Skip to main content

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

Libraries. By types. Counties, areas and provinces 2008
Public For specific user groups Higher education institutes Specialities Total Books
Alt Camp 4 0 0 4 8 92,468
Alt Empordà 8 1 0 3 12 266,126
Alt Penedès 9 0 0 2 11 155,730
Alt Urgell 2 0 1 2 5 74,406
Alta Ribagorça 1 0 0 1 2 .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available
Anoia 10 0 1 2 13 258,090
Bages 17 0 1 5 23 664,305
Baix Camp 10 0 2 8 20 507,014
Baix Ebre 5 2 2 7 16 174,440
Baix Empordà 10 0 0 4 14 242,908
Baix Llobregat 30 1 2 18 51 1,016,503
Baix Penedès 7 0 0 2 9 123,626
Barcelonès 51 7 35 147 240 9,755,251
Berguedà 5 0 0 3 8 106,898
Cerdanya 2 0 0 2 4 41,828
Conca de Barberà 4 0 0 4 8 155,363
Garraf 7 0 1 4 12 297,917
Garrigues 6 0 0 1 7 70,821
Garrotxa 7 0 0 3 10 135,798
Gironès 13 1 1 15 30 1,003,678
Maresme 24 1 3 5 33 819,111
Montsià 7 0 0 1 8 153,890
Noguera 6 0 0 3 9 105,100
Osona 17 1 1 6 25 587,220
Pallars Jussà 2 0 0 1 3 30,037
Pallars Sobirà 2 0 0 2 4 .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available
Pla d'Urgell 9 0 0 1 10 104,714
Pla de l'Estany 2 0 0 1 3 45,369
Priorat 2 0 0 2 4 20,552
Ribera d'Ebre 7 0 0 1 8 117,744
Ripollès 5 0 0 2 7 88,535
Segarra 4 0 1 2 7 79,905
Segrià 16 2 3 11 32 790,796
Selva 12 0 0 3 15 219,658
Solsonès 2 0 0 3 5 45,217
Tarragonès 8 1 5 10 24 852,800
Terra Alta 5 0 0 1 6 58,588
Urgell 5 0 1 2 8 92,631
Val d'Aran 2 0 0 2 4 37,747
Vallès Occidental 30 0 11 23 64 2,341,050
Vallès Oriental 26 1 0 9 36 693,006
Catalonia 401 18 71 328 818 22,479,430
Metropolità 177 10 52 208 447 15,078,568
Comarques Gironines 57 2 1 31 91 2,002,072
Camp de Tarragona 35 1 7 30 73 1,751,823
Terres de l'Ebre 24 2 2 10 38 504,662
Ponent 46 2 5 20 73 1,243,967
Comarques Centrals 51 1 3 19 74 1,661,730
Alt Pirineu i Aran 11 0 1 10 22 2,095,984
Barcelona 226 11 55 224 516 16,695,081
Girona 58 2 1 33 94 2,040,900
Lleida 58 2 6 31 97 1,486,964
Tarragona 59 3 9 40 111 2,256,485
Source: Idescat. Estadística de biblioteques.
(..) Confidential data, low reliability or not available.

Last update: December 16, 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

Untitled

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 "..".