Biblioteca de Catalunya - Nau de tramuntana

The Library of Catalonia ( ca, Biblioteca de Catalunya, ) is the Catalan national library, located in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. The primary mission of the Library of Catalonia is to collect, preserve, and spread Catalan bibliographic production and that related to the Catalan linguistic area, to look after its conservation, and to spread its bibliographic heritage while maintaining the status of a center for research and consultation. The Library occupies 8,820 m² and has nearly about four million items. It is a special member of the

Consortium of European Research Libraries The Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL) is a consortium of research libraries, primarily in Europe, that facilitates access to historians with an interest in the history of the book by providing online resources. The organisation also ...

(CERL).

History

The library was founded in 1907, as the library of the

Institute for Catalan Studies The Institute for Catalan Studies ( ca, Institut d'Estudis Catalans, ), also known by the acronym IEC, is an academic institution which seeks to undertake research and study into "all elements of Catalan culture". It is based in Barcelona, Catalon ...

(''Institut d'Estudis Catalans'', IEC). It was opened to the public on 28 May 1914, in the time of the recently founded

Commonwealth of Catalonia The Commonwealth of Catalonia ( ca, Mancomunitat de Catalunya, ) was a deliberative assembly made up of the councillors of the four provinces of Catalonia. Promoted in its final stages of gestation by the Regionalist League of Catalonia, it wa ...

, and was housed in the

Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya The Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya is a historic palace in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It houses the offices of the Presidency of the Generalitat de Catalunya. It is one of the few buildings of medieval origin in Europe that still function ...

.''La Biblioteca de Catalunya'' (Guide in English)
, p. 4. In 1914, the Commonwealth of Catalonia converted the library of the IEC into a public cultural service. In its early days, the Library was situated in an area of the Palau de la Generalitat in Barcelona. In 1929, the Library was acquired by the city government of Barcelona. In 1931, the 15th century buildings formerly occupied by the (Old) Hospital de la Santa Creu were declared a part of Spain's historical patrimony; and the municipality of Barcelona approved the cession of large portion of the site to the Biblioteca de Catalunya.''La Biblioteca de Catalunya'' (Guide in English)
, p. 6. During the

Republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

era (1931-1939), the process of relocation began. In 1934, the

Generalitat Generalitat (, literally in English 'Generality') is the name of two major medieval and early modern political institutions and their modern-day analogues in Kingdom of Spain. The ancient Principality of Catalonia and the Kingdom of Valencia were ...

confirmed its status of general institution with full legal personality by the Law of the Service of Libraries. In 1936, the first reading room of the new seat, the Sala Cervantina, was opened, but the project was halted because of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

(1936-1939) and not all of the necessary adaptations were completed. After the fall of Barcelona in January 1939, the library was closed until 1940. After the Spanish Civil War, in 1940, the Library was reopened under the new name of Biblioteca Central ("Central Library") by

Francoist dictatorship Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

and moved to its new site, where it remains to this day. In Francoist Spain, the institution was turned into a general use library, which was intended to supplement the deficiencies of the public and university libraries. In 1981, two years after the restoration of Catalan self-government, it was made the national library of Catalonia by the ''Llei de biblioteques'' ("Libraries law"), approved by the

Parliament of Catalonia The Parliament of Catalonia ( ca, Parlament de Catalunya, ; es, Parlamento de Cataluña; oc, Parlament de Catalonha) is the unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. The Parliament is currently made up of 135 mem ...

, conferring upon it the duties of the reception, conservation, and distribution of the Catalan

legal deposit Legal deposit is a legal requirement that a person or group submit copies of their publications to a repository, usually a library. The number of copies required varies from country to country. Typically, the national library is the primary reposit ...

. In 1993, the Law of the Library System of Catalonia extended the institution's depository functions and helped in its modernization, which included the remodelling of the building, its reorganization and the digitization of its procedures. During the 1990s, a major renovation project further transformed the Library, including the construction of four underground levels of storage (creating more than 40 kilometres of shelf-space) and the annex building. In 1998, the Library renovated the Gothic elements of its buildings and extended its space, thanks to the construction of a new services building.

Partnership with Google

In 2007, the ''Biblioteca de Catalunya'' and four more Catalan libraries agreed to join the digitization project. These libraries have begun digitizing books of theirs that are in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

. The digitization partnership project is intended to make these books available on the Internet. The Biblioteca de Catalunya acts as coordinator and intermediary on behalf of the other four Catalan libraries participating in the project: *the library of the Monastery of Montserrat, *the Public Episcopal Library of the Seminary of Barcelona, *the Library of the Barcelona Excursionist Centre and *the Library of the Barcelona Athenaeum. The Catalan libraries group became the second non-Anglo-Saxon collaborator to join the

Google Books Library Project Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

, within the

Google Book Search Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

program. In 1977, the Library of Catalonia joined another Spanish participant in the project, the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loca ...

.''La Biblioteca de Catalunya'' (Guide in English)
, p. 22.

Statistics

* Linear metres of shelving: ** Free access: 1,500 m (20,000 volumes)''La Biblioteca de Catalunya'' (Guide in English)
, p. 30. ** Closed stacks: 49,000 m * Total surface area of the Biblioteca: 15,000 m2 * Total surface area of the General reading room: 2,700 m2 * Surface area of the Reserve room: 360 m2 * Seats (reading points): 229 * Total documents: 3 million (estimated)

References

* Riding, Alan
"France Detects a Cultural Threat in Google,"
''New York Times.'' 11 April 2005.

External links

Official website

The European Library
{{Authority control 1907 establishments in Catalonia Organizations established in 1907

Libraries in Barcelona Libraries established in 1907 Buildings and structures in Barcelona Tourist attractions in Barcelona Education in Barcelona Deposit libraries Catalonia Barcelona

History

Partnership with Google

Statistics

See also

References

Further reading

External links