ISTITUTO CENTRALE PER IL CATALOGO UNICO (ICCU)
ROME
SERVIZIO BIBLIOTECARIO NAZIONALE (SBN)
SBN (Servizio bibliotecario Nazionale) is the Italian national network which has been working as a full-scale union catalogue and shared cataloguing system since June 1992. At the present time the SBN network is connecting 25 nodes with a total of 300 partecipating libraries to the Index, which among various databases hosts the National Union Catalog. Before the end of the year 15 more local site databases should be uploaded on to the Index. The SBN network uses the public network ITAPAC, the research network GARR and dedicated lines.
Through the Index data base, therefore, one will be able to identify the libraries possessing a certain publication. The most innovatory service is the interlibrary loan service.
With SBN, it will be possible to direct the request immediately to a library actually owning the document requested. Moreover, the request may be immediately trasmitted using the link beteween the nodes and the Index.
Shared cataloguing is avaible using the SBN catalogue facilities.
Bibliographic information is provided by several general and specialised databases installed on the Index.
To access the service, your WWW browser (Netscape, Mosaic, ...) must support a TN3270 application, such as
QWS3270 for Windows platform or Brown University TN3270 for Apple MacIntosh.
