Over the last few years, the action of the Veneto Region in the field of culture has been increasingly oriented to the creation of networks, encouraging the design of projects focused on the territory and promoting the excellence of Veneto, also on at the international level, promoting and improving cooperation and coordination between the different entities active in the field of cultural policies. In recent years, the Veneto Region has established a specific method for granting its support to local initiatives by creating forms of governance focussed on the active cooperation between the entities and subjects involved in the sector of culture, thus developing a concept of network and system which is continually evolving. Connections have been created between the countless cultural, tourism, natural and economic resources of the territory, and innovative cultural events have been used as a catalyst in order to initiate a modern process aimed at turning the extraordinary cultural heritage of Veneto into a means for spreading knowledge and real economic wealth.
The implementation of such form of collaboration and interaction needs as its basis in-depth knowledge of the territory and ability to appreciate and enhance the vocations of each individual place, their wealth, the characteristics which made them grow and made them known in Italy and abroad, such as for example science for Padua, gold and architecture for Vicenza, and design for Treviso.
The opportunities connected to the exploitation of the cultural heritage of Veneto in view of a new model of growth are enormous, and they do not only regard cultural tourism but also, ultimately, the production of culture, in all its multiple forms. The Countries which are rich in historic and artistic heritage and are willing to get involved in the frontier of innovation, combining technological and cultural creativity, can build on these foundations a competitive leadership which can really start a new and strong growth cycle.
In this way, the interventions and the investments in culture are transformed into social cohesion, civil progress and economic development. Within this context, the interests of the public services rendered to the community are intersected and tied to those of the associative organisation and businesses.
The world of culture can assume therefore a strategic role, engaging with the various dimensions of the reality of Veneto, which constitute a workshop of creativity and social, cultural and productive experimentation of international significance. Culture is a free land welcoming all forms of expressions and intertwining relationships among all the various local players. Culture is a treasure, a common capital composed of art, landscape, traditions and also know-how and innovation; it is a never ending resource which cannot get exhausted and renews and multiplies itself. Investing in culture in this period of crisis signifies looking forward to the future, because it fuels job and wealth creation.
Since 2002 the Region and Provincial Authorities of Veneto are cooperating on the basis of memorandums of understanding for the realisation of projects aimed at promoting and enhancing the cultural heritage of Veneto within its territory of origin, through cultural activities and performing art shows. Such projects have resulted to be very effective for attracting tourism and very useful as tool for making local people aware of the value of the cultural heritage of their region.
Starting from 2010 a project was initiated which gave origin to a network called 'RetEventi Cultura Veneto'. The initiative organises cultural events and shows and is very rich in initiatives; it creates a cultural offer of quality, accessible to the general public and well rooted into the life of the territory. The objective is to enhance the cultural offer as a strategic resource able to address and govern the transformation processes that Veneto is living, making culture recover its essential function of stimulating and spreading ideas and creativity.
All this work, conducted by the Local Authorities in close collaboration with each other, and the culture and entertainment operators, highlights an interesting transformation process: new strategies of cultural promotion are born, in which the different players, public authorities and operators, share the same path, aiming at optimising both financial and human resources. The response of the territory has confirmed that this systematic promotion and enhancement of the cultural heritage of Veneto is a concrete and positive answer to the current state of crisis. (Table 5.1.1)
In this sector, great transformations are in process, in the light of the new multimedia scenarios emerging in a social and economic context that is more and more globalised and of the acceleration that technological research is giving to the production and use of cinematographic products. After the discovery of sound and the transition from black and white to colour, cinematography comes to the third great revolution of its history: digitalisation. This is revolution is still ongoing and is reformulating the production and distribution 'strategies' of the film industry.
In this sense, it should be noted that the major distribution companies have fixed a final deadline (2013) for the circulation of non-digital films: their choice will limit the variety and the cultural and artistic level of cinematographic proposals. (Table 5.1.2)
In this context, a cultural process should be triggered by promoting a project which is able to combine research, experimentation and innovation, and which also includes the education and training of new authors and professionals for the cinema who are able to give a new impulse to the development of this art in the new emerging scenarios.
In this framework, in the sector of performing arts and entertainment, the Veneto Region has focused on the promotion of film culture and on the support to cinematographic and audio-visual production; this is a tool able to exercise an effective attraction on both the national and international level, attracting film producers to Veneto, and to sustain the development of the film and audio-visual industry of the territory. In this regard, the Finance Act 2012 includes a special article for the provision of regional funds in support of public and private entities for interventions of modernisation and technological upgrading of cinemas in Veneto. The drafting of an action plan, aimed at promoting a virtuous combination between cultural content and technological progress, represents an opportunity to effectively fight the closure of cinemas in town centres.
The support to technological upgrading of cinemas will increase the economic competitiveness of a network of commercial concerns connected to cinemas, such as libraries, reception centres and similar, this due to an increase in the diversification of the cultural proposal.
The project for the technological modernisation of cinemas represents a further element of economic interest: the continuity in management activities with the support to young entrepreneurs in the industry.
The Regional Authorities have undertaken with enthusiasm and determination the project work underlying the candidacy of Veneto, Venice and the North-East, in becoming the European Capital of Culture 2019, a commitment capable of igniting a wide cultural activation through which new project models, new forms of involvement, integration of local players, and new national and international networks can be put to the test with the objective of making an impact on the trajectory of local development.
The Capital of Culture is an entity that is able to involve the whole community and succeeds in enhancing the past in a modern way; candidacy and possible winning are to be intended not as a point of arrival but as a point of departure for rethinking culture and the way for living and experiencing culture. True success means developing a new vision for our actions, adopting new and diverse strategies for operating in the field of culture, drawing from this candidacy the opportunity to test new models of interaction, increasingly working for creating networks beyond both the regional and national borders, for mutual enrichment and from new standpoints.
We are facing a great challenge, and the challenge of candidacy can act as a stimulus for returning culture its centrality in the strategies for development, enhancing and optimising a sector that is present and vital, by activating a virtuous process of production and prosperity which will also create ancillary businesses, new opportunities of employment, innovation and social growth.
The collective cultural heritage of the North-East of Italy has to be enhanced in such a way to also promote growth of local culture. The Veneto Region intends to make use of its cultural heritage to initiate a new path of growth, to show other territories the best way to combine culture and economic development.

