The Libraries

The Afro-Asian section 

With over 12,000 volumes and about 100 periodicals on Africa and Asia, the library at the Department of Political and Social Sciences has one of the most important collections of Afro-Asian material in the whole country. 

The Horn of Africa, Italian Colonialism, India, China and Japan are all strengths of the Afro-Asian collection. All the material in the collection provides fundamental tools and support for the didactic activities and the on-going research. 

The origins of the collection go back to the mid 1950s when  Carlo Giglio started teaching “ History and Colonial Politics” at the Faculty of Political Sciences. In 1961, Giglio set up the Institute of History and Institutions of Afro-Asian Countries and the library was the main research point. In 1973 the library already had 4000 volumes . In addition to the first section created by   Giglio, an Asian section was set up and managed by Giorgio Borsa and Paolo Beonio Brocchieri. Thanks to the funds donated by Cesare Bonacossa, the library has been able to build up its archives making it a unique library heritage. 

In 2012, the Institute of International Politics  (ISPI) donated its historical section to the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the University of Pavia. The collection, with its  30.000 volumes, is being cataloged and some of the works are  already available for consultation. Most of the material is about Africa, Asia and the Middle East. When the work of cataloging is finished, the Department library will further confirm its role as being one of the best at a national level.  

In 2012, the library bought the Fondo Maria Antonia Di Casola (1937-2012), she had been a lecturer in the History of Turkey and the Neighboring East at our university for fifty years. The Fondo Di Casola, further adds to the already ample collection on the History of Turkey and the Middle East. 

Gian Paolo Calchi Novati's Fund

Professor emeritus, Gian Paolo Calchi Novati was one of the leading experts on the affairs of Africa and Asia. He taught History of Africa and Afro-Asian countries at the Universities of Pisa, Urbino and Pavia, where he also directed the Department of Political and Social Sciences.

In 2018, the Calchi Novati family donated 1370 volumes to the library mainly concerning the history of Africa and the Middle East, colonialism, the history of decolonization and international relations of the South of the world.

Did you know that : thanks to a recent agreement with the Research and Documentation Center in Asmara, Pavia has the only library in the whole world which contains all the works published in Eritrea from 2000 up to the present day.

The University of Pavia manages the Unique Pavese Catalogue, which involves  150 libraries across the province.  

The Library has also taken out subscriptions to many books and online reviews by subscribing contracts with national consortiums or subscriptions made by individual libraries. 

The database has a vast amount of factual and bibliographic information, most of which is only available to members of the University of Pavia. 

The prestigious heritage of archives, the library and the University of Pavia museums are all accessible from the "Digital Library".