Extra Tour BOOKS

The relevance of libraries in the digital age

Literature and architecture have always been closely related. Structure is essential to both disciplines in their foremost purpose to create spaces and places endowed with meaning, either fictional or real. Today a UNESCO City of Literature, Barcelona had only 18 public libraries in 1998. The desire to democratize knowledge and to turn these facilities into “the city´s major cultural equipment” led to draft the “Barcelona Libraries Plan”, that allowed to double the number of libraries in only ten years. Conceived as open and inclusive spaces, they act as central places where citizens gather to explore, interact, and imagine. In the digital age, they matter more than ever. Barcelona’s finest examples of library architecture read like a good book.