The central library of the National Research Council (CNR) was founded in 1927 after the CNR was granted the right to receive legal deposit copies of all scientific and technical texts published in Italy (pursuant to article 1 of Royal Legislative Decree n. 638 dated March 31, 1927).
In the decade which followed, as it grew into a specialised scientific library, the first steps were made towards its final organization, thus combiningits role as CNR central library with that of specialised research library.
In the autumn of 1936 the CNR moved to its new purpose-built headquarters near Rome 's ‘La Sapienza' University, along with the library which has remained there to this day. At that time the library's collection already amounted to more than 40,000 books and 10,000 miscellaneous publications.
The library's internal regulations were approved by a decree of the Head of State (DGC) dated April 12, 1939 . Drawn up with noteworthy broadmindedness,the regulations first defined the library as the central repository of the CNR collection of books and publications, recognising its coordinating role (art. 1);they also stressed its public function, confirmed by the wide range of services provided, including on-site consultation, photo reproduction and lending (art. 36-56).
After the hiatus caused by the war and following the approval of new legislative measures (Legislative Decree n. 82 dated March 1, 1945), the CNR in general and the library in particular resumed their activities, the latter being confirmed, once again, in its role and responsibility for the conservation and distribution of the scientific publications previously assigned to it.
In the years that followed, up until 1960, the combination of legal deposit copies, significant purchases of prestigious foreign scientific publications and donations by both public bodies and private individuals contributed to expanding the library's collection.
In 1961, with lack of space now a serious problemthe construction of a new 14-storey book repository was authorised (the so-called ‘ Library Tower '). Meanwhile, works were carried out to accommodate more reading rooms.
In 1976, the growing number of both publications and users required a comprehensive reorganization of the available space, an increase in the number of reading rooms and the availability of space for students for direct consultation of bibliographic databases and specialised publications.
The new regulations n. 475 dated October 7, 1987 and published in the November 23 issue of the Gazzetta Ufficiale , replaced the 1939 regulations, outlining operating procedures and institutional tasks which confirmed the leading role of the CNR Central library in the field of scientific and technical publications.
However, by 1985 the library had already assumed an international status, becoming the national Reference Centre for the coordination of Italian Grey Literature in Europe . In 1990, it became Italy 's Reference Centre of the NTIS (National Technical Information Service), the information system used in the U.S. for the consultation and integration of international databases.
In 1991, it became the EU Commission Depository Library, following an agreement protocol signed with the EU Commission Directorate General for Information, Communication and Culture. Due to this agreement, a copy is sent to the library of all periodical and monographic publications, in both printed and electronic formats, concerning the activities of the various EU Institutions (Commission, Council, Parliament, Court of Justice, Economic and Social Committee, Committee of the Regions, European Investment Bank and EUROSTAT) issued by the EU Office for Official Publications, the EUR-Op.
In the same period, the humanities section was expanded so as to accommodate the philological, social and juridical, historical and artistic material published with the contribution of the CNR and the library was provided with the necessary encyclopaedic and repertorial references concerning those subjects.
The CNR Central Library was and is still a research library, which means that an essentially scientific language is required to describe its collection: a language to be shared with a user-base that is mainly made up of researchers. Following the advances in information storage and retrieval techniques and the subsequent undeniable advantages in terms of text search and identification procedures, in 2001 the indexing system used to identify documents was redefined with the creation of an integrated system combining subjects and the Dewey Decimal Classification and its conversion into an electronic format that is in constant evolution.

On April 7, 1995 the CNR Central Library revived the memory of Guglielmo Marconi by assuming his name in permanent recognition of its founder