Reading

Reading rooms

How to request items registered in the Online catalogue

How to request items not registered in the Online catalogue

Digitised materials

Microfilmed materials

Materials stored in off-site stacks

Materials available in off-site departments

Unavailable materials

Opening times

Reading rooms

The library provides 120 seats in four reading rooms::

Reading room, 60 seats, free access
Research reading room, 40 seats, 15,000 free-access volumes, access by appointment of the Director
Manuscripts reading room (Sala Manzoniana), for the study of manuscripts, rare books, Ricordi historical archives
Microfilm reading room, with equipment for reading and printing items in microfilm

Readers may request up to 8 items (5 in the morning, 3 in the afternoon, after 13.30.

Items are read in the Reading rooms, where they must be returned or left in deposit, and where readers may ask the authorisation for photoduplication.

How to request items registered in the Online catalogue

1. locate the work in the Online catalogue and fully display the desired title
2. click on ask services in the column Services
3. fill the form Identificazione Utente as follows:
• Codice Utente: type NB followed by the number of your reader's or loan card
• type the passwork
• click on OK
4. click on the desired service:
• lettura sala pubblica / sala di consultazione (reading in the Reading room / in the Research reading room)
• prestito materiale a magazzino (loan)
5. click on inserisci richiesta (send request), adding in the nota utente (user's note) possible communications
6. the procedure ends when the message "la vostra richiesta è stata inserita" (your request has been inserted) is displayed
7. click on uscita (exit)

The reader is called at the Distribution desk to receive the items required for reading or loan;
in case of remote request, if in the user's note a desired hour has been specified, the reader will find the items ready at the Distribution desk.
Remote requests will be at the reader's disposal for one day.

Antiquarian books are delivered in the Reading rooms.

How to request items not registered in the Online catalogue

1. locate the desired item in the card catalogue or in the manuscript catalogue and register call-mark and title
2. go to one computer in the Catalogue room, and in the Online catalogue click on EXTRACAT
3. fill the form Identificazione Utente as follows:
• Codice Utente: type NB followed by the number of your reader's or loan card
• type the passwork
• click on OK
4. select Biblioteca Braidense and click on Seleziona
5. type the call-mark of the desired item and click on Avanti
6. type the required data (only the title is mandatory) and click on Avanti
7. click on the desired service:
• lettura sala pubblica / sala di consultazione (reading in the Reading room / in the Research reading room)
• prestito materiale a magazzino (loan)
8. click on inserisci richiesta (send request), adding in the nota utente (user's note) possible communications
9. the procedure ends when the message "la vostra richiesta è stata inserita" (your request has been inserted) is displayed
10. click on uscita (exit)

The reader will find the desired items in the Reading rooms.
Remote requests will be at the reader's disposal for one day.

Digitised materials

Materials included in the following projects have been digitised and are freely available from this website::

• Digitised journals
• Digitised librettos (Raccolta Drammatica)
• Digitised monographs
• Online texts (Scaffale aperto)
• Sommariva Photo archives
• Bookbindings

Other marterials, in particular of the Sala Foscoliana e and works of Italian authors of the nineteenth and early twentieth century of fiction, poetr, history, theater, published in Lombardy, with call-mark Z+, Delta, Omega, Fi, X++, Y+, 13, 18, 21, 22, ZFF, ROM, A+, works in Milanese dialect and a series of Almanacchi (yearbooks) of the nineteenth century, have been digitised and are freely accessible from the computers in the library.

Microfilmed materials

About 650 journals have been microfilmed and are visible in the Microfilm room.

The catalogue of periodicals and the Online catalogue show the indication of microfilmed item and the call-mark of the microfilm.

Materials stored in off-site stacks

The following materials are stored in off-site stacks and may be reserved:

  Journals: PER.
  Bibliographic journals: PER.BIBL.
  Commercial guides: GUIDE COMM., except for GUIDE COMM.16. which are available in the Catalogue rooom
  Official publications from number 400: P.U.
  French collection: COLL.FR.
  English collection: COLL.INGL.
  German collection: COLL.TED.
  Various collections: COLL.VAR.

Items sheltered in off-site stacks (up to a maximum of 2 years and 4 volumes) are collected twice a week (on Tuesday and Thursday) and are available after 14:00.

Items are delivered after 14:00 in the Reading room; it is advisable to phone 02 86460907 int. 520 for confirmation of the delivery.

Materials available in off-site departments

Depositing material of Vigevano, is available at the Library, making prior request, specifying the location:

• Scolastici/AMENA: (phone 02 86460907 int. 533, email b-brai.informazionibeniculturali.it)
• Pontiggia Collection: BEIC. (Fondazione Beic, Vigevano, phone 0381091677 from 10:00 to 16:00, email fondo.pontiggiagmail.com)

The following materials are available at the Ufficio Ricerca Fondi Musicali, via Conservatorio, 12:

• URFM.

Unavailable materials

The following materials are not available for reading:

• SCOLASTICI
• AMENA
• VARIA
• GIORN. A - GIORN. Z
• GUIDE COMM.
• ATTI ACC.