Thesis title: Editoria pubblica e settima arte in Italia: 1947-1993. Istituzioni, biblioteche, documenti
Official publications are framed within the so-called Public Sector Information, a composite set of information, data, and documents produced by public bodies. These publications pertain to multiple disciplinary contexts, encompassing volumes, magazines, brochures, and other documents primarily created for external use and various purposes. While some publications describe institutional activities, others address specific topics across different fields.
The thesis, in this context, defines the physiognomy of Italian official publications from documentary, bibliographical, and library science perspectives. It focuses on their formal and substantial aspects, highlighting their terminological facets and traces their evolution from the origins of printing to the current digital ecosystem, including a comparison with the international scenario. The work also addresses critical issues in bibliographic control, legal deposit, cataloging, dissemination, and access to these publications. At the same time, the thesis aims to emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of official publications within library and information sciences, underlining their heuristic value for understanding the history of public institutions and related disciplines. To demonstrate this, the case study on the cinematographic sector proposes a multidisciplinary analytical approach. This study involved mapping and reconstructing the editorial corpus of Italian public film institutions active from the post-war period through the early nineties and the analysis considered the bibliographical perspective and the diachronic institutions’ historical and regulatory framework, alongside the narrative, cultural, and theoretical dimensions of film studies, applying the methodological lens of cultural studies.