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Libraries. By type. Counties and Aran, areas and provinces

Libraries. By types. Counties, areas and provinces 2006
Public For specific user groups Higher education institutes Specialities Total Books
Alt Camp 5 0 0 4 9 100,705
Alt Empordà 8 1 0 3 12 180,093
Alt Penedès 8 0 0 2 10 146,320
Alt Urgell 3 0 1 2 6 82,948
Alta Ribagorça 1 0 0 1 2 .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available
Anoia 10 0 1 2 13 241,986
Bages 19 0 1 5 25 693,916
Baix Camp 13 0 2 6 21 463,604
Baix Ebre 6 1 2 5 14 155,017
Baix Empordà 9 0 0 4 13 202,899
Baix Llobregat 31 1 2 17 51 967,343
Baix Penedès 6 0 0 2 8 98,311
Barcelonès 51 7 35 155 248 10,166,950
Berguedà 5 0 0 2 7 92,777
Cerdanya 2 0 0 2 4 50,459
Conca de Barberà 5 1 0 3 9 168,991
Garraf 7 0 1 4 12 279,283
Garrigues 6 0 0 1 7 68,077
Garrotxa 8 0 0 3 11 142,633
Gironès 13 1 1 16 31 956,969
Maresme 25 0 3 4 32 765,320
Montsià 7 0 0 1 8 128,215
Noguera 6 0 0 3 9 95,189
Osona 18 1 1 6 26 533,935
Pallars Jussà 2 0 0 1 3 24,660
Pallars Sobirà 2 0 0 2 4 .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available
Pla d'Urgell 9 0 0 1 10 93,565
Pla de l'Estany 2 0 0 1 3 46,047
Priorat 2 0 0 2 4 21,336
Ribera d'Ebre 7 0 0 1 8 111,540
Ripollès 5 0 0 2 7 77,910
Segarra 4 0 1 2 7 80,275
Segrià 16 2 3 12 33 735,127
Selva 12 0 0 3 15 201,544
Solsonès 2 0 0 3 5 47,689
Tarragonès 9 1 5 10 25 745,560
Terra Alta 5 0 0 1 6 54,300
Urgell 5 0 1 2 8 87,684
Val d'Aran 2 0 0 2 4 31,170
Vallès Occidental 33 0 11 21 65 2,278,017
Vallès Oriental 28 1 0 8 37 631,945
Catalonia 417 17 71 327 832 22,098,628
Metropolità 183 9 52 211 455 15,235,178
Comarques Gironines 57 2 1 32 92 1,808,095
Camp de Tarragona 40 2 7 27 76 1,598,507
Terres de l'Ebre 25 1 2 8 36 449,072
Ponent 46 2 5 21 74 1,159,917
Comarques Centrals 54 1 3 18 76 1,610,303
Alt Pirineu i Aran 12 0 1 10 23 237,556
Barcelona 235 10 55 226 526 16,797,792
Girona 58 2 1 34 95 1,844,713
Lleida 59 2 6 32 99 1,408,544
Tarragona 65 3 9 35 112 2,047,579
Source: Idescat. Estadística de biblioteques.
(..) Confidential data, low reliability or not available.

Last update: June 18, 2009.

Methodological note

Definition of concepts

Library
Organised collection of books and printed periodical publications or any other type of document, especially graphic or audiovisual ones, and a service of staff that assists users in their use of said documents for purposes of information, research, education or leisure. The library is also the administrative unit (the same management) which can contain one or more points of service. There are two types, as follows:
Libraries of higher education institutes
Library mainly dedicated to servicing students and teaching staff at university faculties, higher technical colleges, university colleges and other public or private centres of higher education.
Specialised libraries
Library that depends on an association, official service, research centre, museum or any other body dedicated to a particular discipline or branch, which determines the documentary content of the library. Can provide documentation or services to any body requesting it, or may be essentially designed to respond to the information needs of a certain audience.
National library
Institution whose purpose is to collect, conserve and provide access to Catalan bibliographic production and that related to the linguistic area of the Catalan language.
Public library
Library that is at the service of a community, especially a local community, and that attends to the general public (does not include military libraries). Includes both publicly owned libraries and those financed by private entities (savings banks associations, etc.) that are at the service of a community.

Methodological aspects

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The data for libraries has been obtained from the Library Statistics which is conducted biennially by the Statistical Institute of Catalonia (Idescat) at libraries that are open to the public.

The main goal of this operation is to produce statistical information on the main characteristics of libraries, including:

  • structure
  • operation
  • equipment
  • staff
  • expenditures
  • services

These statistics have been performed in accordance with a collaboration agreement signed between the National Statistical Institute INE and Idescat, and in conjunction with the Department of Culture of the Generalitat de Catalunya.

These statistics are of a census nature and collect information on all libraries, regardless of their administrative dependence. Nevertheless, there are some exclusions: on the one hand, private libraries that belong to private bodies or individuals and the use of which is not open to the public, not even under special conditions; and on the other, school. From 2016 onwards, information has been obtained from the military libraries in Catalonia.

Information that is not available is represented using the symbol ":". When the value is lower than the minimum unit allowed to estimate the statistical operation, or affects statistical secret, the symbol used is "..".