Eleven thousand visits to Formentera libraries in 2012

The counsellor of Education, Culture and Patrimony of the Formentera Council, Sònia Cardona, together with the institution's archival librarian, Margalida Serra, have presented their memoir on library services for the year 2012.

The Marià Villangómez library is both the administrative office of the other island libraries and the body responsible for acquisitions, cataloguing and activity planning for the Sant Francesc and Sant Ferran libraries. They offer services of on-site consultation, home-lending, bibliographic information and reference and internet-access.

Currently, in a space occupying 334 m², the Sant Francesc library hosts various sections, notable among them the news library, the children's area, the general area, the reference area, the international library, the audiovisual area, the computer area and the Catalan language self-study section. The goal is to provide a multipurpose cultural and educational space accessible to the entire resident body of Formentera.

A total of 656 users are registered with the service, and, in 2012, there were less cancelations than library card renewals, translating into a 2% increase in the number of users at the Sant Francesc library.

The total number of users at Formentera's two libraries (both registered library card-holders and occasional users) reaches 10,895, the majority from Villangómez (10,040). And, the two library services together registered a total of 9,196 lendings, 8,282 in Sant Francesc and 914 in Sant Ferran, figures somewhat lower to those of 2011. The Marià Villangómez Library has a total of 64 reading spaces, while the Sant Ferran location has 28.

Library activity, insofar as both the number of users and the percentage of lendings is concerned, has dropped 10% and 17% respectively, although it is necessary to note that from February to September of last year access to the library was affected by the construction of the Sant Francesc school loop-road. Upon completion of construction numbers rebounded considerably.

Over the course of 2012 various activities were organised to promote reading, including storytellings, school field trips, bibliocinema, monographic exhibitions and, new this year, book presentations and children's workshops for Sant Jordi Day. Likewise, the weekly Ràdio Illa programme, “Espai biblioteca” (Library spot), during which recommendations are made about books from the library's collection, has become an established element of the station's schedule. Of special note are also the book clubs for children and adults organised at both of the libraries, so far very successful.

The Sant Ferran library, predominantly a library in use to the school, is equipped with 3,881 documents, the majority of which are books, and activity is registered on a monthly basis by some 855 individuals. It is worth noting that the Sant Ferran location's collection of material is property of the Sant Ferran school, administered and held in deposit by the Formentera Council.

The Collective Bibliographical Catalogue of the Balearic Islands (Catàleg bibliogràfic col·lectiu de les Illes Balears, or CABIB) is another service of special note, which provides an ever-increasing portion of the central library's collection for Internet consultation. In 2010 proceedings were undertaken in order to obtain the proper SCOOP and its corresponding licences, and 2011 saw the installation of the Millennium programme, the version which allows for online access to work. This moment also marked the beginning of work with an individually-licensed version of the programme containing the new keys necessary for cataloguing.

The catalogue of archives that composes the Villangómez library's document library increased from 63,660 to 64,849. Acquisitions in 2012 totalled 1,361 documents, and the material already digitalized as part of the Millennium programme has reached 14,58%.

Until 2011 the municipal library network had a budget of twenty thousand euros, composed in equal parts of money from the Formentera Council and the Balearic government. Since last year and due to the significant economic cutbacks experienced, funding is currently only maintained through special efforts on the part of the Council, in the amount of ten thousand euros for new acquisitions.

Legal deposit
As of April 2009, Formentera has had its own legal deposit for use in the compilation of all the literary and audiovisual work produced on the island. This project allows for a tracking of all the cultural productions created on Formentera, and for their conservation and publication. A search of the letter F produces results for eighty-three printed documents for which space at the legal deposit was requested. Fifty published works correspond to the year 2012.

Historical Archives
Furthermore, it is important to note the extraordinary work being done around the Historical Archives of the Council, begun in 2010 and already of service to many of the Council's offices. Ninety-two requests for internal consultations were registered in 2011 and ninety in 2010.

In 2012, eleven archival documentation transfers were carried out, which represents a current total inventory of 4.8 linear meters of documentation, especially in the areas of construction projects, local census and civil registry (deaths, births and marriages). Also of note is the transfer of electoral information from 1908 to 1979. Today's inventory of linear documents reaches a length of 10.5 meters.

The Archives, aside from streamlining different procedures and formalities at the Council, will also be of great use to investigators and researchers on matters of Formentera history, and they have already registered five external information requests.