For these reasons, on behalf of the ICCU, the Study Group for the Cataloguing of Proclamations, Broadsides and Single-sheet Publications which is formed by experts from various librarian institutes of Rome was established. The objectives being to elaborate centralized descriptive model that while referring to the standards already in use for monographs, would keep the specificity of these materials in mind. In 1999, this group produced the Proclamations, Broadsides and Single-sheet Publications Cataloguing Guide publication which constitutes the current reference rules and regulations which are available through the ICCU.

The Guide is composed of two volumes:

• Volume I: divided into three parts and comprises the instructions pertaining to the bibliographic description, locating access to information and the guidelines to cataloguing these materials in the National Library Service.
• Volume II: dedicated to the presentation of examples with the reproduction of 111 documents, most of which are in the possession of the Roman libraries and supplied by their respective cataloguing records.