The candidacy of Venice and the North-East of Italy as the European Capital of Culture 2019 represents an opportunity for economic development. Major events have become the main drivers for accelerating the development processes both of infrastructures and culture, and essential is the enhancement of the tangible and intangible heritage of Veneto, which is a 'unique and typical' reservoir.
What is the starting point of our cultural offer? And what is the response to our offer? Our cultural and natural heritage is made up of places of historical and cultural interests such as cities, museums, monuments and libraries, etc., and also unforgettable landscapes, all enriched by local specialties such as art, cuisine, language, as well as events. Some statistics on the cultural sector of Veneto are reported below, together with statistics from the regions of Friuli Venezia Giulia and Trentino Alto Adige, which are also involved in the overall project for innovation of development of the North East.
Within the rich and varied cultural offer of Italy, we start from considering the role of museums, which are essential to that segment of tourism economy oriented towards the arts. In Italy in 2006, the institutions of antiques and art not directly run by the State were 4,526, and 7.2% of them were in Veneto (327 institutes). Veneto ranks only in fifth position for number of museums, but thanks to 7 million and a half visitors, the interest shown by residents and tourists Veneto is likely to earn second place among the Italian regions, after Tuscany. With regards to State-run museums and galleries, all over the Country in 2009 they were 207, 10 of which were and are in Veneto and in total around 744 thousand visitors a year. (Table 5.2.1)
Attendance at museums and exhibitions by residents of Veneto is higher than the national average, and the share of people aged 6 year old as a minimum who in 2011 visited at least one museum or exhibition is equal to 37.6% of the population (29.7% for Italy).
In order to analyse the offer of events (encompassing the entire array of entertainment activities) and the response of residents and tourists, data from SIAE (Società Italiana degli Autori ed Editori for the exercise and protection of copyright) is used. The graphs display the number of shows put on in the territory of Triveneto (i.e. Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Trentino Alto Adige) in 2010 by type of event and response from the public. Film shows have not been included in the graph, to facilitate reading; they make up over a half of the events organised (over 300 thousand in Triveneto, of which almost 200 thousand in the region of Veneto), but such a result is not a surprise, since the survey was conducted by considering all individual film showing. Dance shows are proposed in a significant number, both with live and recorded music, and small concerts in which the performance of music is an additional element such as in piano bar shows. Following in the ranking are theatre shows. The number of audience also includes subscriptions and the events requiring payment of a ticket. In 2010 in Triveneto, considering all types of entertainment and performing arts, including cinema, the 471 thousand shows offered were attended by about 30 million people. (Figure 5.2.1)
These are the latest figures on supply and demand of entertainment and performing art events, which can provide a glimpse of the situation before candidacy of Venice and Triveneto for Capital of Culture.
In order to make a comparison between the regional values and the national average, synthetic indicators are used that allow to calculate the ratio to the resident population. The offer of shows in Veneto is in line with the national average for all the different types of event. In Veneto, only for cinema shows the supply and demand are lower than the national average data; the data regarding travelling shows, with their 80 units of audience every 100 inhabitants in Veneto against the 21 units in the whole of Italy, highlights the wide number of Italians and foreigners who appreciate these attractions, both arranged as individual shows or held inside fun parks and water parks. (Figure 5.2.2)
Finally, some statistics on the accommodation capacity of the main categories of reception facilities in Veneto and Triveneto which will host the increasing tourist flow and all those wishing to enjoy the countless initiatives following the candidacy of Veneto and its possible conquest of the title of European Capital of Culture 2019. (Figure 5.2.3)

