Partner country - host of mobility: Spain - Catalonia

Thanks to the cooperation with librarians from Spain, ie with the association ACLEBIM – Spanish Association of Professional Mobile Librarians, we established contact with the hosts of mobility in Spain (Catalonia) The President of ACLEBIM, Mr. Roberto Soto, visited Croatia in 2019 as a guest lecturer at the 14th Conference on Mobile Libraries and the 8th Bibliobus Festival organized by the Croatian Library Association through its Mobile Libraries Commission. On that occasion, from Mr. Soto's presentation, we have learned that the Spanish mobile libraries are very succesful with modern and functional vehicles and a number of programs and activities for users. Mobile libraries in Spain are a very important part of the public library network: they provide a service to more than 10 million inhabitants. There are a total of 22 bibliobus services in Spain, with a total of 77 bibliobuses, of which 12 operate in Catalonia (14%). The first Spanish bibliobus was based in Barcelona back in 1938.

The segment of mobile librarianship is particularly important in libraries of the regional Library Association BPKP, which is the applicant for this Project, since the entire area of the three its counties consists of a large number of small villages and settlements where library services can be provided only through mobile libraries. So we decided to get acquainted with the Spanish system of libraries and mobile libraries, to exchange experiences with Spanish colleagues and use examples of good practice to improve and modernize the work of our libraries.

Given that the region of Catalonia has similarities with Croatia, looking at, for example, geographical area and characteristics, with a similar distribution of small and medium-sized towns and small, scattered villages, etc., it is possible to make comparisons with Croatia in order to examples of good practice from the Catalan network of mobile libraries, as well as public library networks in general, adapt and use to improve the work of libraries in Croatia. Therefore, Catalonia was chosen as the mobility destination.

The library system of the Autonomous Region of Catalonia, among other types and groups of libraries, includes 415 public  libraries that provide basic cultural services and which according to existing regulations must be established by all municipalities with more than 5,000 inhabitants, while bibliobuses serve in municipalities with less than 3,000 inhabitants. The region of Lleida, where we especially want to get acquainted with library services and their organization, in terms of population (429,212) can be roughly identified with the area in which the regional Library Association BPKP operates, with about 330,000 inhabitants in three counties.

Thanks to the cooperation with Mr. Robert Soto, contact was established with partners and hosts in Catalonia - Mr. Josep Vives, Head of the Library Department at the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Catalonia (as a partner organization) and Head of the Central Library Service for Lleida, Ms. Nati Moncasi. Since there are two bibliobuses in the Lleida region and it is a region of similar size as the area of our Association, Lleida was chosen as one of the mobility destination, while the other mobility goal is to get to know the library network in Barcelona, as one of the best organized library networks in Spain, where, among other things, there are 10 bibliobuses that cover a large suburban area around the city with a library service.