Helvetica (librarianship)
Helvetica is a Latin neuter plural adjective that can be used generally to denote "Swiss" or "Helvetian". In the book and library system, this means publications with a reference to Switzerland . Helvetica are part of the collection mandate of the Swiss National Library (NL).
Derivations related to the cantons
Analogous to the Helvetica, derivations that refer to the Latin names of the cantons designate the central collection areas of the canton libraries :
- Argoviensia to denote publications from or about the canton of Aargau
- Basiliensia to denote publications from or about the Canton of Basel
- Bernensia to denote publications from or about the Canton of Bern
- Sangallensia to denote publications from or about the canton of St. Gallen
- Thurgoviana to denote publications from or about the Canton of Thurgau
- Tugiensia for the designation of publications from or about the canton of Zug
- Turicensia to denote publications from or about Zurich (Latin: Turicum )
Helvetica within the meaning of the National Library Act
The NL's mandate is currently set out in the Federal Act on the Swiss National Library of December 18, 1992. Article 3 of this Act describes the NL's collective mandate as follows:
| "The National Library collects information, either printed or stored on other information carriers, which: |
| a. appear in Switzerland; |
| b. relate to Switzerland or to persons with Swiss citizenship or residence or |
| c. were created or co-designed by Swiss authors or authors associated with Switzerland. " |
The Swiss Federal Council has set out the provisions of the law in more detail in the ordinance on the Swiss National Library . In Article 2 of this ordinance, information carriers that meet the above characteristics are referred to as Helvetica and the criteria for their acquisition are specified in more detail.