The IRIS Consortium, founded in 1993, is an association of Florentine area
art history and humanities libraries. The founding members are: the Biblioteca Berenson
(Villa I Tatti - The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies), the Library of the Dutch
University Institute for Art History, the Library of the Uffizi (Soprintendenza Speciale per il
Patrimonio Storico, Artistico ed Etnoantropologico e per il Polo Museale della cittą di Firenze),
and the Library of the Fondazione di Studi di Storia dell'Arte Roberto Longhi.
The consortium has expanded with the arrival of the Library of the
Istituto Nazionale di Studi sul Rinascimento (1997), the «Ugo Procacci» Library
of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure (1999), the Library of the Universitą Internazionale
dell'Arte (2003) and the Leonardiana Library at Vinci (2007).
The member institutes have joined together to create a union catalog (a shared bibliographic
database) available in Internet to scholars all over the world. The IRIS catalog, by virtue
of the highly specialized nature of these institute libraries, offers a resource unique in
its richness, focussing on the Italian Renaissance, its art history (including material on
the conservation and restoration of art objects), its history, literature, philosophy,
political thought, science and music. In addition, the IRIS website offers a union catalog
of art auction catalogs, and the online version of the «Bibliografia italiana di Studi
sull'Umanesimo ed il Rinascimento», formerly the supplement to the journal Rinascimento.
The IRIS Consortium is headquartered at the Istituto Nazionale di Studi sul Rinascimento,
in the historic Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy.



