The best libraries in the world

Just a month ago we learned that the new library in the Sant Martí de Provençals neighborhood of Barcelona, identified with the name of the great Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez, has been recognized as the best public library in the world in 2023, according to the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.

The award jury, as the news of those days highlighted, values architectural criteria, the integration of technological solutions, and the connection with the quality of the local environment. It is an award, then, that could be given to any public cultural, sports, or even health facility.

To understand the meaning of the award, it must be noted that libraries have been expanding and enriching the classic view of the library as "an institution whose purpose is the acquisition, conservation, study, and exhibition of books and documents," as defined by the RAE Dictionary, for many years. In contrast, libraries are increasingly moving away from some stereotypes that have long been part of the popular imagination.

On the one hand, libraries have evolved by expanding their content. Their raw material continues to be books, but the collections also open up to new formats and themes. Press and audiovisuals have been in catalogs for many years, while, in recent years, comics and board games, for example, have grown in presence and acceptance.

The consultation and loan of documents, on the other hand, has long been complemented by all kinds of activities, from reading clubs to the most varied courses and conferences, including the provision of spaces for study or, in the case of the province of Barcelona, the deployment of programs such as Bibliolab.

Speaking, as we are doing here, of library innovation and excellence, it is important to highlight how this program represents the will of libraries to work in four functions (discover, learn, create, and share) in very diverse projects and activities, acting as true citizen laboratories.

The role of professionals, key to success in the transformation of the library model, is in constant evolution

Thus, the functions of promoting reading habits and reading comprehension (like the programLexcitpromoted by the Jaume Bofill Foundation) continue to be part of the essence of the library andcoexist with the development of new themes and areas that will gain increasing weight,such as the challenges of Artificial Intelligence, media and information literacy (project Between the lines, reading disinformation), mental and community health, food and the environment.

Finally, the figure of professionals, key to the success in the transformation of the library model, is in permanent evolution, adding new competencies and skills to their profile. Library staff, for example, are increasingly connected with science and emerging technologies, cultural revitalization, and the specialization of themes and audiences. Progressively, it is also expected that specialized profiles in social education and community work will also become part of the teams.

The library as social infrastructure

And it is here that we begin to see that a library is already, today, much more even than a space dedicated to reading and knowledge. Based on the fact that the three elements mentioned (content, function, and professionals) are also found in their most updated forms in libraries such as the Gabriel García Márquez (thanks to network work), what is intended to be highlighted with the international recognition it has received is, in reality, the function of social infrastructure that libraries have today.

A library is already, today, much more even than a space dedicated to reading and knowledge

They are part of the "palaces for the people"to which it refersthe American sociologist Eric Klinenbergas fundamental elements to build a more egalitarian and cohesive society. These are the physical places (like all the types of facilities we mentioned) that bring together people from all walks of life and the organizations that shape the ways people interact in a society.

As Klinenberg says in his book, "although social infrastructure alone is not enough to unite polarized societies, protect vulnerable communities, or connect alienated individuals, we cannot address these challenges without it." The author identifies social infrastructure with the concept of "palaces for the people" precisely because that is how the more than 2,500 libraries that the American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie had built around the world between 1883 and 1929 came to be named.

Library spaces, as we have seen, have long tended to evolve, not only in terms of the introduction of technology, but also in recognizing the need to guarantee spaces for relationships without losing sight of the basic function of access to reading, information, and knowledge. And they become community benchmarks in many aspects.

Symbolic references, of course. Precisely, next October 24th is International Libraries Day, a commemoration that began as a tribute to the Sarajevo library destroyed in 1992 at the beginning of the city's siege by Serbian troops. Libraries, then, as spaces for safeguarding the culture of peoples and their collective memory and, therefore, susceptible to also becoming targets in identity wars.

Being part of community references can also entail other undesired consequences, such as being the target of anger against the system, as happened in the recent riots in the French banlieues, or being subject to censorship in various parts of the world, with a worrying trend in the US of which some examples have already reached our country.

Libraries are spaces for safeguarding the culture of peoples and their collective memory and, therefore, susceptible to also becoming targets in identity wars

The coincidence of this library anniversary with that of the International Day against Climate Change refers us, on the other hand, to the function of libraries asshared knowledge spaces, even generated by users in the form of citizen science, as is the case of the projectWe read the river.

