Biblioteques Especialitzades de la Generalitat de Catalunya

The Biblioteques Especialitzades de la Generalitat de Catalunya (BEG) is the collective name for the specialised libraries and documentation centres owned by the administration of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the public-law entities that depend on it. It also includes libraries of other organisations in which the Generalitat participates. These centres select, organise, preserve and make available to the administration and to citizens all the information needed to support decision-making. Most BEG libraries are freely accessible to the public. The network took shape after the restoration of the Generalitat in 1977, as the autonomous government progressively created departments, agencies and entities, each of which set up its own specialised library or documentation centre. On 9 June 1998 the Government of Catalonia approved an agreement to implement an interdepartmental system for managing the libraries of the Generalitat, with the aim of automating libraries that still had manual catalogues and creating a collective catalogue of the specialised libraries. The initial objectives were technical and managerial: sharing resources, reducing costs and improving services to the user community. From 1998 until 2008 the Biblioteca de Catalunya was responsible for library management and administration of the catalogue, under the Library System of Catalonia Act (Llei 4/1993). A Management Commission was formed in 2003 with representatives of nine libraries and the catalogue administration; it proposed a formal BEG Network regulation in 2005 and drew up a 2005–2008 strategic plan. Working groups on topics such as e-information, training, indexing, lending, periodicals, quality and marketing, and web and intranet began operating in 2006, and the BEG intranet was launched in 2007. Following the 2008 restructuring of the Department of Culture and Media, technical support for the BEG passed to the Library Cooperation Section of the Library System of Catalonia Service, within the General Subdirectorate for Libraries. The Biblioteca de Catalunya continued to assign staff to catalogue administration until 2012. In 2011 the BEG catalogue moved to the Department of Culture's Digital Services Section and was migrated from VTLS to Millennium. The network remains active, with a public website, a collective catalogue, a Twitter account (@BibliotequesBeg) and working commissions on cooperation and digital repositories.

The BEG network has its origins in the restoration of the Generalitat de Catalunya in 1977. As the autonomous government re-established its departments, agencies and public entities, each of these bodies created specialised libraries and documentation centres to support its own activities. Over two decades these collections grew independently, often with manual catalogues. On 9 June 1998 the Government of Catalonia approved an agreement on the "implementation of an interdepartmental system for the management of the libraries of the Generalitat de Catalunya". The agreement aimed to automate libraries with manual catalogues and to create the Collective Catalogue of the Specialised Libraries of the Generalitat de Catalunya. The initial objectives were technical and managerial: sharing resources, reducing costs and improving services to the user community. Under the Library System of Catalonia Act (Llei 4/1993, of 18 March), articles 43 and 45, specialised libraries were to coordinate with the rest of the Library System of Catalonia through the Biblioteca de Catalunya in matters of cataloguing, interlibrary lending and protection of collections of historical or cultural value. Accordingly, the Biblioteca de Catalunya was responsible for library management and administration of the BEG catalogue until 2008. In that role it unified cataloguing criteria, provided continuing training and supervised catalogue quality. Beyond the Biblioteca de Catalunya's actions, much of the impetus for designing networking strategies came from the group of libraries most involved in the project — those that had defended the shared catalogue model — supported throughout by the Biblioteca de Catalunya and the BEG Catalogue Administration. In 2003 a Management Commission was constituted with representatives of nine libraries and the Catalogue Administration. It had a dual objective: to define the objectives of networking and the mechanisms for conflict resolution, and to make a proposal for the formal constitution of the BEG Network. The result was the presentation, in 2005, of the Proposed Regulation of the BEG Network, which, if approved by the Department of Culture, would give the BEG Network its own legal personality as a transversal body of the Administration. The Management Commission also prepared a 2005–2008 Strategic Plan, implemented largely through working groups. These began to be formed in 2006 with volunteers from different BEG libraries. Between 2006 and 2009 the active groups were: E-Informació, GRUFO (Training and E-learning), Indexació, Préstec, Publicacions Periòdiques, Realitat Professional, Qualitat i Màrqueting, and Web i Intranet. As a result of the Web and Intranet group, the BEG intranet was launched in 2007 using the e-Catalunya platform. Following the restructuring decree of the Department of Culture and Media (published in the Diari Oficial de la Generalitat de Catalunya, no. 5170, of 10 July 2008), responsibility for providing technical support to the BEG passed to the Library Cooperation Section of the Library System of Catalonia Service, integrated in the General Subdirectorate for Libraries. The Biblioteca de Catalunya continued to assign staff to catalogue administration until 2012; from then on the working groups were reorganised into: Difusió, Migració, Serveis Bibliotecaris, Formació, Biblioteca Digital, Marc Legal and Xbeg. In 2011 the BEG Catalogue came to be administered by the Digital Services Section of the Department of Culture. At the end of that year the catalogue was migrated from the VTLS system to Millennium. In parallel, after the previous working groups ended their activity, two new groups began operating: Préstec (Lending) and Catalogació (Cataloguing). The network has continued to operate as a cooperative system of specialised government libraries, with a public website, a collective catalogue, a Twitter presence and commissions on cooperation and digital repositories.

• 2012

  Biblioteca de Catalunya stops assigning staff to catalogue administration; working groups reorganised.

• 2011

  BEG Catalogue administered by the Digital Services Section; migration from VTLS to Millennium.

• 2008

  Restructuring of the Department of Culture and Media; technical support for BEG moves to the Library Cooperation Section.

• 2007

  BEG intranet launched via the e-Catalunya platform.

• 2006

  Working groups begin to be formed with volunteers from different BEG libraries.

• 2005

  Proposed Regulation of the BEG Network presented; 2005–2008 Strategic Plan drawn up.

• 2003

  Management Commission constituted with representatives of nine libraries and the Catalogue Administration.

• 1998

  Government agreement of 9 June 1998 on the interdepartmental management system and creation of the BEG collective catalogue.

• 1993

  Library System of Catalonia Act (Llei 4/1993) establishes coordination of specialised libraries through the Biblioteca de Catalunya.

• 1977

  Restoration of the Generalitat de Catalunya; specialised libraries and documentation centres begin to be created by its departments and entities.

A government-owned network of specialised libraries and documentation centres supporting public administration decision-making and open to citizens.

• Catàleg BEG (collective catalogue)

  Collective catalogue of the specialised libraries of the Generalitat de Catalunya.

• BEG network website

  Public website providing information about the BEG libraries, services and catalogue.

• Digital repositories of the Generalitat de Catalunya

  Digital repositories listed among the services offered by the BEG network.

1. 1Biblioteques especialitzades. Biblioteques públiques de Catalunyabiblioteques.gencat.cat
2. 2Sobre la traducció. Biblioteques públiques de Catalunyabiblioteques.gencat.cat
3. 3Biblioteques Especialitzades de la Generalitat de Catalunyaca.wikipedia.org
4. 4Wikidata Q20103843wikidata.org