Spain

Country Profile

The Country profile is a sort of Library Manifesto on sustainable development at national or local level, it illustrates the nature and the level of effort deployed by library associations and their partners in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in libraries.

Download the Country profile - PDF version with link references and contact information.
(Excerpt from the 2nd European Report on Sustainable Development and Libraries, prepared by EBLIDA and National Library of Latvia.)

Main organisations

In 2017, the Consejo de Cooperación Bibliotecaria (CCB) – including representatives from the Regions (Comunidades autónomas), the Ministry of Culture and FESABID, Spanish Federation of Archives, Libraries, Documentation and Museum Associations) - set up a Working Group in charge of elaborating a library policy for Spain in relation to the Agenda 2030. First steps included a permanent collaboration with the High Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda in Spain and the organisation of awareness activities in various Comunidades.

Activities

The attainment of different SDGs is pursued according to the overall policies followed by each Comunidad autónoma. For instance, the Rioja and the Castilla y León regions focus is on library heritage and awareness on sustainable development (respectively, SD Goals 11.4 and 4.7), the Navarra region axed on Access to information (SD Goal 16.10); Cataluña, Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León, as well as the cities of Higueruela and Salamanca concentrate on Goal 10 “Reducing inequality”. Still different were the orientations pursued in cities: Huesca deal with digital literacy (Goal 4), the “Women Writers Day” called on Gender Equality (SDG 5); the Green Library (Goal 15) is the aim of the Bibliotecas Municipales de La Coruña; with its initiative «Como en casa», SDG 16.10 is at the core of the Biblioteca of Sant Joan de Vilatorrada’s concerns. The Diputación de Barcelona is taking an even more holistic approach for its Library System. SDG-oriented library projects are not evaluated; CCB’s Call for “Data, data, data!” is more than justified.

A strategy, elaborated by CCB, has selected five strategic areas for development:

1. Increase library visibility and their contribution to personal development, social well-being and sustainable development. Six SDGs were identified as being more profitable for library development: Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-being), 4 (Quality Education), 5 (Gender equality), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), 10 (Reducing Inequality), 11 (Sustainable cities and communities) and 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions).
2. Guarantee access to information, culture and knowledge to all. Through Library mapping and indicators, CCB wished to offer a solution to the uneven development of the Spanish Library System and the lack of appropriate reporting systems.
3. Design, plan and provide new services having in mind the perspective of the 2030 Agenda, in terms of library development, collections, reference products and service organisation.
4. Re-modelling, generating and exploiting data for a proper evaluation of SDG-oriented library projects through more accurate and re-usable data. Impact studies should analyse the effect of library projects on the society, institutions and individuals.

In the 3^rd CCB Strategic Plan 2019-2023, 5 action lines are targeted at:

1. Users and the public as a whole. By putting citizenship at the centre of library services the gender perspective is applied in relation to collections, activity planning and service organisation.
2. Professionals and equipment. Library mapping should promote a re-definition of professional profiles and the development of training schemes.
3. Library visibility. The gender perspective is applied through service design, the communication of library’s added value and alliances made with the Third sector.
4. Digital citizenship through open Access, better access to information and resources and to the library cultural heritage as a common good.
5. Better functioning of the CCP, as a coordination centre and an influential body.

The Spanish policy on the 2030 Agenda also includes the Library Plans set up by the City of Madrid and the City of Barcelona. The City of Madrid Plan envisages different axes dealing with several SDGs (but in particular SDGs 1, 4, 9, 10, 11, 16) which implies workshops on literacy for people below the poverty threshold and immigrants innovation, new technologies and democratic development.

The Library network of Barcelona identified SDG Targets 4.4 and 4.5; 5.5, 8.3 and 8.9; 16.6, 16.7 and 16.10 as main drives for strategic development.

Useful links

http://www.fesabid.org/

https://www.ccbiblio.es/wp-content/uploads/GE-Biblioteca-y-Agenda-2030_-Informe2017-1.pdf https://www.ccbiblio.es/wp-content/uploads/GEBibliotecas-y-Agenda-2030-informe_2018.pdf https://www.ccbiblio.es/wp-content/uploads/propuesta_estrategia_Bcas-y-Agenda-2030_02.19_rev2.pdf.

https://www.diba.cat/documents/16060163/189231108/La+Red+de+Bibliotecas+Municipales+con+los+Objetivos+de+Desarrollo+Sostenible/14837cfa-1019-476a-94b7-293cbdac0c9e.

https://www.ccbiblio.es/wp-content/uploads/propuesta_estrategia_Bcas-y-Agenda-2030_02.19_rev2.pdf

https://www.ccbiblio.es/wp-content/uploads/III-Plan-Estrat%C3%A9gico-CCB-def.pdf

https://bibliotecas.madrid.es/portales/bibliotecas/es/Noticias/Manual-para-trabajar-la-Agenda-2030-de-Desarrollo-Sostenible-en-las-bibliotecas-municipales/?vgnextfmt=default&vgnextoid=f09b8a0a1c1e8610VgnVCM1000001d4a900aRCRD&vgnextchannel=165a0b6eb5cb3510VgnVCM1000008a4a900aRCRD.

 

>>>> Back to the Main page

 

---