On the other hand, libraries also play a role by acting as climate shelters. The library, in this case, as a physical reference, a safe and comfortable place to share with the neighborhood when conditions in the outdoor public space are not adequate.

We can, therefore, affirm that to a large extent libraries are in a position to fulfill both classic functions and those linked to the vision as social infrastructure. To achieve this, it is important to strengthen the management of the library in terms of resources, but it is equally or more important the ability to work in a network, among libraries and in relation to the community that surrounds them.

Unique libraries acting in a network

In the province of Barcelona, the Network of Municipal Libraries is currently made up of 233 libraries (including the 40 in the city of Barcelona, managed jointly by the City Council and the Provincial Council) and 12 itinerant bookmobiles.

It is estimated that approximately half of the population of the Barcelona metropolitan region has a library less than 500 meters away and they are always among the best-rated facilities, if not the best, in the different surveys conducted among citizens.

It can be easily guessed that within this network we can find many libraries that, among all the characteristics and functions explained above, excel in one or several of them, generating a strong positive impact on the people who use them and on the communities where they are located.

Within the network of libraries we can find many that excel in one or several of the functions of these facilities

It is certainly complicated, and to a certain extent unfair, to try to highlight only some of them. But simply with the intention of showing a certain territorial, functional or thematic diversity that may arouse interest in those who read these lines to explore the network more deeply, we will mentionthe Volpelleres library,in Sant Cugat del Vallès, which is one of those that has provided itself with a specific physical space to developinnovative projects.

Another singular case is that of the Biblioteca del Fondo in Santa Coloma, with its community project Cocinas del mundo (Kitchens of the World). It is a library where a kitchen has been installed that serves as a backbone for developing community projects and recognizing the cultural diversity of the neighborhood. Being in contact with the municipal market allows for the introduction of recipes of various origins, documentary resources, and activities around this axis.

Also interesting is the case of the Biblioteca Jordi Rubió i Balaguer in Sant Boi de Llobregat, a central library in the urban network of the municipality that has a long history in innovation projects linked to health and the environment and in connection with the Llobregat surroundings. Its most emblematic recent project is the Apiteca, focused on beekeeping, which features the installation of beehives in the library's inner courtyard.

The libraries of l'Hospitalet de Llobregat have been encouraged to bring an experience originating from Denmark to our metropolis: the human libraries, where "books" are people with varied profiles who offer to explain their life stories to a group of "readers," with the aim of breaking social barriers and challenging stereotypes and prejudices. The first edition will take place next Saturday, November 4, in the Les Planes – La Florida neighborhood.

We can also mention the Biblioteca Josep Pla, in Sant Pere de Ribes. A local library in the Les Roquetes neighborhood, recently renovated and expanded, with a strong commitment to working with young people, dedicating a specific space to meet the diverse needs and specific uses of this group.

Or, already outside the metropolitan area, the brand new Biblioteca Pilarín Bayés in Vic. Distinguished by its architectural quality, but above all by its ability to break the mental barrier that exists in the city between the El Remei neighborhood and the historic center, and also by its ability to integrate library services with other community and municipal services into one facility, such as a lab linked to music and image or the Citizen Attention Office.

In the rest of the territory, apart from the bibliobuses, there are libraries in small municipalities that do a great job guaranteeing access to reading and culture to the last corner of the country thanks, again, to networked work.

Networked work that from the PEMB we have identified as essential within the framework of the Cultural Vitality mission of the Metropolitan Commitment 2030 precisely to increase the possibilities of cultural participation to advance towards a more just, equitable and sustainable metropolis.

In the city of 5 million and beyond we have, not one, but all the best libraries in the world

If libraries are capable, then, ofto combine its consolidated nuclear functions with those of constituting a space for encounter and relationshipbetween citizens and make their environment gain urban quality, that is, become these "palaces for the people" that make up our social infrastructure, we will be able to affirm that, as a whole, in the city of 5 million and beyond we have, not one, but all the best libraries in the world.

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*Andreu Orte del Molino is head of the Programming and Innovation Unit. Library Services Management. Barcelona Provincial Council.

Oriol Estela is the General Coordinator of the Barcelona Metropolitan Strategic Plan (PEMB)