Archive and Library Theory and Management

Educational objectives

Introduction to contemporary cataloguing theory and presentation of the new Italian cataloguing code (REICAT), including problems of practical application in online systems. In the last part of the course, elements of indexing theory and introduction to the most-used subject indexing and classification systems.
At the end of the course the student:
A) will know the principles of cataloguing, the main cataloguing systems and the rules in use in Italian libraries,
B) will be able to apply the acquired knowledge to complete a catalogue record and discuss the choices made,
C) will be able to compare and evaluate alternative cataloguing solutions to choose the most appropriate one,
D) will be able to correctly communicate the process followed and the reasons for the choices made,
E) will develop the ability to learn from standards and rules and from the comparison among the solutions adopted by different libraries.

Educational objectives

The student, at the end of the course, will have a general knowledge of all the types of archives and will acquire the mastery of the various producers and of the different degrees of description. To achieve these objectives will be joined to the lectures also exercises and workshops specifically set up in order to enhance and promote the interests of the student (from archives containing ancient documentation to contemporary ones). During the lectures will be constantly monitored the level of interest and learning so that students can be called to intervene on the topics covered. At the end of the course the student, thanks also to the laboratory activities, will become aware of the main operations that can be carried out within the various archives.

Educational objectives

The course aims at developing the cognitive and methodological tools needed to deal with digital preservation.

Knowledge and understanding
The course provides the core knowledge on digital preservation. In particular, the course provides the knowledge on the principles, methods and tools needed for managing preservation in a digital environment coherently with standards and regulations. The course focuses on both the technical aspects (such as encoding, formats and media) and the theoretical/methodological profiles (including the digital objects' nature and the meaning of authenticity in the digital environment). The topics are investigated and illustrated not only in light of the principles and methods developed by the professional and scientific community, but also considering the relevant laws and standards, so as to develop the ability to understand the documentary phenomenon being aware of the relationships among the digital objects, the agents that operate on them during their lifecycle and the broad legislative and regulatory framework.

Applying knowledge and understanding
The course provides the ability to apply the knowledge needed to manage digital preservation of records and – more broadly – any digital resource. In particular, the detailed analysis of the relevant laws and standards is aimed at promoting the capacity for operational intervention in a real, practical context—the cultural heritage domain in the first place, and any other public or private domain in the second place, because digital preservation is needed in every sector of our societies. Based on the knowledge learned during the course, students will be able to:
• analyze the functional profile of a digital preservation system
• evaluate the consistency of a digital preservation system with the legislative and regulatory framework
• participate actively in digital preservation activities
• understand any future evolution of the regulatory framework and the digital preservation models developed by the Italian legislator
• understand any future evolution of the digital preservation models developed in an international context.

Making judgments
The course allows students to develop their own independent judgment in relation to digital preservation thanks to the direct comparison with the instructor and possibly with experts in the digital preservation area. The critical reading, analysis and discussion of diverse sources – including scientific literature, legislation and international standards – is aimed at encouraging students to deal with complexity and promoting the formation of autonomous judgments even if – and especially when – the evaluation elements are varied and inconsistent. Based on the knowledge learned during the course, students will be able to:
• identify the critical issues of a digital preservation system and/or strategy
• formulate their own assessment on specific aspects of a digital preservation system and/or strategy
• compare real cases with the national and international theoretical models.

Communication skills
The development of communication skills is stimulated through classroom discussion and possibly through participation in seminars, in order to stimulate students' ability to communicate effectively and deal with the dialectical confrontation with confidence.

Learning skills
The course promotes the development of self-learning skills by using various documentary sources (manuals, national legislation, technical standards, guidelines, formal models, etc.), both in Italian and in English, hence stimulating the students' capacity to adapt to diverse cultural contexts. The study of the fundamental concepts related to digital preservation and the attention to the methodological aspect allow the student to face with confidence a subsequent study of the subject in post-master courses.

