LIVING

No fewer than 38 public neighbourhood libraries are dotted around Barcelona’s cityscape, with a wide range of services and activities including a surprising amount of material in English. What’s more, in a city where a registration or membership can often require applicants to produce seven photocopies of six documents and wait three days in line, joining a local library is refreshingly simple. All that is required is a valid form of identification (a passport or NIE will do) and a contact phone.

The issued blue plastic card entitles members access to the network of libraries throughout the city, and the ability to borrow up to three books for three weeks, and four DVDs and CDs for one week apiece. For those discouraged by local retailers’ high prices and limited selections, the majority of libraries offer an excellent range of novels and non-fiction works in English, as well as other selected languages such as German and French. Excellent self-study language resources in Castilian and Catalan are available for those keen to brush up on their pluscuamperfecto.

The libraries also boast a large range of DVDs with many new and classic titles, the majority of which may be watched in either versió original or with English subtitles. When a title is not available, the library will reserve it and contact you once it has been retrieved from within the library network.

Similarly, the music selection offered by the city’s libraries is extensive, stretching from classical to contemporary music. “It’s surprising what you can find amongst the music titles,” said Ricardo Rodríguez, who is a regular patron at the Biblioteca Xavier Benguerel in Villa Olimpica. “I often stumble across rare bands which I wouldn’t imagine you would find in the archives of a public library.”

All libraries offer free internet access for up to two hours per week and WiFi capability is available in selected libraries. For those who feel the technological revolution is charging ahead of them, computer-based workshops are provided free of charge in Catalan. Children are also well-catered to in libraries, which offer a separate section for the under-14s, with a reasonable selection in English.