In Veneto, libraries are a world in constant motion. The phenomena of aggregation of libraries - networks and systems of cooperation, especially founded for coordinating the cataloguing and management activities associated with the services - are increasingly evident (Note 3), to such an extent that in five years the previous shape of the regional library fabric has been practically reversed, especially 'under the mark' of the Italian National Library Service (SBN). In 2007 in Veneto the libraries being members of SBN were only a few dozens, subdivided into three poles: the Regional Pole, the Venice Pole (lead by the Marciana National Library) and the Library Pole of the University of Padua. At the end of the current year, the member libraries shall be more than 400, approximately half of all libraries in the region, except for school libraries. In particular, the four provinces of Belluno, Rovigo, Treviso and Venice will be included in the SBN network, whereas the Regional Library Pole of Veneto will become the fifth in Italy for size out of the 80 existing overall.
The organisational changes are also accompanied by technological upgrades, particularly software for cataloguing and managing the libraries: more powerful programmes, able to interface with internet sites and interact with other systems.
New services, therefore, are envisaged for the libraries and citizens of Veneto, and all those involved in the world of libraries - i.e. Public and Private Authorities, each within the scope of their competence - are called to face the challenge to find a way to reduce those diseconomies which are easily created in complex systems undergoing continuous change, and to keep the Regional Library System at high levels of quality.
Regarding the responsibilities established by the Regional Law (Note 4), which also provides for delegation from the Government of administrative functions regarding library goods (Note 5), and in order to ensure the regulation of the libraries and their dynamics, the availability of suitable control tools is essential. For this reason, for some years the Veneto Region has collected information and statistical data regarding libraries: in the last five years the Progetto di Misurazione Valutazione (PMV, project for measurement and assessment) has enabled to acquire extensive data on the assets and services (opening hours, personnel, heritage, loans, expenses, internet) of the public libraries of Veneto (Note 6), and therefore to form a real data base of statistical significance. The data were processed according the reference model promoted by the Associazione Italiana Biblioteche (AIB, Italian library association) (Note 7), which then inspired the regional and provincial indicators used to calculate the ratio between library values and population for each municipality.
The registry and statistical database of the PMV may constitute, in multiple levels of detail and for different types of libraries, a solid informative opportunity, since they has been checked and validated. Therefore, they constitutes a reference point for the planning activities of both Public and Private Administrations; they increase awareness of the sector's operators, helping them take management decisions and discovering best practices; for ordinary users, they constitute a simpler approach to the world of the libraries of Veneto, and finally, they are tools enabling constant updating of information, both in summary and in detail.