Educational objectives

The course is a structured discussion of the issues and problems which are specific to the discipline of Documentation, internationally known as Information Theory or Digital Humanities. A special focus, both theorical and practical, will be dedicated to illustrating functions and policies of databases. Moreover, considering the history of Information Retrieval (since the Sixties) will give the opportunity to stress on the role of database as authoritative sources for the scholarly communication.
Books and articles of the pioneers of computer Science will also be read and analyzed. In fact, the “literary corpus” of Informatics must be revealed in all its cultural aspects.
First aim: Cultural history of information technology and communications (ITC). Comparison with other near disciplinary fields related to traditional institutions such as archives and libraries. (historical and critical approach)
Second aim: improving Information literacy. Digital libraries will be considered as the main focus of study, both in the perspective of a “general user” and, further on, to give the students the best potentiality for seeking a job in the area of digital curator or advanced librarian.
Third aim: enhance autonomous and critical capacities. Methodological approaches offered during the course: Structutralism, Cultural Studies, Comparative Studies.
Further expected results: an autonomous approach to the field of Digital libraries and digital heritage.
Google’s algorithm PageRank will be a case study particularly important. The success of Google both as a “narration” and as a “market strategy”, as well as a user-friendly and extremely efficient tool of retrieval, will give the opportunity of considering the disciplinary field of Documentation/Information Theory at every levels: from the practical-technical aspects to the professional ones. A second case study will be ACO the algorithm well known for the use in Amazon (“suggestions” for other books to buy). Starting from technical aspects of the algorithm itself, the students will be invited to consider cultural effects, mainly related to the risk of a monopolistic use of the book market.

Educational objectives

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims at developing the cognitive and methodological tools needed to deal with records management.

Knowledge and understanding

The course provides the core knowledge on creation and management of active and semi-active records. In particular, the course provides the basic knowledge needed for designing and maintaining a records management system, focusing on the following topics:
• registration
• classification
• filing
• management of records flow
• appraisal and selection
• methodological and operational tools for records management.

These topics are investigated and illustrated not only in light of the principles and methods developed by the scientific and professional community, but also considering the relevant laws and standards, so as to develop the ability to understand the documentary phenomenon being aware of the relationships among the documentary objects, the history and activity of the producer, and the legislative and regulatory framework.

Applying knowledge and understanding

The course provides the ability to apply the knowledge needed to manage active and semi-active records. In particular, the detailed analysis of the relevant laws and standards is aimed at promoting the capacity for operational intervention in a real, practical context. Based on the knowledge learned during the course, students will be able to:
• analyze the functional profile of a records system
• evaluate the consistency of a records system with the legislative and regulatory framework
• actively participate in records management activities
• understand any future evolution of the regulatory framework and the records management model developed by the Italian legislator.

Making judgments

The course allows students to develop their own independent judgment in relation to records management thanks to the direct comparison with the instructor and possibly with experts in the records management area. The critical reading, analysis and discussion of diverse sources – including scientific literature, legislation and international standards – is aimed at encouraging students to deal with complexity and promoting the formation of autonomous judgments even if – and especially when – the evaluation elements are varied and inconsistent. Based on the knowledge learned during the course, students will be able to:
• identify the critical issues of a records management system and/or strategy
• formulate their own assessment on specific aspects of a records management system and/or strategy
• compare real cases with the national and international theoretical models.

Communication skills

The development of communication skills is stimulated through classroom discussion and possibly through participation in seminars, in order to stimulate students’ ability to communicate effectively and deal with the dialectical confrontation with confidence.

Learning skills

The course promotes the development of self-learning skills by drawing on various documentary sources (manuals, national legislation, technical standards, guidelines, formal models, etc.), both in Italian and in English, hence stimulating the students' capacity to adapt to diverse cultural contexts. The study of the fundamental concepts related to records management and the attention to the methodological aspect allow the student to face with confidence a subsequent study of the subject in post-master courses.

Educational objectives

Trends in Publishing, Books market, Reading. Reading revolution: from paper-books to e-books.
The course aims to present the issues related to book production and sales, publishing industry, reading statistics, consequences of the digital revolution, and to provide students with the tools to know and understand the changes taking place in this context.

