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

Libraries. By types. Counties, areas and provinces 2004
Public For specific user groups Higher education institutes Specialities Total Books
Alt Camp 5 0 0 4 9 97,494
Alt Empordà 6 1 0 3 10 219,159
Alt Penedès 8 0 0 2 10 144,855
Alt Urgell 2 0 0 2 4 65,297
Alta Ribagorça 1 0 0 1 2 .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available
Anoia 10 0 1 2 13 190,983
Bages 19 0 1 5 25 654,360
Baix Camp 13 0 2 6 21 411,644
Baix Ebre 8 0 1 6 15 174,870
Baix Empordà 9 0 0 4 13 187,325
Baix Llobregat 30 1 2 17 50 795,648
Baix Penedès 6 0 0 2 8 77,526
Barcelonès 51 8 37 166 262 9,016,141
Berguedà 5 0 0 2 7 90,265
Cerdanya 2 0 0 2 4 45,748
Conca de Barberà 5 0 0 3 8 145,862
Garraf 7 0 1 4 12 251,916
Garrigues 6 0 0 1 7 68,644
Garrotxa 8 0 0 3 11 137,288
Gironès 12 1 1 16 30 843,198
Maresme 25 0 3 3 31 664,724
Montsià 7 0 0 1 8 108,524
Noguera 6 0 0 3 9 98,893
Osona 18 1 1 6 26 508,629
Pallars Jussà 2 0 0 1 3 20,784
Pallars Sobirà 2 0 0 2 4 .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available
Pla d'Urgell 9 0 0 1 10 93,317
Pla de l'Estany 3 0 0 1 4 73,427
Priorat 2 0 0 1 3 21,275
Ribera d'Ebre 7 0 0 1 8 103,873
Ripollès 5 0 0 2 7 72,626
Segarra 4 0 1 2 7 74,920
Segrià 16 1 3 13 33 654,796
Selva 11 0 0 3 14 185,500
Solsonès 2 0 0 3 5 46,786
Tarragonès 9 1 4 10 24 702,655
Terra Alta 5 0 0 1 6 50,815
Urgell 6 0 1 2 9 87,583
Val d'Aran 2 0 0 2 4 22,764
Vallès Occidental 32 0 11 21 64 2,096,013
Vallès Oriental 27 1 0 7 35 526,040
Catalonia 412 15 70 337 835 19,885,008
Metropolità 179 10 54 220 464 13,495,337
Comarques Gironines 54 2 1 32 89 1,718,523
Camp de Tarragona 40 1 6 26 73 1,456,456
Terres de l'Ebre 27 0 1 9 37 438,082
Ponent 47 1 5 22 75 1,078,153
Comarques Centrals 54 1 3 18 76 1,491,023
Alt Pirineu i Aran 11 0 0 10 21 207,434
Barcelona 231 11 57 235 535 14,939,574
Girona 55 2 1 34 92 1,750,567
Lleida 59 1 5 33 98 1,300,329
Tarragona 67 1 7 35 110 1,894,538
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 "..".