Geo-environmental and planetary sciences's library of Prato

Presentation of the library

The Seismological Observatory “San Domenico” was founded in 1930 with the aim of improving knowledge about the seismicity of the Prato area and, more generally, of the northern Tuscany. The data collected at the Observatory have been used immediately by those seismologists who first studied the characteristics of this part of the Apennines and for years this structure has been a meeting point for lovers of the Earth Sciences of the Province of Prato and the surrounding areas.

The new name “Geophysics Institute of Tuscany” coincided with a radical change in management, logistic and work of the Institute and with the start of new research projects in different branches of Earth Sciences and in the field of Civil Protection.

In 1998 was established a specialised Library in support of this research. The cataloguing is in progress – in a short time it has grown considerably collecting publications produced by Universities, national and foreign Institutes and Research groups. In particular the development of research in the field of Civil Protection and the need to create a stable reference point on national level for operators and researchers working in the territory management and the prevention and mitigation of natural hazards, led to the creation of a Documentation Centre of Civil Protection, managed by IGT with funding from the Region of Tuscany, where it is collected continuously specialized audiovisual and computer library materials.

Sections

The Documentation Centre of Civil Protection and Library are divided into six sections:

1. Book collection:
   The main part is formed by specialized texts of international result of the collaboration of leading scientific research groups which continually update the library with their works.
2. Specialized periodic magazines:
   There are many subscriptions for national and foreign magazines. In particular many of the magazines are sent to us from many various agencies and research institutes.
3. Extracts:
   Very high is the number of extracts of scientific papers published in national and international scientific journals form Italian and foreign researchers who periodically, upon request of on its won initiative, sent us their latest publications.
4. Theses and dissertations:
   At the Library IGT are deposited those of the various collaborators who attended the Institute and worked there; in addition, with the future establishment of a Degree Price, it will be expected a great number of theses concerning specialized areas of Earth Sciences.
5. Unpublished documentation:
   The library collects internal and unpublished reports of public and private bodies, Research groups and Institutes, individual professionals, as well as IGT documentation. This material can be consulted only on request and only with written permission by the authors.
6. Audio-visual, computer and online material (from internet):
   The Institute has already collected material and documentary illustrating the various topics relating to Civil defence and Earth Sciences and Planets. In addition, form time to time, is captured material on study, science and information themes from the website of the various national and international research institutes. On request can be supplied to the researchers and students the material of interest on paper or electronically published on the websites of various national or international organizations and institutions.

The online catalogue includes actually about 5.000 titles and it is available independently and also integrated into the collective catalogue of the documentary resources.