The Census of the Libraries of Veneto

In 2011 a census of the libraries of Veneto was conducted, including all types of library, all type of administration system and possible function, from public access libraries to conservative and special libraries, to museum and university libraries, with the only exception of school libraries.
A survey was made on opening times as of 10th November 2011, and for basic and university libraries, some other data on the services provided was collected.
Despite their provisional nature, such data allow to outline the contours of the world of libraries in Veneto, which includes 794 libraries, the functional category of which is shown in the following table. (Table 5.3.1)

Public libraries

An in-depth study on public libraries, which are the most widespread type in the territory, confirms that the libraries surveyed were 579 overall (568 public and 11 of 'double category'), located in 517 Municipalities of Veneto (the total number of municipalities is 581), and representing 97.2% of the population.
For the first time in Veneto, these data allow to determine the index of 'library endowment', i.e. the number of inhabitants per library, with an average of 8,292.5 for the whole region (considering the municipalities surveyed), and the 'library density index', which defines the number of square kilometres of regional territory per library, with an average value of 29.4 Km². (Table 5.3.2)
In summary, on the day of the Census the situation was as follows:

• 32,140 visitors (Note 8) to the public libraries which were open to the public, a little more than 72 people on average per library, more than 13 people on average per hour of opening in each library;
  
• 7,996 visitors for cultural initiatives of various type (guided tours, meetings with authors, exhibitions, courses, etc.);
• 19,402 book loans in 451 libraries, i.e. 43 loans per library, a little more than 8 loans per hour;
• 3,868 internet connections, a little more than 8 connections per library and more than 1.5 connections every day.

The Census also aimed at revealing the technological equipment of libraries in Veneto and the possible availability of new services to the user. Among the numerous data:

• A total of 1,526 workstations per public library was found (PCs to browse the internet, watch films, write, etc.), of which 1,308 were of the 'multifunction' type (multitask stations) in 429 libraries: on average, therefore, a little over 3 stations per library.
• Among the main technological equipment to facilitate automation of certain tasks or services, Wi-Fi was also used (175 libraries, equal to 32.6% of respondents).
• The e-book loan service was active in only 3 libraries and only one of these, that of San Martino Buon Albergo (province of Verona), was testing the loan of digital devices for reading e-books. Perhaps this is the most striking data, when compared with the numbers from the book market, where the e-books are experiencing a real explosion (between 2009 and 2011, the books available in an electronic format increased tenfold: from 1,609 to 17,951 up to September 2011 (Note 9)), but also considering the huge demand for training on e-books coming from the personnel of the libraries of Veneto.
• Among the services for the impaired and the disabled (blind and hypo-seeing people, people with hearing or walking impairment), the most common were books printed with large letters (84 libraries out of 579, equal to 14.5%) and audio books (68 libraries, equal to 11.7%). The free audio book service was present in 27 libraries (4.7%).
• 87 libraries, equal to 15% of the total, declared to have set up a book and/or multimedia section dedicated to multiculturalism.
• Among these main tools for communication with library users is the web site; 269 libraries have a website (46.5% of all libraries surveyed), whilst social networking is used only by 92 libraries (15.9%).

