School libraries are increasing, but are closed for longer hours

BarcelonaCatalonia has recovered a quarter of the school libraries that had lost five years ago, but these are smaller and are closed for longer periods of time compared to the 2019-2020 school year. School library statistics published by the Department of Education and Vocational Training establish that the downward trend was reversed in the 2023-2024 school year: centers - both public and private - with school libraries have gone from 56.8% in 2020 to 72.9% in 2024, and are close to the situation, of this service. Teachers, librarians and experts consulted by ARA attribute this change to several factors: the reopening of libraries that had been closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the decline in the level of reading comprehension of Catalan students —which has pushed the centers to look for ways to improve it by opening libraries—, changes in the curricula -now more focused on promoting reading- and the reduction of classroom libraries in place of school libraries.

"In 2022, there was a curricular change that highlights the need for a school library and emphasizes its functions. The message has resonated; schools are becoming aware," says Mònica Badia, a technician with the School Library Improvement Plan (MIB plan). "The focus has been placed on the importance of reading comprehension, which is one of the hallmarks of our education system. Schools have realized that a school library is not a book store or a classroom, but a space to meet this need," adds Pere May, head of the Language Support and Resources Service of the Department of Education and Vocational Training.

In 2020, 59.9% of schools without a library justified it by saying they already had a classroom library. By 2024, this percentage had dropped to 38.1%. "A few years ago, classroom libraries were heavily promoted, and many schools used them as a substitute for the school library because it's much cheaper to have a drawer with four books in the classroom. Now it's clear that this system doesn't work," says Júlia Baena, a school librarian and professor at the University of Barcelona (UB). From her point of view, classroom and school libraries shouldn't be mutually exclusive—"in fact, especially in primary school, it's highly recommended, almost mandatory," Baena emphasizes—but the former should be managed by the team in charge of the latter. The reopening of school libraries has also been helped by "the current context of criticism toward digitalization," explains librarian Carlos Ortiz, who has worked in public schools in Barcelona for fifteen years and is a member of the Bibliomedia Group and the working group of the Official College of Librarians of Catalonia. "We know that reading skills improve other skills. After a few crazy years with digitalization, reading is being valued again," says Ortiz.

TheCatalan education law(LEC 12/2009) establishes that "all educational centers must have a school library," but when it comes to implementing it, the responsibility falls on each school. 81.5% of schools in Catalonia responded to the survey (85.2% of public schools and 71.1% of private schools). Baena and Ortiz believe that the 18.5% that did not respond is due to not having a school library. If this were the case, the percentage of schools with this service would be slightly below the figures indicated by the department's statistics. In any case, Mayans emphasizes that "the percentages are high" and that the department "insists and provides arguments for schools to have a library."

More loans and greater reading promotion

Beyond the increase in school libraries, the statistics present other positive data. The average number of loans during the 2023-2024 academic year was 959, the highest figure since the survey began (in 2020 it was 727 and in 2016, 712). The percentage of libraries offering reading promotion activities is also growing. In 2024, 68.7% of libraries organized these activities, nine percentage points above the 2020 data but still far from the figures for 2016 and 2011, when the percentage exceeded 80%. These two data show, according to the Department of Education, the effect of promoting reading within the new curricula and also of the reading comprehension improvement plan included in the National Book and Reading Plan.

But it's not all roses and violets in the new survey. One of the data that most worries experts is the reduction in library opening hours per week. The average has dropped from 20.8 hours in 2011 to 6.2 in 2024. "In many centers, the library is only open during break time," laments Baena. Consequently, the average number of hours assigned to library tasks by library staff has dropped significantly in more than a decade; it has dropped from 7 hours to 3 hours.

Behind this figure lies one of the endemic problems of Catalan school libraries: the lack of human resources dedicated to this service. Ideally, libraries should have a person in charge, knowledgeable in library and loan management, and with the necessary time to comply with a pre-established plan. But the reality is different: often, the person in charge of library management is a teacher who must juggle this with class time and other responsibilities, and most schools (57.3% in 2024) have no plan at all. "When the responsibility falls on a teacher, the school relieves them of the teaching load, but two or three hours a week is clearly insufficient. Books need to be catalogued, activities organized to encourage reading, and so on. And teachers should have a literary culture, which doesn't always happen," highlights the president of the Official College of Librarians and Documentalists of Catalonia (

). To enhance all these aspects, the department launched the MIB plan during the 2023-2024 academic year, a pilot plan aimed at 50 centers with a librarian on duty to support and train teachers and accompany them in improving the library of each school or institute. Among other things, the plan "explains the importance of the library so that centers keep it in mind when prioritizing hours, incorporates the role of the library in center documents and provides tools to help them prune books and update spaces," says Mayans.

However, school libraries are school projects. Ultimately, each management team decides how much time and what portion of the budget is allocated to the library, which also often receives funding from student family associations (AFA). In fact, schools cannot directly hire library staff, but must do so through the AFA. In 2024, 88.3% of the library staff were teachers, and 47.1% volunteered their time. "Right now in Catalonia, there aren't 5,000 librarians to send to each school. But teacher librarians should have a minimum level of training," González-Cuadra points out.

The statistics also indicate that school libraries have lost physical space: they have decreased from 63.7 m² from an average of 59.4%. Likewise, the number of libraries with internet access in public secondary schools decreased (from 87.5% to 66.7%). "We have more libraries, but the services they offer are certainly more study halls. The conclusion is that they have reopened, but not with all the services. Perhaps what we have more are study halls with library signs than libraries," reflects Ortiz. Regarding the changes in the physical space, the Deputy Director of Languages, Andreu Freixes, points out that the Department is working to "adapt the spaces to the new concept of libraries, which connect students with the cultural environment and allow them to participate in a pleasant way, in open-plan rooms conducive to reading."

For all these reasons, Freixes emphasizes the Department of Education's "commitment" to school libraries. "There's a strong commitment to moving forward with a project appropriate to the educational context to support the new curriculum. The library is central to this project; we're working hard to ensure that this is the case," says the Deputy Director of Languages, adding: "Improving reading comprehension is one of the educational challenges and a national priority. School libraries.