South Tyrol is an old cultural landscape with numerous abbeys, parishes, castles and mansions in which comprehensive historical libraries are hidden. While the organisation of modern book collections is covered by provincial institutions, historical collections still need to be indexed. For this reason, in 1997, the Stiftung Südtiroler Sparkasse [South Tyrol Savings Bank Foundation] decided in favour of the long term support of the EHB project.
The Indexing
Within the terms of this project historical book collections are scientifically catalogued and the recorded data is made available for research purposes. This means; one of the historic book collections in South Tyrolean libraries indexed by a specialist librarian. The recorded data is then available on Internet OPAC. The history, emphasis of the collection and specific “gems” will be described in the “Handbuch der historischen Buchbestände in Südtirol” [Handbook of Historic Book Collections in South Tyrol]. These descriptions are extensions to the online catalogue and form a whole by means of which the historical library landscape is visible again.