Each year, public libraries fill out a questionnaire, the most recent of which refers to 2010. We report below the results which were mostly used for assessment including series of data referred to five years.
The total expenditure - for personnel, operation, purchasing documentary material, promotion of reading and other ancillary spending - shows a decline that is barely noticeable compared to 2009; in 2009 it was slightly greater if we consider that the libraries that supplied the overall data in 2010 were around 30 more than in 2009. There are no significant differences in the split of expenditure by destination compared to 2009, and this confirms that the majority of spending went on personnel (55-58% of total spending), which in Veneto is 1,700 units. (Figure 5.3.1)
Particular focus should be made to the spending connected to the promotion of books and reading, widespread in all basic libraries and decreased in 2020 by 7% compared to the previous year, due to the continuation of the trend inversion which had begun twelve months before. The spending on promotion of books and reading do not necessarily involve a decrease in the number of initiatives: a strong phenomenon which is spreading all over the territory and the Region is trying to monitor, is that of volunteer readers in libraries. (Figure 5.3.2)
The number of books, magazines and multimedia material of public libraries was in slight increase, also due to new acquisition policies different from the traditional purchasing policy (the spending for which is actually decreasing compared to previous years (Note 10)). Materials were seldom discarded, even when not rare and precious, when anachronistic in content or when materially deteriorated, and this impacted on the total expenditure, which did not show great changes over the five years considered. (Figure 5.3.3)
Continuing without interruption was the increase in loans (+8.5% in2010), probably due in connection with the events of the last few years, i.e. the creation of library networks allowing to share the libraries catalogues and accessing them on line by using a single management software, thus facilitating the circulation of books between libraries.
In 2010, the number of people who were members of one or two libraries was 532,661, equal to 10.8% of the population of Veneto for the year considered, with an increase of 11.5% compared to 2009. Also in this case, it is assumed that the library networks and their technological updating, with the facilitations this brings to the users, have given many libraries a new power of attraction, so that citizens, despite the internet, have clearly found valid reasons to continue to visit libraries personally and remaining 'loyal' to them.
Finally, how many people visit libraries, or how many visitors do libraries count over the course of a year? Although this information is not easy to detect, the overall data regarding the 'visits' in libraries in 2010, is worthy of note: 5,644,409 visits, with a constant increase in five years and 5.5% in 2010.
Because of its great significance , the number of visitors has been under observation since the start of PMV and the intention is to deepen this study at the regional level in order to get accurate data and conclusions. (Figure 5.3.4)
Networks and their creation, weather it is the consequence of a natural inclination of Man or a thoughtful management strategy, in all possible forms, represents a modus vivendi and a modus operandi which touch upon each stage of the existence of things, people, activities, places, and their containers. So deep and dense is the network of connections and ties in which we all live and co-existing that very often we are not fully aware of it. From here comes the need to bring out its interweaving, to make it visible and meaningful and, above all, to understand that even the spontaneous networks need to be governed and regulated to some extent.
Terms such as 'network' and 'system' started to be used with reference to one of the oldest cultural institutions, the museum, only in the Nineties (Note 11). This highlights two peculiarities: the deep, historical, local roots of Italian museums - an element of strength, if well understood, creative and intellectual and even productive, and not a geographical weakness - and their ability to weave ties to the outside of their physical limits Illuminating and concise are the words of Simona Bodo and Marco Demarie (Note 12), who express the spirit of the research path of our work: 'At the heart of this work is a reflection on the relational (art) museum. The term 'relational' is here used to depict the complex nature of museums, which consist of a dense network of internal relationships - between the various functions and specialisations - and external relationships, between the museum, the territory, the stakeholders and the society in the widest sense. Recognising and enhancing such complexity is not denying the historia singularis of each museum, but rather enhancing its dynamic identity'.
Since the end of the Nineties the Veneto Region has oriented its policies for the annual planning of museum activities towards the development of a 'Regional Museum System'.
