The University of Illinois is getting a grant to catalog a collection of rare Italian books that it's had for more than nine decades.

The university said Monday that its Rare Book & Manuscript Library will use the nearly $500,000 grant to catalog a collection of more than 20,000 Italian imprints from the 16th through 19th centuries.

The library bought the collection in 1921 from the family of a count who was considered an authority on the local history of northern Italy.

Library Director Valerie Hotchkiss says the books are "one of the world's premier collections for Italian studies." But until now, the library didn't have the money to catalog them.

They'll be made available to scholars.

The grant comes from the Council on Library and Information Resources.