Modelli concettuali per la descrizione bibliografica. Applicazioni informatiche per il libro antico.

This thesis describes the study of the innovations made to the RICI (Ricerca sull'Inchiesta della Congregazione dell'Indice) database, against the backdrop of the new scenarios opened up by information technology with regard to bibliographic cataloguing. At the application level, the structural revision of this database, called "Le biblioteche degli ordini regolari in Italia alla fine del secolo XVI" (The Libraries of the Regular Orders in Italy at the End of the Sixteenth Century), currently hosted and managed by the Vatican Library, was used as a case study. The database systematically indexes the data contained in the Vaticano Latini manuscripts 11266-11326 in which the results of the book census conducted by the Italian religious orders are preserved, at the request of the Congregation of the Index after the publication of the Index of Forbidden Books in 1596. The study is therefore focused on the design and development of an innovative system for the management of bibliographical information designed specifically for the ancient book heritage and based on the study of conceptual models and languages of communication and data interchange. The database, having been designed at the end of the twentieth century, after two decades of operation has therefore constituted the ideal testing ground to identify descriptive needs, evaluate the shortcomings of traditional systems, elaborate a new model of data structuring and test its applicability to the study of ancient editions and the development of advanced features for the publication, exchange and reuse of data on the Web. At the same time, the objective was to bring the database into the scenario of the new tools for the management of bibliographic information, setting it up from the computer point of view with the new generation systems that allow a more fluid and dynamic navigation among the data, opening in particular the database to communication with the outside world.