Members of the Bocconi Community can borrow most resources located in reading rooms using the three self-service machines located on the ground floor of the Library, and identifying themselves with the Bocconi badge or with the QR code generated through the app.
Anyone who borrows or consults print resources is responsible for the material registered under their own name, and must ensure that the documents are returned on time and in good condition.
Faculty can borrow up to 100 books at a time.
Each loan is automatically renewed up to five times for four weeks each, except for textbooks, which are renewed once for one week. Renewal is not allowed if the book has been requested by other people, if the user has overdue loans or if the maximum number of possible renewals has been exceeded.
If there are no reservations, it is always possible to return the books and borrow them again.
All books eligible for loan can be requested through SearchLib. Once the email for pickup is received, the user can go to the Information Desk, where books remain on the hold shelf for a variable period of time based on the type of document:
At the end of this period, the documents are put back on the shelf or assigned to the person who reserved them next.
Each user can have up to ten simultaneous requests.
Reservations for documents located at the offsite storage may take a longer period of time before they are available on site. The Library staff checks active reservations and contacts users if the resource is available online or in the on-site collections.
It is possible to delegate another person to pick up a reserved book after notifying the Library by e-mail with the delegated person's details.
Faculty may request fast delivery of a book on campus through SearchLib by selecting the "Inter-campus delivery" option.
Within My Library Account, users can always see their current loans with their due dates by authenticating with personal Bocconi credentials on the Library website.
At the beginning of each month, the Bocconi Library sends a summary email to all users with current loans and notifies the user when the loan is due to expire. If a book is returned late, the user is suspended from the loan service for a proportional number of days, for a maximum period of one month based on its opening days of operation.
Books can be returned by leaving them in the two return boxes during opening hours. One box is located at the main entrance outside the turnstiles, and the other near the Information Desk. Books can also be returned by mail to the following address: Bocconi University. Library and Archives. Via Ulisse Gobbi, 5 - 20136 Milan (Italy).
It is possible to delegate another person to return books, assuming responsibility for the loan.
The Library confirms the return by email.
Before graduating or leaving the University, all community members must have returned all books.
If a document is lost or damaged, users are invited to contact the Library staff by email to receive the necessary information to refund it. All damaged books, even if refunded, must be returned to the Library.
Most of the print materials of the Bocconi Library can be borrowed; however, some resources can only be consulted in the Library. These include:
Consultation-only resources located in the Library's reading rooms can be consulted independently, while consultation-only resources located in storage must be requested via SearchLib, picked up at the Library's Information Desk, and consulted within the Library.
However, some special collections may require the intervention of Library staff and an assisted consultation mode in a reserved room (e.g. large formats, valuable documents or fragile material). These documents can be recognized thanks to a special note in SearchLib:
Faculty may consult material in their department on short loan only, if the state of preservation of the documents allows it. Print periodicals, dissertations and valuable documents are excluded.
Faculty members can use the "Can't find it?" service if they need to consult a resource that is not currently part of the Library's collections.
To access the service, users must first check on SearchLib to verify that the resource is not actually owned by the Library, then fill in the appropriate form with all the bibliographical information needed to locate the document, selecting the preferred format (print or digital).
If further information is needed in order to proceed with a request, the Library reserves the right to contact the user by institutional email. After two weeks without a reply, the Library staff will delete the request and notify the user again. It is possible at any time to reactivate the deleted request.
Each user may have a maximum of 15 active requests at the same time, and may enter a maximum of 100 requests per year in "Can't find it?".
The Library:
Fulfils the request through Inter-Library Loan if the resource (books and articles) is not purchased, or activates the Document Delivery service for requests for reproductions of articles or book chapters, through a network of partner libraries.
The loan period and any renewals are subject to the conditions set by the lending library's policies.
For both purchase requests and Inter-Library Loan, Bocconi Library's policy gives priority to the digital format.
Similarly, the Library makes its holdings available to libraries outside the Bocconi community, both Italian and foreign, within the limits provided by:
The borrowing library is responsible for the loaned book from the time of receipt until their return.
Faculty may request partial digitization of Bocconi Library’s resources for personal use only. In compliance with current copyright legislation, they may request to receive copies of book chapters or articles digitized by the Library staff to their institutional e-mail address, via the "Digitization for personal use only" button:
The Library protects, preserves and enhances its bibliographic and documentary heritage in order to meet the educational and research needs of the entire Bocconi community.
The Library staff engages in numerous activities to ensure the proper accessibility of the collections on the shelves:
Members of the Bocconi Community can use the in-person reference service: Ask a Librarian!, provided at the Information Desk in the reading rooms from Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 6:00 pm.
