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

Libraries. By types. Counties, areas and provinces 1998
Públiques generals Altres públiques Superiors univ. Superiors no univ. Specialities Total Llibres
Alt Camp 4 0 1 0 3 8 75,604
Alt Empordà 7 1 0 0 3 11 207,413
Alt Penedès 10 0 0 0 2 12 108,337
Alt Urgell 3 0 1 0 2 6 69,717
Alta Ribagorça 1 0 0 0 1 2 .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available
Anoia 10 1 1 0 3 15 164,186
Bages 17 1 1 0 4 23 559,759
Baix Camp 12 1 2 0 6 21 284,302
Baix Ebre 8 0 1 0 6 15 130,268
Baix Empordà 10 0 0 0 4 14 155,904
Baix Llobregat 29 3 1 0 14 47 571,477
Baix Penedès 6 0 0 0 2 8 74,205
Barcelonès 52 21 37 9 180 299 8,657,975
Berguedà 6 0 0 0 1 7 69,259
Cerdanya 2 0 0 0 3 5 34,622
Conca de Barberà 4 1 0 0 3 8 136,337
Garraf 5 0 1 0 4 10 176,423
Garrigues 6 0 0 0 1 7 52,341
Garrotxa 8 0 0 0 3 11 98,495
Gironès 10 3 1 0 16 30 636,663
Maresme 22 1 2 0 5 30 509,471
Montsià 7 0 0 0 1 8 99,353
Noguera 6 0 0 0 3 9 78,730
Osona 20 1 1 1 5 28 431,211
Pallars Jussà 2 0 0 0 1 3 31,612
Pallars Sobirà 2 0 0 0 2 4 .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available
Pla d'Urgell 9 0 0 0 1 10 81,801
Pla de l'Estany 1 2 0 0 1 4 33,695
Priorat 2 0 0 0 1 3 19,717
Ribera d'Ebre 7 0 0 0 1 8 101,045
Ripollès 5 0 0 0 1 6 71,830
Segarra 4 0 1 0 2 7 49,510
Segrià 16 3 2 2 13 36 454,258
Selva 12 0 0 0 3 15 156,400
Solsonès 2 0 0 0 3 5 37,909
Tarragonès 10 1 7 0 10 28 544,338
Terra Alta 5 0 0 0 1 6 45,179
Urgell 6 0 0 1 2 9 69,957
Val d'Aran 2 0 0 0 3 5 20,005
Vallès Occidental 27 0 15 0 20 62 1,702,544
Vallès Oriental 21 2 0 0 8 31 366,140
Catalunya 397 42 75 13 348 876 17,214,205
Metropolità 165 27 56 9 233 491 12,092,367
Comarques Gironines 53 6 1 0 31 91 1,360,400
Camp de Tarragona 38 3 10 0 25 76 1,134,503
Terres de l'Ebre 27 0 1 0 9 37 375,845
Ponent 57 3 4 3 31 98 954,144
Comarques Centrals 57 3 3 1 19 83 1,296,946
Barcelona 218 30 59 10 246 564 13,316,782
Girona 54 6 1 0 34 95 1,382,345
Lleida 60 3 4 3 34 104 1,004,730
Tarragona 65 3 11 0 34 113 1,510,348
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

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 "..".