La Pira library
The Giorgio La Pira Library is a specialized library for researchers and represents the doctrinal, linguistic, and cultural varieties of Islam. Modelled on FSCIRE’s seventy-year experience, it was born at the end of 2018 as a branch of the Dossetti Library.
The first core of its library holdings was formed around the Islam section of the Dossetti Library, which was digitized and transferred to Palermo. Subsequently, the La Pira Library has grown to the point where it currently has more than 21,000 paper volumes and approximately 900,000 works in digital format, of which more than 270,000 manuscripts, in addition to magazines in various Western languages, Arabic and Persian. Only one manuscript, a Koranic text from the 18th century, is in the library. This entire collection of books is the result of purchases and donations from public agencies and private individuals.
As for public bodies, the library has received books from the Juma Almajid Center for Culture & Heritage in Dubai, the Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı in Ankara, the Isa Cultural Center in Manama, al-Azhar University, and Qom University. Recently, the Library acquired a substantial collection from the library of the Österreichische Orient-Gesellschaft Hammer-Purgstall Center.
The librarians and researchers who work at the Foundation have established and continue to establish collaborations and relationships with universities and large institutions in numerous countries, including Albania, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bosnia, China, Egypt, Russian Federation, Jordan, Dubai, Kazakhstan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Malaysia, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Syria, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, USA, Yemen. These cooperations are also directed towards the acquisition of double copies, rare books and gifts in the footsteps of the great libraries of the Islamic tradition.
The La Pira Library-Research Center promotes numerous initiatives in collaboration with international research organizations: it hosted the International Qurʾanic Studies Association (IQSA) Biennial International Conference in 2022 and, this year, will host both the European Academy of Religion (EuARe) and the Reformation Research Consortium (REFORC) conference.
Administered by the FSCIRE Board of Trustees, chaired by Professor Alessandro Pajno, the Library aims to pursue scientific excellence in its field, without neglecting its responsibility to promote proper dissemination, which is understood as the fruit of knowledge and not as a substitute for it. Its other goals are: the nurturing of a first-rate international relations system that, through the network of the European RESILIENCE research infrastructure, supports Italian leadership and visibility; full independence from faith communities and universities so as to maintain independence and recruit their researchers and collaborators through open and rigorous selections.