At the Information Desk, the Library staff is specialized in:
Members of the Bocconi Community can request online support by writing to: infobiblio@unibocconi.it or via B in Touch;. Requests are answered within three working days.
The Library staff offers support for:
The Library staff does not provide:
Bocconi faculty members can ask for specialized assistance in individual meetings by appointment (Library meetings).
Depending on availability, meetings can take place in person at the Information Desk or online via Teams, and have a standard duration of 30 minutes.
The service is active from Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm. To schedule a Library meeting, please write to: infobiblio@unibocconi.it.
During meetings, Library staff offers support for:
The Library staff does not provide:
The Bocconi Library supports the development of Information Literacy, the set of skills necessary for the retrieval, access, evaluation and critical and responsible use of information, through:
All guides and tutorials can be consulted online via the Library website; no registration is required.
For the development of information skills and support of users in using online resources for study and research, the Library staff prepares and periodically updates four types of guides and tutorials:
All guides and tutorials are in English and can be consulted online on the Libguides platform, accessible from the Library website.
In order to promote the user autonomy, there are also printscreens and step-by-step instructions where appropriate.
To support the teaching, study and research activities of the faculty and student community, the Library staff plans, delivers and organizes training courses:
The calendar courses can take place in person or online, in Italian or English, and are interactive. To participate, registration is required through the yoU@B Agenda “Appointments” section. Reservations open two weeks before each event, and workshops are confirmed once a minimum of four people have registered.
The Library's courses aim to improve users' skills in:
The annual program, target audience and modalities of the courses offered are described on the assigned page, Library Workshops.
On-demand workshops can be requested by Bocconi and SDA Faculty for their teaching class by writing to: infobiblio@unibocconi.it.
On-demand workshops are tailored to the information needs of the target audience. They take place in a classroom on campus or online, and can be in Italian or English.
Through the Course Reserves service, the Bocconi Library acquires, makes available and provides access to academic resources - in print or electronic format - requested in the courses’ reading lists (or bibliographies) of the Undergraduate School, Graduate School and Law School.
Course Reserves materials include:
The Course Reserves service at Bocconi is digitally oriented; therefore, the Library prefers to purchase resources in electronic format, in order to guarantee access to study materials to the student community and faculty, both on campus and remotely.
The Course Reserves service of the Bocconi Library is mainly provided through an online space, Course Reserves (Textbooks), accessible from the Library website or from the teaching page in Blackboard, the Content Management Tool in use at Bocconi.
Access to Course Reserves (Textbooks) is granted not only to faculty, teaching assistants, University staff and other collaborators with the capability to manage course content on Blackboard, but also to the student community, after authentication with their Bocconi credentials.
At the beginning of each academic year, the Library staff creates online reading lists (or bibliographies) for the courses activated in the Undergraduate School, Graduate School and Law School.
Faculty, teaching assistants and other collaborating staff can expand the courses' reading lists (or bibliographies) on Course Reserves (Textbooks) by:
To support the Course Reserves service, the Bocconi Library also maintains and updates a special open shelf collection in the reading rooms - the Course Reserves Collection (Textbooks), which houses the textbooks adopted in the current and previous two academic years.
The collection is located near the Information Desk, which is always staffed during opening hours, and the self-service machines.
The collection is color-coded to facilitate user orientation and autonomy, and is governed by specific lending policies to ensure maximum circulation of resources.
Each adopted textbook is available in:
The Bocconi Library preserves all dissertations discussed at the University since its foundation, except for those related to Bachelor degree programs.
Dissertations are protected by copyright and intellectual property laws; it is therefore the author's responsibility to grant permission for consultation. Bocconi students and faculty members may view online or consult in the Library, depending on the format available, only authorized dissertations. Theses cannot be borrowed or reproduced (even partially).
Dissertations discussed from 1906 to 1987 are only available in print format and may be consulted in the Library, if authorized. They are collected in the Bocconi University Historical Dissertations collection according to a grouping criterion that responds to the chronological line of development of the University and its Community. The historical dissertations are involved in ongoing projects of recovery and digitization for preservation and enhancement purposes, made possible thanks to the support of donors.
Dissertations discussed since 1988 are available in digital format and can be consulted online, if authorized. They are collected in a digital collection: Bocconi University Dissertations (Online), which is divided into Dissertations 1988-2000 and Dissertations 2000-.
Authorized dissertations may be consulted by the entire Bocconi Community:
The Bocconi Library signs transformative agreements with leading academic publishers, which allow Bocconi authors to publish in Open Access without paying Article Processing Charges (APCs).
The Library verifies publication requests, managing them through publishers' platforms.
The Library ensures support for Bocconi authors (faculty, researchers and PhDs) who wish to publish in Open Access, offering dedicated workshops and events, along with targeted assistance for individual needs and useful tools available on the site: