Abstract

Theoretically, Italy has nine national libraries, although there are two «central» national libraries in Florence and Rome. Too great a number, as all states in the world maintain only one national library with a view of a) collecting by legal deposit the national publishing output and b) compiling the national bibliography. More than one million euros are wasted yearly because of task overlapping and the duplication of structures and services provided by the two national libraries. Unifying them would provide a remedy to a technical and professional anomaly. It would also contribute to the efficiency, the mission and the authoritativeness of the now incoherent and loose Italian library system.