On the occasion of the first anniversary of its media library, AlhondigaBilbao has presented the book La Mediateka de la A a la Z.
On 24 October, AlhondigaBilbao's media library celebrated its 1st anniversary. Since opening a year ago, more than 640,000 members of the public have visited it, thus consolidating it as a multidisciplinary public library and as a place of coexistance and knowledge.
On average, approximately 1,700 people a day have visited the library during weekdays, while in the region of 2,000 have done so on weekends.
As regards loans, the media library has loaned 330,208 items, 85% to adults (+14) and 15% to children. Approximately 75% of the loans have been made via automated systems.
The volume of loans a day has been in the region of 800-900 during weekdays and 900-1,000 on weekends.
At the media library, 181,228 computer sessions (PC and MAC) have taken place, the most popular sites being, in addition to navigators, those of the social networks, AlhondigaBilbao's website, the catalogue of the Library Network, etc.
Use of the media library's facilities
In addition to programmed activities, the BBK facility has been used by 1,257 people during 3,221 hours for study or group work purposes; while 3,791 people have used the TVs of the World venue during more than 4,700 hours.
Furthermore, the media library has hosted 336 of its own activities over the last year, with the participation of 1,953 people. As regards school visits during the 2010-2011, over 1,232 pupils have participated in 71 visits.
The activities organized by the media library feature a number of exhibitions of children's illustrations by Rebeca Dautremer, Javier Zabala and Hanne Bartholin, among others, as well as conferences given by the creator of children's books Katsumi Komagata, the psychologist Alicia Banderas, and the Miguel Calatayud, National Illustration Award Winner (2009), who participated in the workshop "Transcurso: ruta de literatura infantil para adultos".
Likewise, it is important to note that this summer the space "Deckchair reading" was opened for the first time on the terrace of CAF (Physical Activity Centre), where a part of the media library's collection was made available to users. The weather permitting, over 2,400 loans were made during the summer months.
Last September, an inter-library loan service was started up with the rest of Bilbao's municipal libraries. Moreover, Medialab 1, a study area for children aged from 8-13, was opened recently, with the aim of increasing the number of services available to citizens.
Media library collection
Over the last year approximately 13,000 new items have been added to the media library's collection, now totalling 60,000. These can be classified as follows: literature (12.5%), audiovisual (11%), comics (10%) and hobbies (7%). Seventy percent of the collection is in print format, the rest covering other formats (audiovisual, etc.).
Mediateka de la A a la Z
On the occasion of the 1st anniversary of the media library, AlhondigaBilbao has presented La Mediateka de la A a la Z. The book contains 24 illustrations by library users which embody the concept they have of the different facilities, library stock and available services (automated loan service, newspaper archives, computers, reference archives, etc.), chosen for their quality, originality and expressive power from 121 submissions.
The job of choosing the work that best reflected the concepts embodying the space fell to a jury made up of professionals related to the world of illustration and literature and representatives of the library.
The book will available at the media library and copies will be sent both to the winners and to schools participating in guided tours of AlhondigaBilbao.
