The libraries of the Municipal Library Network of the Barcelona Provincial Council receive daily visits from 64,440 people who take 42,923 documents. During 2023, these municipal facilities had a total of 16,676,215 visitors, 24% more than the previous year, and made 11,870,829 loans, 10% more than in 2022.
Beyond lending and studying, libraries offer services related to information and the right to access and participate in culture. In the Municipal Library Network, 154 activities are offered every day aimed at all audiences (conferences, story hours, reading clubs, citizen science workshops…) that contribute to the cultural revitalization of the municipalities.
Services for the promotion of reading, the promotion of the reading habit, the development of information search skills and a critical spirit are a strategic line that all public libraries offer to the educational community. Every day 62 schools visit one of the libraries or library buses in the network, and in 2023 the schools made 451,00 loans. In general, children’s audiences represent 54% of total loans, with 4,275,894 documents in 2023.
The cost of maintaining the Municipal Library Network of the Barcelona Provincial Council is 22 euros per inhabitant, equivalent to the cost of purchasing a book.
Public libraries are municipal facilities that work in a network to offer a range of global documents and services.
In 2023, a special effort was made to reach new users, especially those who temporarily cannot access the public library. In this sense, a collaboration service has been put into operation between 6 libraries of the Municipal Library Network of the Barcelona Provincial Council and the juvenile justice centres, offering both loans and activities to promote reading.
Currently, the Municipal Library Network of the Barcelona Provincial Council is made up of 233 libraries and 12 bookmobiles that serve 283 municipalities in the province.
During the year 2024, the new vehicle of the Pedraforca library bus was inaugurated, and it is planned to expand the service offered by the library buses in Berguedà with the arrival of the Serra del Cadí library bus in Gósol. With this extension, 100% of municipalities in the Berguedà region will have a public reading service, either through the Library or Bibliobús.
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