Historical notes

Title page of Lavoisier's "Opuscules physiques et Chymiques"

Brief historical notes with information on the library's heritage

The library was built on the design of Edoardo Collamarini (1864-1928) and is one of the rare examples of a liberty style library. The surface is about 240 square meters and the places for consultation are 47. Rich in over 31 thousand volumes of which over 11 thousand monographs, it has an important section dedicated to periodicals (882) and one dedicated to specialized texts for research and teaching.

The library collection includes the following thematic areas: analytical chemistry, physical and theoretical chemistry, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, photochemistry, supramolecular chemistry, chemistry of innovative materials, biochemistry, environmental chemistry, macromolecular chemistry.

The bibliographic material acquired by the library is regularly cataloged, classified and subjected.

The library's bibliographic collection is contained in the National Catalog of Periodicals ACNP (for periodicals) and in the Catalog of the Polo Bolognese SBN-UBO of the National Library Service (for monographs).

At the Library there is an interesting section concerning precious editions of scientific texts from the 17th-19th centuries. Among the most significant titles are: "De natura universi" by Ocellus Lucanus (1646), "Del compendio dei secreti razionali" by Leonardo Fioravanti (1660), "Trattato elementare di chimica" by Lavoisier (1792), "Opera omnia" di Bacone (1694), "Opere" by Galilei in 4 volumes (1744), "Opera omnia" by Robert Boyle (1797), there are also works by Newton, Malebranche, Galvani, Avogadro, Liebig. All bibliographic material prior to 1830 was included in the catalog of the Bologna area.

Particularly interesting titles include: "Exercitationes quaedam mathematicae" by Bernoulli (1724), "Dictionnaire de Chimie" in 2 volumes (1769) by Pierre-Joseph Macquer, "Fondamenti della scienza chimica-fisica applicata alla formazione dei corpi ed ai fenomeni della natura "by Vincenzo Dandolo (1802), "Sunti di docimastica chimica" by Alfredo Cavazzi (1887), "Guida alla chimica "by Carlo Lancillotti (1697).

Among the titles that arouse surprise, mention should be made of "Il newtonianismo per le dame, ovvero i Dialoghi sopra la luce e i colori" by Francesco Algarotti of 1737.

All ancient books are present in the electronic catalog of monographs thanks to the project "The ancient book: from conservation to access" promoted by the University Library System.

In 2014 the Library merged together with the Library of the Department of Industrial Chemistry "Toso Montanari" into the Interdepartmental Chemistry Library.

From 2019 the new name is the Chemistry Library. Section "Giacomo Ciamician".