After decades of waiting and demands, Barcelona sees its State Public Library rise. Next to Estació de França, the future facility aims to become a major cultural center linked to the Ciutadella del Coneixement, with a focus on science, and also on thought in a broad sense, and as a major innovation center for the book sector.
"The library must have functions that go beyond proximity," a role already played by those in the current network, as highlighted by the manager of the Consorci de Biblioteques de Barcelona, Ferran Burguillos. Thus, access will be open to all residents, but the library's programs and projects will look beyond its immediate surroundings. "We are talking about a more metropolitan and global dimension," Burguillos emphasizes. Now, the administrations will work to define the library's projects and services within this global perspective and dimension.
"It will be Barcelona's central urban library," crowning the current network of libraries, according to the manager of the consortium, formed by the City Council and the Barcelona Provincial Council. With a budget of more than 82 million euros, the works will last five years, until 2030. The large facility will be distributed over six floors —plus two underground— totaling 16,000 square meters. Once completed, Barcelona will have the second largest library at the state level, only behind the National Library of Madrid.
The large library stems from a "historical demand," as Burguillos has remarked, recalling that the 1993 Library Law establishes that every municipality with more than 30,000 inhabitants must have a central urban library. In fact, the project dates back to the 90s, when it was planned to build it in El Born, but it was discarded with the findings of 1714 Barcelona under the old market. Finally, it has found its place next to Estació de França, on a plot of land ceded by the City Council. After the works, which depend on the Ministry of Culture, the management of the library will be transferred to the Generalitat, which is addressing, together with the other administrations, the governance model that will govern the future facility.
A great cultural center
The future library will have specialized music and audiovisual areas, in addition to ample spaces for teenagers and children, as well as an auditorium and multiple information points and multi-purpose, reading, study, and meeting spaces. In this context, "the functions of the library do not have to be proximity-based, but go further. The entire Barcelona network already has that function, with projects and programs that appeal to its neighborhoods and districts," Burguillos reiterates.In this sense, the functions of the future library include collecting all the legal deposit of the province of Barcelona, but go further: "It must be a great cultural center for Barcelona, and a great innovation center for access to information, with scientific dissemination programs." This role acquires a greater dimension taking into account the location of the library: it will be located in the surroundings of the Ciutadella del Coneixement, as a pole of science and research.
Key point for the book sector
In addition, the library will act as"great innovation center for the book sector", as it must be "the great exponent of the dissemination and popularization of Barcelona as an editorial capital." Thus, in addition to collecting all the editorial production of the province, it will work jointly with all agents in the book chain, from authors to publishers, bookstores, translators, and illustrators, "to establish a stable program of activities and dissemination of this entire field in a broad sense.""The intention is to turn the library into a great cultural center for scientific dissemination and thought," Burguillos summarizes. To do this, it will also house private archives of writers, to preserve their legacy. The first will be the archive of Juan Marsé, which is in the process of being acquired by the Ministry of Culture and will become part of the library's collection once it is operational.
All of this will fit into an already consolidated network of libraries. In this regard, the administrations are working on "how this library should be articulated taking into account the entire operation of the Barcelona network," Burguillos emphasizes: "Barcelona has a library network that is an international model, and the most important network in Southern Europe," to which a new cultural hub will now be added.