Educational objectives

The course aims to introduce the knowledge and understanding of any written document as a historical phenomenon (with a focus on ancient and medieval times) and of the methodological, critical-problematic and applicative aspects of the discipline as well as the fields of research pertinent to it. Through lectures, students will learn the main phases of the history of the document (public and private) and its production environments, and will learn the principles of chronology and sigillography. Furthermore, through classroom exercises, students will learn to recognize the different documentary typologies and will be able to identify their most typical forms; they will be able to identify and comment on significant parts or elements of a document, understanding its historical meaning and legal function; they will be able to check the date of a document and relate it to the modern calendar. At the end of the course, students will be able to independently deal with documentary sources from the medieval and modern ages and to deepen their knowledge on topics specific to the discipline, as well as to transmit their knowledge to specialist and non-specialist interlocutors.

Educational objectives

The course aims to provide students the essential lines of discipline in its articulation of ‘stricto sensu’ codicology and ‘lato sensu’ codicology in order to provide them the necessary tools for the study of the medieval manuscript as a material object and for its external and internal description. During interactive lessons, students will know how to recognize writing surfaces and writing tools according to their material characteristics; they will know how a quire and a manuscript book in its complexity are made; they will be able to draw up a catalogue data-sheet of a medieval manuscript.

Educational objectives

The course aims to provide students with a knowledge of the main developments of the history of book illumination in the West during the Middle Ages. It intends to offer an overview of illumination from paleochristian to gothic art, with special focus on style and iconography, on the context and on the techniques of production. Students will be introduced to methods to correctly understand the interconnection between patronage and the function of illuminated books. Among the forseen outcomes are the acquisition of the periodization used in this field and of the different types of illuminated books and their distinctive features.
During the course students will acquire the ability to recognize illuminated manuscripts pertaining to the contexts considered in the module, to identify the main types of illuminated books and to analyze illumination using the specific terminology. This expected outcome will be the consequence of the interaction between the knowledge taught during the course and the further reading suggestions which will be provided in class.
During the classes and the study visits time will be dedicated to seminarial activities, during which the students will be encouraged to actively take part and excercise in commenting and interpreting the analyzed images.
During the course suggestions for further reading will be systematically provided to enable students to gain an autonomous in-depth knowledge of the issues discussed during classes.

Educational objectives

The main aim of the course is to provide students with adequate knowledge of the historical process that led to the establishment of international and European institutions. A longue durée approach will be adopted to analyze the cultural categories and concepts that mostly influenced the birth and shaping of contemporary international society. In particular, the course will focus on the turn from the old multinational empires to the following development of national states and the definition of a new international context, based on the institutionalization of cooperation through organizations such as the League of Nations, the United Nations and the European Union. Special attention will be devoted to some specific humanitarian aspects (minority rights, refugees, human rights, international law).
The students will be driven through a program aimed to encourage personal contributions and a specific work on documentary sources, which will be illustrated (even through the consultation of digital archives) and used by the students themselves for their personal research. Students will thus be asked to prove their knowledge of the issues analyzed during the course and to show a sufficient level of maturity to reflect and elaborate on these concepts.

Educational objectives

The course aims to provide the tools to understand the history of public administration, especially in relation to bibliographic and archival sources.
At the end of this course the student will have acquired:
1) advanced knowledge of the history of Italian public administration and of some significant foreign experiences, as well as the related archival and bibliographic sources;
2) ability to critically analyze the problems related to the public administration from the historical and institutional point of view, having dealt with the most recent historiography;
3) ability to independently interrogate bibliographical and archival sources in relation to various issues in the history of public administration.

Educational objectives

The course aims to train the professionalism of young archivists and librarians by providing them with specialized knowledge of the political and cultural conditions that led to the formation of state and ecclesiastical archives between the late Middle Ages and the early modern age. While pointing out the existence of other types of archiving of a corporate or family nature, the course presents the political history of large modern archives in the intertwining of writing practices of chancellors and secretaries and exercise of power over the territory. Particular attention will also be paid to the role of the archive in modern historiography.

