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

Libraries. By types. Counties, areas and provinces 2014
Public For specific user groups Higher education institutes Specialities Total Books
Alt Camp 4 1 0 4 9 118,272
Alt Empordà 9 2 0 3 14 320,250
Alt Penedès 9 0 0 3 12 183,686
Alt Urgell 2 0 1 3 6 82,086
Alta Ribagorça 1 0 0 1 2 18,707
Anoia 10 0 1 3 14 288,466
Bages 18 0 1 6 25 840,446
Baix Camp 9 0 0 6 15 527,212
Baix Ebre 8 1 1 7 17 239,809
Baix Empordà 11 0 0 5 16 318,641
Baix Llobregat 34 2 2 18 56 1,316,770
Baix Penedès 8 0 0 2 10 169,869
Barcelonès 60 5 30 140 235 11,055,496
Berguedà 5 0 0 3 8 104,896
Cerdanya 2 0 0 2 4 42,308
Conca de Barberà 4 0 0 4 8 232,156
Garraf 6 0 1 4 11 301,146
Garrigues 6 0 0 1 7 73,580
Garrotxa 7 0 0 4 11 145,915
Gironès 13 2 1 11 27 1,035,129
Maresme 28 0 1 5 34 1,145,055
Moianès 1 0 0 1 2 34,525
Montsià 9 0 0 2 11 195,808
Noguera 6 0 0 3 9 108,060
Osona 17 1 1 8 27 599,262
Pallars Jussà 2 0 0 1 3 37,407
Pallars Sobirà 2 0 0 2 4 17,435
Pla d'Urgell 9 0 0 1 10 112,916
Pla de l'Estany 3 0 0 1 4 77,439
Priorat 2 0 0 2 4 37,075
Ribera d'Ebre 7 0 0 2 9 107,500
Ripollès 5 0 0 2 7 110,036
Segarra 4 0 1 2 7 86,849
Segrià 15 2 2 11 30 756,289
Selva 14 0 0 4 18 281,064
Solsonès 2 0 0 3 5 32,175
Tarragonès 9 1 1 11 22 994,732
Terra Alta 5 0 0 1 6 64,401
Urgell 6 1 0 2 9 101,721
Val d'Aran 2 0 0 2 4 43,661
Vallès Occidental 34 1 10 23 68 2,363,879
Vallès Oriental 29 3 0 7 39 857,059
Catalonia 437 22 54 326 839 25,579,188
Metropolità 185 11 43 193 432 16,738,259
Comarques Gironines 62 4 1 30 97 2,288,474
Camp de Tarragona 28 2 1 27 58 1,909,447
Terres de l'Ebre 29 1 1 12 43 607,518
Ponent 46 3 3 20 72 1,239,415
Comarques Centrals 44 1 2 21 68 1,629,304
Alt Pirineu i Aran 11 0 1 11 23 241,604
Penedès 32 0 2 12 46 925,167
Barcelona 251 12 47 221 531 19,090,686
Girona 63 4 1 32 100 2,325,577
Lleida 58 3 4 32 97 1,476,091
Tarragona 65 3 2 41 111 2,686,834
Source: Idescat. Estadística de biblioteques.
Note: Law 23/2010, of July 22, on the creation of the area of Penedès, divides Catalonia into eight territorial planning areas. This change implies that the data for the Metropolitan Area, Central Counties and Camp de Tarragona are not directly comparable with previous years.

Last update: December 17, 2015.

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 "..".