Carlo Revelli e i suoi studi sulla soggettazione e la catalogazione : il rigore di una ricerca sempre aperta

Carlo Revelli dealt with subjecting, classification, descriptive cataloging, and almost all the library topics; he published 336 contributions described in the bibliography of his writings (1950-2006; to be updated). The collaboration with “Biblioteche oggi” was particularly intense. The series Osservatorio internazionale is one of the jewels of Italian librarianship thinking, with an attentive and critically informed look on experiences and reflections in the international arena. The essay focuses on Revelli’s studies on subjecting and cataloging, themes dealt with mainly in Il catalogo per soggetti, and in Il catalogo. The essay highlights the modernity of Revelli’s thought and terminology, which probably depended on his ability to perceive the fundamental novelties of the context of international studies. Revelli was a great scholar and a great librarian, for a long time director of the Turin public libraries: he was able to harmoniously develop the relationships between these different ways of his cultural and professional commitment. The distinctive feature of his figure, and his work, has always been the interest in cataloging, linked with the service to the public, theory with practice, tradition with social and technological changes, and their implications on the librarianship level.