In the year 2020, with more intensity than ever, books allowed us to travel even when enclosed within four walls and gave us other lives while ours was confined. For three months, the Carlos Blanco Aguinaga Library was forced to close its doors, but the facility managed to bring readings, narrations, and workshops to thousands of Iruneses that have functioned, in many cases, as therapy. The Covid-19 has disrupted the annual statistics of the CBA, but despite that forced quarterly closure and the capacity restrictions, still in force today, the balance of 2020 has yielded several positive data.
The download of books online from e-Liburutegia, the open and free digital platform for all members of public libraries in the Basque Country, multiplied in Irun by four during the confinement. The loans registered in March, April and May in the digital library were a total of 1,139. In addition, during 2020 the number of members of the CBA continued to grow, with 468 new registrations, of which 6 out of 10 were formalized during the months of March, April and May. This increase in library registrations (1.1% over the previous year) places the number of CBA members at 32,593, which represents 45.03% of the Irun population. Most of the registered people are women (55%) and by age, the percentage of adults is 92%.
These are just some of the outstanding data in the memory of the Carlos Blanco Aguinaga Municipal Library, in a year strongly marked by the impact of Covid-19.
Quarantined documents
Throughout 2020, library users borrowed 25,435 documents, 41.52% less than the previous year. At present, the loan service has not yet been fully restored, since although it is possible to withdraw documents normally, after the return and taking into account preventive measures, they pass a quarantine period before being available again. Again, the book was the most requested element in the loan service (92.56%), while audio-visual and electronic documents accounted for 7.42% of requests. On average, 113 loans were made per day.
By age sections, in 2020 15,406 documents were loaned from the adult section (62.79%) and 9,129 from the child-youth section (37.21%). By language, 19,385 documents were provided in Spanish (79.01%), 4,482 in Basque (18.27%) and 667 in other languages (2.71%).
The figures for the computer room also experienced a decline from the previous year. However, despite the closure of three months, 7,121 sessions were recorded, with a daily average of 32.
The library’s acquisitions were focused last year on the local bookseller sector, in order to alleviate the effects of the pandemic on the city’s economy. With a budget of 68,000 euros, 2,948 new documents were incorporated (89.18% books and the rest audiovisual and sound materials). This incorporation means that, at the end of 2020, the CBA had a collection of 84,637 documents.
Closed but active
The closure of the physical space of the library during the months of March, April and May did not mean a total cessation of activity. In a few weeks, some of the workshops that were carried out in person, such as the libroforum, creative writing or the book club, began to be offered online. The storytelling sessions were also recorded to be broadcast on the City Council’s YouTube channel. Even Book Day could be celebrated telematically, with the participation of 93 people in a public reading that was celebrating its twentieth edition.
With the installation open and with the social and health measures in place, activities such as Writers’ Day and the poetic concert dedicated to Shakespeare and Beethoven could be held in person.
With three months less open and the social and health restrictions in force, the library closed the year 2020 with 80,935 visits, an average number of 350 daily.
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