Personal funds as traces of use, ties and memories: notes from the international conference “Il privilegio della parola scritta: gestione, conservazione e valorizzazione di carte e libri di persona” (University of Salerno, 10-12 April 2019)

Abstract

The paper presents the contents of the international conference “The privilege of the written word: management, conservation and enhancement of personal papers and books”, held at the University of Salerno on April 10- 12th, 2019, coordinated by Giovanni Di Domenico (University of Salerno) and Fiammetta Sabba (University of Bologna). Representatives of library and archive professional and scientific communities confronted (thanks also to other European countries authoritative experts) and discussed about conservation, management and enhancement (more and more in the digital environment) of personal archives and libraries from the late nineteenth and twentieth century, hybrid funds and collections which preserve many types of documents and which testify the intellectual activity of leading figures of culture, professions and arts. At the end of the conference, the Guidelines on the treatment of personal funds, edited by the National Commission of special libraries, personal archives and libraries of the Italian Library Association, were presented and discussed; this was an opportunity to deepen the topics addressed by reports, with the final wish to use the confrontation as a starting point to realize ideas and suggestions.