To Each Monk His Book: Providing Access Through Collection Organization at Norcia' s New Library

摘要

The authors discuss their experience in organizing a library for a community of Benedictine monks in central Italy. An initial assessment of the monastery's resources suggested that both global and immediate access to bibliographic records was feasible and that the librarians could begin cataloging offsite. Decisions about classification schemes and software were made with sensitivity to the international makeup of the community, historical and national library practices, financial limitations, and perceived computer literacy within the community. Unanticipated problems emerged with respect to classification, human resources, time lags and distances, yet overall access to the collection has been enhanced by addressing these problems.