The Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council, via the Autonomous Culture Organism (OAC), demonstrated to the residents of the Centro-Ifara district how the municipal library operates on Wednesday. This distinctive service in the Canary Islands was launched on 21st November 1977 with the intention of delivering culture and literature to communities lacking permanent libraries. It has established itself as a vital resource in the more remote areas of the municipality, visiting 17 neighbourhoods across the five districts on a scheduled basis every three weeks.
During this visit, the Mayor of Santa Cruz, José Manuel Bermúdez, joined the locals at the Biblioguagua to educate them on its operations. He emphasised “the convenience and simplicity of the service” and praised “the efforts of the Autonomous Culture Agency in promoting reading among the communities of the five districts, enabling both young people and adults to engage with culture without requiring travel.”
The Cultural Councillor, Santiago Díaz Mejías, detailed that “the Biblioguagua boasts over 600 registered adult readers and nearly 400 children,” and that “last year, it welcomed 1,800 visitors and facilitated over 4,500 loans, figures that reflect its popularity, efficiency, and necessity.”
It is important to highlight that this service offers information, reference, and home loan facilities for books, magazines, films, television series, and documentaries on DVD. Furthermore, its shelves contain approximately 1,500 books, 200 DVDs (with 50 designated for children), and 200 volumes of periodical publications. Additionally, the Biblioguagua’s collection encompasses around 9,000 books, 350 DVDs, and six magazine titles. The storage facility is based at the Central Municipal Library located in TEA, Tenerife Espacio de las Artes.
Through this service, the citizens of Santa Cruz can access the lending resources of the Municipal Library System.
New mobile library
In the last four months of this year, the City Council plans to introduce a new mobile library that will enhance the service currently provided by the Biblioguagua. The BiblioExprés is a spacious van, modified to function as a library, which will commence operations from January 2025 in Cueva Bermeja, El Suculum, Taganana, Almáciga, and Roque Negro.
The funding for the acquisition and alteration of the vehicle, totalling 122,000 euros, has been jointly financed by the Santa Cruz City Council and the Tenerife Island Council, through the Cultural Infrastructure Plan. Additionally, the Council will allocate a further 15,000 euros to this total for the purpose of obtaining a new collection of bibliographic materials for the new service.
