Braidense has only 2 librarians and is in danger of closing. Bradburne: we are abandoned

It is employee alert at the Braidense Library, the wonderful and historic library that stands next to the Brera Art Gallery. It was launched by Brera’s director, James Bradburne, during a press conference to present the Braidense’s upcoming initiatives. If, in fact, 145 employees worked in the Library in 2005, now there are only 33 left: one-fifth of the workers to manage a patrimony that, moreover, is growing and constantly enlarging (during the conference, Umberto Eco’s studiolo, donated to the Braidense, was also presented: there are 1,200 more books that replenish the institute’s patrimony). And of these 33 employees, only two are librarians. This is not a new alarm: back in February 2020 Bradburne pointed out a risk that is now becoming more and more concrete.

Libraries, Bradburne pointed out, are at risk of closure everywhere in Italy, and a particularly distressed situation is precisely in the libraries of the great state museums: not only the Braidense, but also the Reale in Turin, the Estense in Modena, and the Palatina Library in Parma. This is because of a very simple fact, denounced by Bradburne himself: libraries do not attract tourists, which museums do. Thus a double problem is created: on the one hand, libraries are systematically forgotten and neglected; on the other hand, all forces are concentrated on museums, which are, however, considered more as attractors for tourists than as research centers or principals for citizenship.

Now the Braidense, with only 33 employees including just 2 librarians, is in serious danger of closing. “We have been abandoned,” Bradburne said plainly. I can’t lament the crisis only of the Braidense, libraries everywhere in this country are threatened with closure,“ and it is ”too late for a Band-Aid response.“ What would it take? ”The autonomy to choose people through local competitions" and not national ones, for starters: autonomy in human resource management would already be a first step to fix some problems, according to Bradburne.

In the meantime, the Braidense’s activities continue, and despite the limited forces (the problem has already been pointed out to the Ministry of Culture, but Brera is under no illusions) a rich program of meetings, book presentations, exhibitions, and concerts has been presented for 2021-2022. Let’s take a look at some of the activities. On November 11 from 2:30 to 5 p.m. in Maria Teresa Hall there will be a conference sponsored by the Hundred Friends of Books Books , Readers, Thieves. The Protection of Book Heritage in Italy that will take stock of the situation of books and reading in Italy, including considerations on our artistic heritage. The following week will be the turn of Bookcity, an opportunity to profile the relationship with publishers with whom the Library and the Pinacoteca have had a collaborative relationship for years for the publication of books and catalogs. The first appointment will be on November 17 at 3 p.m. with publisher Scalpendi and the presentation of the volume I De Carretto. Power and artistic patronage of a noble dynasty between Liguria and Piedmont. Nov. 18 will be the turn of Book City for schools: from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. the library’s educational services, will take school students on a journey entitled “The Empress’ Library.” In the afternoon at 3:30 p.m., the volume The Adler Collection of Soviet Children’s Books 1930-1933 | Two Architects in the Land of the Soviets, edited by James M. Bradburne with Federica Rossi and John E. Bowlt, a catalog of more than 350 pages full of critical texts and with a vast sampling of images and all the covers of the books in the collection, evidence of a piece of Russia’s history after the October Revolution and the role of children’s illustration in Soviet culture.

On Nov. 19 at 11 a.m. Francesco Brioschi Editore will present the volume Nicole and the House of Books published under the Valentina Edizioni label, while on Nov. 26 at 3:30 p.m. Marsilio publisher will present the book Le Fantasie di Mario Mafai. All presentations will take place in Maria Teresa Hall. Another event combining art and literature will take place on Nov. 25 and will be the donation by Emilio Isgrò, known for his erasures, of the work Five May Erased to the Braidense Library. The work, which closes the year of celebrations in honor of Napoleon, is intended as a tribute to the Manzonian ode kept in the Library. Isgró’s Erasure will be on display until January 9, 2022 along with Manzoni’s Five Mays in the reading room at the Braidense Library. From Dec. 2 to Dec. 31, also in Sala Maria Teresa will take place Oggetto libro, an exhibition showcasing works by artists and designers who participated in the fourth edition of the international Oggetto Libro competition, the only exhibition in the world that compares design and artist’s books. The initiative, conceived in 2016 by Susanna Vallebona on the occasion of the XXI Milan Triennale, has creativity as its common denominator. The display of books, the designer’s and the artist’s design dialogues with each other with the intention of reading the differences and possible relationships between the two different creative approaches.

The 2022 programming will open on Jan. 27, with the exhibition The Art of War featuring volumes from the Braidense’s rich holdings of military architecture and the history of war. The exhibition will end on April 2, while from May 4 to July 7 there will be an exhibition dedicated to Umberto Eco’s The Idea of the Library developed with scholars from the Umberto Eco Center in Bologna, where Eco’s archive and modern books are located, together with the prestigious Warburg Institute in London, created by Aby Warburg. On the same day of the opening, Umberto Eco’s studiolo, next to Sala Manzoni, will be unveiled, housing the collection of rare books donated by Eco to the Braidense, in the same order as they were placed in his home in Milan. Finally, from Sept. 22 until Nov. 19, it will be the turn of the Steinberg exhibition up close, curated by expert Francesca Pelliciari, director of the Steinberg Foundation, Sheila Schwartz, and renowned scholar Mary Ann Caws.

Those who missed the Braidense Library’s exhibitions of the past months can catch up with them on the BreraPlus.org platform, where the new section, BreraTour, a special container dedicated not only to current exhibitions but also to past ones, has been inaugurated. In this section the subscriber will find guided tours of the Braidense Library exhibitions accompanied by the authoritative voices of the curators, insights and extra content. An invaluable resource that allows for a 24/7 museum and library experience. Exhibitions on Brera Plus: Marino Darsa. The Croatian Shakespeare; Napoleon’s Milan; Terrible Times. Beautiful Books. The Adler collection in Braidense. Coming soon online: Competition and sharing. The Arabic language and publishing as a meeting place from the 16th to the 18th century. Another well-established activity of the Braidense is concerts: on November 23, 2021, there will be a concert with music by Schoenberg, Webern, and Beethoven that will be visible, for subscribers, on the Brera Plus platform. Among the musical programs for 2022 on the calendar are also a new concert by Michael Nyman, a composer in residence at Brera since 2018, and a concert for families and children.

Braidense has only 2 librarians and is in danger of closing. Bradburne: we are abandoned

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