Collaboration, Cooperation, and Community: Itale and SBN

Abstract

The article retraces the history and evolution of the collaboration between ITALE, the Italian community of Ex Libris users, and the National Library Service (SBN), focusing on ITALE’s role in promoting cooperation among library institutions. It outlines the main stages of the technical and institutional dialogue with ICCU, aimed at ensuring interoperability between library management systems (initially Aleph, later Alma) and the SBN infrastructure. Special attention is given to the challenges posed by the management of the UNIMARC format and its relationship with the SBN-MARC protocol, as well as to the role of ITALE working groups in providing technical support and negotiating with Ex Libris. In the final section, the article explores future perspectives, particularly the introduction of Linked Open Data and the evolution of the UNIMARC format, identifying the synergy between ITALE and ICCU as a crucial element in guiding the Italian library community toward new descriptive paradigms and greater international visibility of bibliographic data.