In international university rankings, the value of academic libraries is not highlighted, but if it were so, the University Library System of Padua would most likely obtain an excellent placement.
Libraries
The annual report of the Library System for 2023 paints a picture of a vital and rapidly growing reality, both in terms of the services provided and their appreciation by users. The idea that Libraries as physical spaces and paper collections are increasingly less useful resources in a modern digital environment appears to be denied by the usage behavior of students and teachers, who have made more than a million accesses to what are not just study places but increasingly real learning spaces, equipped, comfortable, provided with the assistance of qualified personnel and open in some cases until 11 pm and on weekends. An increasing demand that has also seen the offer expand: the number of reading places has increased to 2,669, with approximately 270 more places than the previous year.
And give
The volume collection has risen to more than 2.3 million copies (equal to approximately 88 km of shelves) and the number of loans has reached 156,766, +12% compared to 2022. Beyond the numbers, this testifies to the persistence of a need for reading and qualified information that only academic libraries can satisfy. The digital library services have seen an even greater increase: approximately 750,000 e-books and electronic periodicals have been made available, 41 new databases have been acquired and new documents have been digitized on the Phadra platform. University users now have a total of 1.3 million digital resources at their disposal, which they have shown they know how to use extensively, with the download of approximately 3.3 million articles.
University
In 2023, new spaces were also inaugurated: the new Pinali-Marsili Historical Library of Medicine and Botany, the completely renovated Mathematics Library and the new reading rooms of the Physics Library. Other works are underway to improve the learning spaces available to readers. “The evolution of the reading needs of researchers and students requires increasingly constant and qualified support – says Monica Salvadori, vice-rector of the University Library System -. This is why we have decided to continue investing in library services, both physical and digital. In the coming years, our strategic direction will be to strengthen support for teaching and research and make the expertise of academic librarians available to citizens in the pursuit of the Third Mission”.
