In November 2018 the Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes (ANVUR) has published a new set of guidelines to measure third mission university activities and their societal impact. The new ANVUR guidelines extend the indicators focused on the production of cultural and societal goods. For the first time, third mission library activities are measured together with museums and archives. The guidelines represent a step forward in the assessment of the third mission in Italy and offer the opportunity to give recognition to the new societal and cultural role of Italian academic libraries. Still much remains to be done to get a realistic picture of the great amount of third mission activities and events carried out by Italian academic libraries in the last few years.