Los mapas antiguos como fuente de información: aportes para su descripción documental

For libraries, old maps are, from the point of view of technical processing, one of the most complex document types. Due to its double nature, cartographical and historical, due to the variety of iconographic and symbolic characteristics that they present and the artistic elements used in their ornamentation, their analysis is not simple. This task is often made even more difficult because the lack of data –either because they were not incorporated at the time of creation of the work or a later loss of physical medium– and their texts are expressed in foreign or archaic languages. The purpose of this work is to present some of the characteristics that appear more often in these documents to help elaborate records that contain precise and exhaustive details. A more detailed documentary description will provide researchers of different disciplines with a more precise knowledge of the cartographical funds they consult.