International appeal to Minister Bonisoli to save Florence's National Central Library, at risk of closure

In the past few hours an international appeal, signed by ninety scholars from all over the world, has been launched to save the National Central Library of Florence, which is in danger of closing due to lack of staff, as we reported in the pages of our newspaper a few days ago. The appeal, promoted by the Association of Readers of the BNCF, is addressed to the Minister of Cultural Heritage Alberto Bonisoli, who has already responded(yesterday, during the hearing before the Culture Committees of the combined House and Senate), declaring that the library’s situation is a recurring one, that hiring is necessary, and that it is his intention to hold a competition for two thousand positions in 2019. And other resources, according to the minister, may come from the mobility of personnel from the Ministry of Education.

Below we publish the full text of the letter and the list of signatories.

Dear Minister Bonisoli,

the National Central Library of Florence, Italy’s most important library and one of the most important in the world, is at risk of closure due to a lack of staff and resources adequate to its function. The news cannot leave indifferent the world of culture and all citizens who identify culture as one of the founding elements of our democracy.

We greatly appreciate your commitment to proceed with an extraordinary recruitment plan in the cultural heritage sector.

In the specific case of the National Central Library of Florence, it is necessary to point out that due to the long freeze on competitions and recruitment, for the past 20 years the prestigious Library has survived thanks to the use of voluntary and para-voluntary forms that have in fact surrogated the work of librarians. The 5 librarians assigned to the BNCF in the latest competition announced by Minister Franceschini are unfortunately unable to fill the chasm that has opened in the staff roles. In 2020, the BNCF will be able to count on only 10 library officers: there were 30 at the beginning of 2018, and the staffing level would provide for 42.

To cope with the shrinking workforce (and pandering to the general trend that has targeted the entire workforce), there has been an increasing use of outsourcing, which over the years has involved increasingly skilled tasks. Assignments have been given to cooperatives whose members are highly qualified and have accrued significant expertise, who are offered no prospect of stabilization.

All this constitutes a waste of public resources, i.e., of the money invested by the state in the training of professionals who are not offered real job opportunities (stability, fair salary, growth and career prospects). Added to this is the waste of energy and skills that contrasts with the wealth of cultural heritage, made up of libraries and archives, to be made available to citizens and that today would need up-to-date professionals capable of bringing innovative ideas to the field of protection, preservation, and services to the public.

Unless action is taken in a timely manner and with medium/long-term planning, this set of circumstances will lead to the closure of the National Central Library of Florence in a short time.

The national libraries of other European countries can count on far greater financial and human resources, while the wealth of book and documentary heritage seems to resolve itself in Italy into an annoying encumbrance.

Minister Bonisoli, we turn to you with this appeal to ask that you proceed quickly to announce competitions on a regular basis, for qualified permanent staff. This is a necessary investment to save a priceless heritage and make it usable in a dignified manner for today’s and future generations.

Florence, July 13, 2018

Signed by: Adriano Prosperi, Salvatore Settis, Paul Ginsborg, Mauro Guerrini, Giovanni Solimine, Chiara Frugoni, Tomaso Montanari, Paolo Maddalena, Maurizio Sangalli, Maurizio Viroli, Carlo Ginzburg, Massimo Bray, Vittorio Emiliani, Emanuela Scribano, John Dickie, Arnaldo Bruni, Marcello De Angelis, Sandro Bellesi, Battista Sangineto, Daniele Menozzi, Franca Arduini, Gian Biagio Conte, Richard Ingersoll, Antony Molho, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Lucy Riall, Corrado Viola, Thomas Wallnig, Serge Noiret, Sandra Bonsanti, María Las Nieves Muñiz Muñiz, Roberto Leporatti, Simone Albonico,, Jean-Jacques Marchand, Niccolò Scaffai, Pina Ragionieri, Giulio Ferroni, Francesco Benigno, Margaret Haines, Luca Serianni, Stefania Stefanelli, David Peterson, Stephane Vandamme, Andrea Giardina, Françoise Waquet, Ludovica Sebregondi, Andrea Kerbaker, Benedetta Tobagi, Pietro Beltrami, Davide Conrieri, Stefania Buccini, Franco Montanari, Jonathan K.Nelson, Filippomaria Pontani, Luciano Canfora, Lino Leonardi, Alessandro Barbero, Bernardo Gianni, Lino Pertile, Gino Roncaglia, Angelo d’Orsi, Hanna Malone, Bastian Matteo Scianna, Charles Leavitt, Gabriella M.Romano, Jennifer S Griffiths, Ezio Franceschini Foundation, Maria Gabriella Tigani Sava, Mark Chu, Nicolas Virtue, Stanislao Pugliese, Robert Gordon, Kate Ferris, Claudio Giunta, Perry Wilson, Paul Corner, Marcello Verga, Jean Boutier, Elisabetta Cassina Wolff, Christian Goeschel, Markus Blaser, Enzo Neppi, Luca Danzi, Anna Scattigno, Michelle Clarabut, Luca Fonnesu, Maurizio Torrini, Franco Contorbia, Giovanni Bardazzi, Guglielmo Barucci, Luca Frassineti, Cristina Zampese, Walter Lapini, Massimiliano Rossi, Ilaria Porciani, James Hankins, Maria Predelli, Claudio Marazzini

Image: Reading room of the National Central Library of Florence. Credit

International appeal to Minister Bonisoli to save Florence's National Central Library, at risk of closure

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