Educational objectives

The course aims to provide students an advanced understanding and a more comprehensive and detailed knowledge on the subject of diplomatic record in Late antiquity and Middle age, with the necessary tools to interpret them in a critical view. During interactive lessons, students will acquire the ability to recognize the diplomatic forms, legal functions and value of the record in relation to the legal system of the production time. By the end of the course, they will be able to analyze in a critical way each type of diplomatic record, regardless of the historical and legal context in which it was produced.

Educational objectives

The main objective of the course is to provide knowledge and skills on research methods and analytical techniques in the field of physical sciences applied to the study of archival and book heritage. Specifically, the main imaging and spectroscopic techniques used for the investigation of the constituent materials and manufacturing techniques of ancient manuscripts and printed books will be treated, as well as the physical principles underlying their functioning. The knowledge of the topics will be acquired through lectures, reading of scientific articles, analysis of case studies. At the end of the course, students will acquire necessary tools for: draw up an investigation project, identifying the appropriate analytical methodologies, with particular reference to the non-invasive and in situ usable techniques; critically analyse the instrumental data, also in the light of knowledges acquired in other classes of the degree course.

Educational objectives

Introduction to the general history of libraries and methodological problems. Analysis of special problems and topics of contemporary library history with reference to primary sources (public and private sources, textual and non-textual sources).
At the end of the course the student:
A) will know the evolution of libraries, especially in the contemporary age and with special attention to Italian libraries,
B) will be able to discuss the main issues of library policy and organization considered in the course,
C) will be able to compare and evaluate actions and solutions taken into consideration during the course,
D) will be able to correctly communicate his knowledge and reflections on the topics considered,
E) will develop the ability to learn from texts, to know the different types of sources and to examine and interpret the sources used.

Educational objectives

The course aims to illustrate the production and structure of the typographic printing book as well as its evolution from the origins to the twentieth century. At the end of the course, the student will be able to critically evaluete each type of typographic book and to describe it according to the standards of the analytical bibliography.

Educational objectives

The course aims to provide the essential concepts relating to the history of bibliography as a discipline, the compilation and use of bibliographic repertoires and its applications in historical perspective and in the contemporary age. The student will be able to know the disciplinary development of the Bibliography and the protagonists of this story, will be able to navigate the main bibliographic tools, will know the descriptive models of the printed book and the elements present in the bibliographic descriptions, will equip himself with tools to prepare a bibliography reference for their studies.

Educational objectives

The course aims at developing students' awareness of the main theoretical and methodological issues in the preservation and promotion of the historical archival heritage. It is also intended to provide knowledge on the creation and preservation processes of historical archives, and to how the concept of promotion of such archives is evolving. Reference will be made, as well, to the specific needs deriving from the increasingly widespread use of information technologies, and of the Internet as the first access point to archival records of historical interest. Students will develop, through the attendance of lectures and the writing of papers, the critical and practical skills necessary to approach issues related to the preservation and promotion of historical archival heritage from the point of view of international debate, in comparative perspective with related disciplines, and of challenges posed by evolving technologies.

Educational objectives

The aim of the course is to provide a historical analysis of the printed book, starting from the first oriental proofs of the use of movable typefaces and from Gutenberg's invention to the birth of modern publishing. The printed book, and its versatile identity as a communication medium, is studied in relation to the social, economic and cultural context of its production and is related to the entrepreneurial organization of printing centers and production systems of the early modern age.
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:
- illustrate the historical development of the printed book;
- frame the history of the printed book in relation to its social and cultural context;
- know how to critically analyze the economic phases of its production in relation to the book trade, promotional policies and collecting;
- know how to evaluate the relationship between the history of ideas and the book as a medium for the transmission of knowledge.

Educational objectives

General goals:
--------------
Present and practice the main IT tools, theoretical and practical, for the management, storage and sharing of information in the humanities. More precisely, the goal is to introduce the main languages for data management and text markup.

Specific goals:
---------------
Create, manage and query relational databases. Define and interpret both markup languages and marked-up texts.

Knowledge and understanding:
----------------------------
Knowledge of the relational model for data representation, the use of relational database management systems and languages for interacting with relational databases. Understand the meaning of metadata and markup. Knowledge of the XML meta-language.

