About us

Director: Paola De Castro
phone: (+39) 06 4990 6005
mail: paola.decastro@iss.it 
secreteriat: segreteria-cos@iss.it

The Library of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS, the National Institute of Health in Italy) operates in support of the activity carried out by the institution since 1934, the year the Institute was founded. It specializes in scientific documentation in the field of biomedicine and public health and is the reference library for biomedical research in Italy.

The Library guarantees access to about 20,000 full-text electronic periodicals and to the main databases of the biomedical sector. The printed documentary heritage consists of over 9,000 periodicals and about 200,000 monographs which include publications of national and international bodies, pharmacopoeias, official documents, texts of health legislation and grey literature.

The Library carries out reference activities, offers advice services and bibliometric evaluation, allows the consultation of its heritage material.

The special collections include the Rare books, made up of over a thousand specimens between the 16th and 19th centuries. On April 21, 2022, thanks to the Rare books, the Library received the HERITY (Heritage and Quality) certification for the three-year period 2021-2023.

The Library also collects and disseminates all documentation received from the World Health Organization (WHO) as a WHO Documentation Centre.

Since 2003 it has been part of BIBLIOSAN - Library system of Italian biomedical research bodies, with the aim of creating a national collaborative network between scientific documentation services and libraries of research bodies.

OPENING HOURS

The Library is open to internal users from 8.30 to 14.00 from Monday to Friday.

The Library will be closed from 8 to 19 August.

The Library is pleased to receive your requests even during the pandemic emergency.