22/01/07

UPF tops the ranking of Spanish science and university libraries

According to the study Atlas digital de la España universitaria (Digital Spanish University Atlas) carried out by a team of geographers from Cantabria University under the leadership of Pedro Reques Velasco , the UPF library tops the list of Spanish science and university libraries - both private and public - in accordance with a set of indicators standardised and mapped by the study.

The indicators used for the project were drawn up and interpreted in accordance with the Yearbook of Spanish Science and University Libraries ( Anuario de las Bibliotecas universitarias y científicas españolas ) published by REBIUN (the Spanish University Library Network), and are divided into six separate sections: infrastructures , e.g. the number of study places per student; bibliographic resources , based on the number of scientific magazines and monographs available to researchers; expenditure and investment , such as, for example, the amount spent on new acquisitions per user or magazines per researcher; new technologies including, among other indicators, the frequency of website visits, electronic articles available to researchers and catalogue consultations per user; library staff, including the number of technicians and scholarship holders; and, ultimately, the user indicator, which takes into account the number of visits, loans per user and interlibrary loans.

The joint use of these indicators has made it possible to establish a qualitative ranking of the best science and university libraries in Spain. