National Library of Costa Rica
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The National Library of Costa Rica (since 1961 Biblioteca Nacional "Miguel Obregón Lizano" , official abbreviation BNMOL) is located in the center of the Costa Rican capital San José . It is tasked with bibliographing all printed works published in Costa Rica and making them accessible to the public. The BNMOL is a presence , not lending library .
history
Due to the geographical and economic and cultural isolation of Costa Rica during the Spanish colonial period , the first printing works "La Paz" and "La Merced" were not set up until 1830, while the first printing works was in Antigua Guatemala , at the time the capital of the General Capitol of Guatemala , the Costa Rica belonged to a province , had already been established in 1659. The first book printed in Costa Rica was “Breves lecciones de Aritmética” by a Bachiller Osejo, which was published in 1830 by the “La Paz” printer.
The library was officially founded on October 13, 1888, following the dissolution of the Universidad de Santo Tomás, the first university in Costa Rica, which was founded in 1845 and was a Catholic institution. The name was added in 1961 in honor of Miguel Obregón Lizano (1861-1935), who had worked intensively for the librarianship of Costa Rica and was also the first director of the national library. Before the library was founded, there had been various reading circles or reading societies since 1847 , such as the "Anglo-Saxon Library Association", which contained an extensive collection of English-language literature, but apparently only existed from 1867 to 1870 and are only used by members of the association could.
In the course of its history the National Library was housed in different buildings. The first purpose-built building was erected in 1906/07 and was located between 5th Avenida and 1st Calle San Josés. The construction costs amounted to 30,270.53 colones . After a description of the Guatemalans Joaquin Méndez Russel it was an elegant and imposing building, which from a Minerva - bust was crowned as a symbol of Sciences and Arts. It was unclear when, demolished; In 1988 there was a park there.
In 1910 the staff consisted of a librarian (director), a secretary who was also deputy director, three assistants, a guard and two clerks. User statistics are apparently only rudimentary:
- 1938: 41,298 readers
- 1948: 56,232 readers
- 1950: 82,387 readers
In 1934, the Spain Hall (Sala España) was set up after the Spanish government donated 1,500 works by Spanish writers to Costa Rica, including a library catalog. The works were delivered to Puerto Limón in October 1934 by the “Magallanes” of the Compañia Trasatlántica Española , received by the port captain and taken to San José by the Spanish consul in Limón.
Due to the poor state of construction of the library in the 1950s, considerations arose about a new building, which took shape in 1966/67. In 1971 the current building (Edifício Biblioteca Nacional) was inaugurated. It is located in the city center between Avenidas 3 and 3B and Calles 15 and 17 at Parque Nacional, in close proximity to the National Monument of Costa Rica .
function
The BNMOL is connected to the Costa Rican library network system SINABI (Sistema Nacional de Bibliotecas), to which 57 public libraries in seven provinces belong. Through the SINABI, the library is subordinate to the Ministry of Culture and Youth of Costa Rica (Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud de Costa Rica). Since the main task of BNMOL is to secure Costa Rican printed works, the national literature forms the focus of the inventory. In addition to national newspapers and magazines, there are also international publications. Obviously due to the takeover of the university library, the holdings go back to works from the 16th century.
The BNMOL is affiliated with ABINIA (Asociación de Estados Iberoamericanos para el Desarollo de la Bibliotecas Nacionales de Iberoamérica). The current (2020) director is Laura Rodríguez Amador. The BNMOL is open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
literature
- Dr. Raymundo Brenes Rosales / Lic. Luis Gonzalo Cortés Enríquez: Biblioteca Nacional, 100 años de historia: 1888–1988 , San José (Universidad Autónoma de Centroamérica) 1988. ISBN 9977-63-053-4
Web links
- Official website of the library
- Video clip about the library function, approx. 2 minutes long, on youtube.com