Biblioteca_EN della Camera dei deputati

The Library is open to persons aged over 16 with a valid document of identification. Persons using the Library must fill out a request form. Visitor cards issued by the Library of the Chamber of Deputies are valid for 6 months and may be used also for entrance to the Senate Library, which forms part of the Joint Parliamentary Library.

The opening hours for the public are Monday - Friday: 9.00 a.m. -7.30 p.m. The Library is closed to the public for the month of August.

For security reasons, you must leave bags in the appropriate lockers at the entrance of the Library. Personal effects may be brought into the Library only in transparent bags that are provided at the entrance. Food and drinks other than water are not allowed. The Library has set aside an area on the ground floor (next to the lifts at the end of the hallway containing parliamentary records) with vending machines selling snacks and drinks, which must, however, be consumed in the same place. According to article 4 of the current access regulations, personal books are allowed in the Library as follows: Only volumes of laws and regulations may be brought in without permission. For all other personal books you must request permission in advance, using the form available at the entrance. Permission is granted for given periods of time and only for books relating to Library holdings.

The remote information service is available only to institutional bodies, public authorities and citizens who are not resident in Rome. For more information on this service please see Ask a librarian.

The Library has complete collections of the parliamentary documents of both Houses, of the Constituent Assembly and of Parliament meeting in joint session. Please note that many of them are digitalized and available on the Web. For more information please see Digitalized parliamentary records.

In building its holdings, the Library has concentrated on gathering documents and publications relating to parliamentary affairs as well as material that is useful for the information and research needs of MPs. It has therefore placed particular emphasis on subjects such as Italian and foreign law, history, political science, social science, the science of administration, international relations, and economics. In recent years, the Library of the Chamber of Deputies has devoted particular care to developing its electronic resources, giving precedence to source material that is most relevant to parliamentary requirements, as well as to bibliographic information, texts relating to legislation and jurisprudence, contemporary politics, and economic-statistical data. To see what the Library has, simply look up the catalogue.

On the ground floor of the Chamber of Deputies Library is a help desk, open during Library opening hours, that offers guidance and information to the public. It provides:
-information about the Library's holdings and services;
-assistance in looking up catalogues and carrying out library searches;
-assistance in carrying out research on the internet and using the electronic resources of the Library;
-assistance in searching legislative texts and Italian, foreign and EU parliamentary records and acts;
-biographical and bibliographical information on MPs.

Lending is restricted to MPs and employees of the administrations of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate.

The Library will allow interlibrary loans to the libraries of other constitutional bodies. Other requests are considered on a case-by-case basis.

The delivery of texts to individuals is restricted to parliamentary publications and publications that are not available in other libraries, and is a facility provided for people not resident in Rome. The reproduction of texts is free for the first 50 pages; a charge of € 0.05 per page or per scan is applied thereafter. If the library already has the texts in electronic format, they are provided at no charge.

After they have been read, books called from the store rooms are returned to the distribution point, but a reader may ask to have them set aside for up to fifteen days. Publications that may not be set aside include all direct reference materials (parliamentary documents, collections of laws and books shelved in the reading rooms).

Visitors may use their own laptops. Only the electricity outlets specifically provided for visitors in reading rooms may be used.

A Wi-fi connection is available in: Sala del Refettorio, Sala delle Capriate, Sala Periodici.

For study purposes users can make photocopies of books (the condition of the books permitting), pursuant to current legislation.

More than thirty workstations are available for visitors. They require a user name and password, which are provided to visitors upon entering the Library. The workstations give full access to the internet, and allow data to be saved on site or to a memory stick.