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The article will discuss the library digital lending of e-books according to three points of view: as a part of the library seen as platform of knowledge, as a way of reading, as a way to circulate books and promote reading. It will examine the technological and distributive aspects of digital lending and those connected to it, together with the relational aspects related to digital reading and digital lending. We are going to focus on the concepts of disintermediation (and new mediation) and digital platform; then on the concept of library as a platform and on the paradigm of social librarianship, that is essential for interpreting the phenomena in depth. After that, the focus will be on some aspects concerning the new book system, increasingly marked by the integration between the physical and digital dimensions. The core part of the article is entirely dedicated to digital lending. In particular, it highlights the connection between the features of the service and the various aspects concerning the digital lending platform, the digital publishing and the libraries. Thanks to the social librarianship approach, it is also possible to enhance the digital lending relational aspects linked to the perceptions of librarians and the needs of library patrons. Therefore, we must analyze the digital lending service from different points of view, paying particular attention to the way the library patrons use the service and the vision of librarians. All these aspects are fundamental for the development of a new library service in constant evolution such as the digital lending service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper proposes some considerations related to the contents of Chiara Faggiolani’s book Come un ministro per la cultura: Giulio Einaudi e le biblioteche nel sistema del libro (2020), dedicated to Giulio Einaudi’s intellectual and editorial personality, and focusing on the relationship between the ‘Dogliani project’ and the different environments of the Italian ‘book system’ of the early 1960s. The project, accomplished with the inauguration of the Luigi Einaudi Library in 1963, highlights the attempt to organically integrate architectural space, library collections and service management. What triggered this integration was Giulio Einaudi’s vision, shaped by his father’s passion for books and by the charisma and extraordinary intelligence of the members of the group called the ‘einaudiani’, who were the protagonists of the cultural season of a country, Italy, that was struggling to come to terms with massive cultural, economic, political and social transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If the road towards a progressive dematerialization of the administrative document is marked, the legislator is not always proceeding in a coherent, clear or complete way. The line of reasoning needs to be focused on the administration of documental heritage, training and preservation rather than on technological issues, involving actively local administration and taking on responsibilities on decisions, also on the relationship between costs and benefits. The way is hard due to the lack of debate and practical directions, where the preservation should not be considered as a commanding confirmation, but as an occasion to face complex and critical issues.

If the path towards a progressive dematerialization of the administrative document is marked, the legislator is not always proceeding in a coherent, clear or complete way. The line of reasoning needs to be focused on the administration of documental heritage, training and preservation rather than on technological issues, involving actively local administration and taking on responsibilities on decisions, also on the relationship between costs and benefits. The way is hard due to the lack of debate and practical directions, where the preservation should not be considered as a commanding confirmation, but as an occasion to face complex and critical issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]