Apply knowledge and understanding:
----------------------------------
Being able to create relational databases, knowing how to query and manipulate databases using the SQL language.
Being able to create and interpret an XML-based markup language to represent texts and their metadata.

Critical and judgment skills:
------------------------------
Being able to evaluate the correctness and completeness of a database schema.
Knowing how to evaluate the correctness and completeness of both a markup language and marked-up text.

Communication skills:
---------------------
Being able to describe the choices made in managing a database, from its creation to its manipulation and querying. Being able to describe the choices made in marking texts.

Learning ability
--------------------------
The design activities carried out during the course will stimulate the student to autonomously study some topics presented in the course.

Educational objectives

The course aims to provide students with an overview of current legislation in the field of libraries and archives. At the end of the course, students will know and will be able to use and critically interpret the legislation of Italian State, with particular reference to the Codice dei beni culturali e del paesaggio (Code of cultural heritage and landscape), the legislation of the Italian regions, the most important international and european provisions.

Educational objectives

The students will learn the scientific principles and the methodologies of Information Science concerning the organization and the dissemination of information and knowledge recorded in documents, in digital ambient too, with the aim of allowing the fruition. Major expected learning outcomes are dealing with the knowledge of methods and tools to searching bibliographical information and digital objects on the Web. The main part of the course will be devoted to present and discuss the contents of Information Science, basically considering the theoretical and critical view of the topics and improving the critical abilities of the students in that field. The remaining lessons will be devoted to practical exercises online.

Expected learning outcomes:
A. Knowledge and understanding.
- To acquire knowledge and understanding about the methodologies and practical activities that are component parts of Information Science: in particular, the traditional Information Retrieval and its use in the OPACs research functionalities, for example, Relevance ranking.
- To acquire knowledge and understanding about the fundamentals of Bibliometrics, and in particular about the Citation Analysis as research strategy by the way of citations.
- To acquire knowledge about the most significant digital libraries, traditional and innovative, about searching functionalities and problems concerning the author’s rights. To learn and understand the Dublin Core Metadata and the MAG (ICCU) Metadata, as tools for describing and retrieving digital objects.
- To learn and understand the basic knowledge about the transformation of the traditional Web into the Semantic Web. To learn and understand the characteristics and functions of the RDF data model for the description of entities on the Web, the fundamental characteristic of the OWL language and the ontologies as tools for semantic interoperability.
- To acquire knowledge and understanding about the Linked open data in the bibliographical field as a strategy for the construction of the Semantic Web, and the use of ontologies in this context.
B. Applying knowledge and understanding.
- At the end of the course the students will be able to use with full knowledge the functionalities of the new OPACs and of bibliographic databases; to use the Web of Science so as to make bibliographical searching by the way of citations; to orientate themselves in the Semantic Web, in the use of ontologies and in particular in the understanding of Linked open data in the bibliographic field. During the course, the students will use the international literature of the field in English.
C. Making judgments.
- Thanks to the practical exercises, the students will be able to evaluate the strength and shortcomings of the use of semantic technologies in the bibliographical field. The students will also be able to orientate themselves in evaluating the new tools offered to the librarians. Using the acquired knowledge, the students will be able to expand autonomously in the future the topics of the course.

Educational objectives

The course examines the history of European legal systems, legal thought and legal institutions from early Middle Ages to the codifications of the 19th century.
Knowledge and understanding:
The purpose of the course is to give students an adequate knowledge of the main issues related to the history of European law, focusing on the connections between legal history and political, social and economic history.
Applying knowledge and understanding:
The course is also aimed to give students adequate tools to interpret and contextualize medieval and modern age legal sources.
Making judgments:
The course aims to help students develop their critical skills. The expected result is that they are able to assess the sources of law in various stages of European legal history in a problematic way.
Communication skills:
At the end of the course students are expected to have acquired an adequate ability to communicate information, notions and concepts pertaining to the discipline, also through the use of a correct legal language.
Learning skills:
At the end of the course the expected result is that the students are able to continue independently in the study of the discipline and in updating what they have learned and that they are able to acquire new skills through the use of bibliographic and documentary sources, also in order to undertake further training paths.

