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

Libraries. By types. Counties and Aran, areas and provinces 2010
Public For specific user groups Higher education institutes Specialities Total Books
Alt Camp 4 0 0 4 8 102,559
Alt Empordà 8 1 0 3 12 295,126
Alt Penedès 9 0 0 2 11 171,625
Alt Urgell 2 0 1 1 4 49,564
Alta Ribagorça 1 0 0 1 2 17,779
Anoia 10 0 1 1 12 290,276
Val d'Aran 2 0 0 2 4 41,519
Bages 18 0 1 5 24 739,980
Baix Camp 9 0 0 8 17 467,502
Baix Ebre 7 1 1 6 15 188,788
Baix Empordà 10 0 0 4 14 267,462
Baix Llobregat 32 2 2 18 54 1,146,070
Baix Penedès 7 0 0 2 9 148,503
Barcelonès 57 5 31 146 239 10,370,815
Berguedà 5 0 0 3 8 109,451
Cerdanya 2 0 0 2 4 37,386
Conca de Barberà 5 0 0 4 9 178,398
Garraf 7 0 1 4 12 338,181
Garrigues 6 0 0 1 7 77,869
Garrotxa 7 0 0 3 10 142,083
Gironès 13 1 1 13 28 987,366
Maresme 27 0 2 4 33 1,208,117
Montsià 7 0 0 1 8 142,331
Noguera 6 0 0 3 9 106,810
Osona 17 1 1 7 26 599,070
Pallars Jussà 2 0 0 1 3 35,534
Pallars Sobirà 2 0 0 2 4 26,639
Pla d'Urgell 9 0 0 1 10 106,909
Pla de l'Estany 2 0 0 1 3 50,954
Priorat 2 0 0 2 4 23,978
Ribera d'Ebre 7 0 0 1 8 103,381
Ripollès 5 0 0 2 7 98,349
Segarra 4 0 1 2 7 86,405
Segrià 16 2 3 10 31 793,858
Selva 12 0 0 3 15 240,298
Solsonès 2 0 0 3 5 43,878
Tarragonès 8 1 1 11 21 1,143,134
Terra Alta 5 0 0 1 6 49,066
Urgell 5 0 0 2 7 91,575
Vallès Occidental 33 0 11 22 66 2,499,930
Vallès Oriental 26 2 0 7 35 755,008
Catalonia 418 16 58 319 811 24,373,526
Metropolità 175 9 46 197 427 15,979,940
Comarques Gironines 57 2 1 29 89 2,081,638
Camp de Tarragona 28 1 1 29 59 1,915,571
Terres de l'Ebre 26 1 1 9 37 483,566
Ponent 46 2 4 19 71 1,263,426
Comarques Centrals 42 1 2 18 63 1,492,379
Alt Pirineu i Aran 11 0 1 9 21 208,421
Penedès 33 0 2 9 44 948,585
Barcelona 241 10 50 219 520 18,228,523
Girona 58 2 1 31 92 2,116,024
Lleida 58 2 5 29 94 1,481,339
Tarragona 61 2 2 40 105 2,547,640
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: October 25, 2019.

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 "..".