History
The Library of the Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology – Plant Biology Section has had this name since 2012, when the new Department was established. Its origins date back to around 1840, when it was founded as the library of the Botanical Garden. It later became the library of the University’s Botanical Institute and, from 1982 to 2011, of the Department of Plant Biology. For further information see: Guolo, M., “Biblioteca di Biologia vegetale”, in La Facoltà di Scienze matematiche fisiche naturali di Torino 1848–1998. Vol. 1: Ricerca insegnamento collezioni scientifiche (edited by C. S. Roero), pp. 353–360. Turin: Deputazione subalpina di storia patria, 1999.
The Library’s holdings include approximately 35,000 books and booklets and 1,808 journal collections, 62 of which are currently subscribed to. The collections include a significant number of rare and valuable works from the pre-Linnaean period and the early period of Linnaean influence (16th–18th century editions), which form the Library’s historical collection. The Library also holds important collections of 19th-century publications, particularly in the fields of mycology and systematic botany.
A particularly valuable and unique resource is the Iconographia Taurinensis, which has no equivalent in other Italian collections, both from an artistic and a documentary point of view. Consisting of 64 volumes, it includes 7,640 illustrated plates, produced using a mixed pencil and watercolor technique at the Botanical Institute of Turin between 1752 and 1868. For further information see: Chiapusso Voli, I., “Appunti intorno alla ‘Iconographia Taurinensis’ 1752–1868”, in Malpighia, year 18, vol. 18 (1904), pp. 293–343.
Although the Library provides bibliographic documentation covering a much wider chronological and thematic range, its collections represent an essential source particularly for regional floristics, mycology, and biological electron microscopy, making it one of the most significant specialist collections in the field of botany among comparable institutions in Italy.
In recent years the Library has had to face the gradual reduction in the purchasing power of its budget, a trend that has unfortunately become constant. At the same time, it has continued to focus on improving its key services, promoting access to scientific literature through participation in the NILDE network, and improving access to information through the creation of bibliographies—most notably the Bibliografia botanica del Piemonte e della Valle d’Aosta (BBPAO), an essential resource for regional floristic and vegetation studies.
Centralised policies for the acquisition of electronic journals, membership in a wide network of academic, university and research libraries, and the development of close collaborations with these institutions support the Library in pursuing these objectives.