Educational objectives

The purpose of the course is to provide the appropriate tools to understand the history of political institutions, and in particular the history of justice, especially in relation to the specific sources of the discipline both bibliographic and archival. New research perspectives will also be presented, as well as the plurality and diversity of interest fields within which disciplinary skills can be applied.
At the end of the course the student will possess:
1) a broad and in-depth knowledge of the history of justice from a historical-institutional point of view and of some significant foreign experiences, as well as of relevant archival and bibliographical sources;
2) the ability to critically analyze problems related to the subject from the historical-institutional perspective, having been confronted with the most recent historiography;
3) the ability to autonomously interrogate bibliographic and archival sources in relation to various themes in the history of political institutions.

Educational objectives

Students must develop a critical approach to the text and the translated text to be translated by analyzing the different strategies available to the translator, the effect on the player's chosen strategy and its alternatives. At the end of the module, students should be able to translate a wide range of text types (mainly from English into Italian), the
translation with a commentary accompagnado theoretical / technical English.

Educational objectives

After completing the course the student will possess a basic understanding of the history of medieval Latin and history of the medieval Latin literature
The lectures and exercises conducted by the teacher on the authors and literary genres of medieval Latin will allow the student to identify the linguistic and lexical peculiarities of a medieval Latin texts.
The bibliographic exercises, the examination of medieval Latin dictionaries and the presentation of the data-banks of the discipline will allow the student to orientate himself critically and indipendently in the study of an author and a medieval Latin text.

Educational objectives

A) Students will know the scientific literature on the topics dealt with and will be able to comment on it critically;
B) they will be able to formulate linguistic hypotheses on the basis of the acquired analytical concepts and tools;
C) they will be able to integrate their new knowledge with the previous ones in order to face the theoretical and practical complexity of acquired concepts;
D) they also will manage to communicate knowledge interloquendo with specialists of linguistic studies and non-specialists.
E) They will lastly be able to study self-managed or autonomous topics proposed during the course and will be encouraged to cultivate their own scientific interests independently.

Educational objectives

The module aims to give a grounding in research methods applied to the history of the Italian language, by guiding students through the investigation of a chosen topic. At the end of the course students should be able to demonstrate: a) an ability to work with a reasonable degree of independence on topics relating to Italian linguistic history; b) an ability to use bibliography appropriately; c) an ability to convey the results of their research in presentations, essays or any other means of discussion and transmission.

Educational objectives

The main objective of the course module is the acquisition by the student of critical knowledge and skills, as well as a method of study, such as to enable him to analyze and interpret a literary text in complete autonomy. In particular, during the lessons, some thematic groups will be identified and discussed in relation to Dante's poetics and literary ideology, and the critical and philological tools will be provided for the exegesis of the texts covered by the program. The planned individual and group exercises will be the necessary educational and training complement to test the critical skills acquired by the student; to verify the quality of his method of study and his aptitude for research; to correct and refine his communication and argumentative skills; to guide him in the selection and realization of a critical bibliography.

Educational objectives

The course
- provides the student with knowledge and understanding of the methodological, critical-problematic and applied aspects of the Discipline proposes areal and sectorial perspectives in which research projects relevant to the Discipline are active or can be activated; shows the variability of the fields of interest within which disciplinary skills can be applied (descriptor 1);
- develops the student's autonomous ability to relate what has been learned to other SSDs: historical, literary, , artistic, cultural heritage, economic, political, historical-religious, etc. (descriptor 2);
- enables the student to use the knowledge acquired and the specific language learned for so-called "transversal skills" (autonomy of judgment, communication skills, descriptors 3-5).

Educational objectives

After completing the course the student will have acquired a basic knowledge for the study of the history of medieval Latin philology and the transmission of medieval Latin texts.
The exercises on the bibliography of the discipline and on the main consultation tools will allow the student to orient himself in carrying out a research applied to the study of the medieval Latin manuscript tradition.
The theoretical lessons will allow the student to orient himself in autonomy in the critical study of a medieval Latin text.