Aware that the logic of the network, whether it be expressed as a system or network, represents a management model which can find justification and development in the context of a process of growth aimed at organisational improvement, the Veneto Region added these definitions in the Resolution of the Regional Council D.G.R. no.2863/2003 (Note 13). In particular, the Museum System is defined as an assembly of single museums which - on the basis of an agreement and regardless of forms of ownership - combine their cultural offer in the framework of a common project of at least two year duration for enhancement of cultural heritage within the towns and/ or the territory or within a unifying theme. Without prejudice to the scientific and administrative set up of the individual institutions and of their programming in the field of conservation and research, the profile of the Museum System is defined by the pooling of human/technological/financial resources in some or all of the following areas: cataloguing; educational services; educational initiatives on common themes; increase and improvement of use of archives, libraries, photographic libraries that can be useful for the entire system; promotion of cultural activities in the subjects specific to the Museum System; communications and websites; training activities for external and internal personnel; outsourcing of services of merchandising, hospitality and care.
The museum networks are different, as they are made up of a collection of institutional museums and public and private entities which - based on an agreement - share a cultural/scientific/tourism project of at least two years' duration for the enhancement of a territory or its specificities (environment, landscape, architecture, history, art, archaeology, religion, economy and production, language, demography, ethnography, anthropology, food and wine). The network identifies its scientific centre in the main museum of reference in the territory. When not coincident with the museum chosen as the 'scientific centre', the organisational centre of the project is the institution considered most effective in terms of management, exploitation and promotion. Provided that all its members undertake to ensure (regulated) public use of the museums, a museum network can create connections not only between museums, but also between palaces and historical residences, villas, monuments, town centres, churches, ecclesiastical buildings and institutions, universities and university facilities, archaeological parks, environmental parks, outdoor areas of historical or natural importance and equipped for reception of visitors, botanical gardens, public and private collections of cultural heritage.
In 2005, a census identified 340 museums. They were and are divided fairly evenly over the whole regional territory, with the only exception of Rovigo which records a limited presence of museum institutions. Padua resulted to be the province with the largest number of museums (59), representing 17.4% of the regional offer, immediately followed by Venice and Vicenza with 57 museums each (16.8%) and Verona with 53 (15.6%); Treviso and Belluno have 47 museums (13.8%), and finally comes Rovigo with 20 museums, i.e. 5.9% of the total.
More than a third of the museums surveyed declared to be part of a museum system. The majority of museum systems are concentrated in the province of Padua (25.8% with 33 museums members of a system) and Venice (22.7% with 29 museums members of a system), followed by Vicenza (18%, 23 member museums); Verona stands at the same level as Rovigo (11.7% with 15 member museums), then come Treviso (6.3% with 8) and Belluno (3.9%, with 5). (Figure 5.3.5)
119 museums also indicated the size of the museum system to which they belonged: a municipal system (39.5%) or a provincial one (32.8%) for the majority of them. Few are the institutes belonging to a regional museum system (7.6%), whereas 20.2% belong to other types of system (national or supra-municipal). The museum systems are mostly of medium size: according to the 99 museums which responded to the question, 14.1% of the museum systems is made up of 12 members and 12.1% of 9, even if overall, 72.2% do not exceed the number of 12 museums.
The non-museum partners which take part in the museum systems are private (43.8%) or cultural associations (37.5%).
These data were confirmed by a survey which had as its goal the analysis of the museum systems of Veneto. From this survey the following was identified:

• 3 Provincial systems (Rovigo, Padua, Venice);
• 5 Urban systems (Padua, Venice Verona, Vicenza, Treviso);
• 3 Museum systems (Museum system of Agno Chiampo, Rete Museale Altovicentino and of Lessinia);
• Museums of the University of Padua (CAM);
• Island of Museums of Treviso (Museum of Asolo, Fondazione Museo Antonio Canova di Possagno, Villa Emo, Villa Maser).

Other museum systems are being planned: 3 provincial systems (Belluno, Treviso, Vicenza), the Museums of Medicine (Museum of History of Medicine and Health of Venice; Museum of Medicine of Padua), and the Great War Eco-museum.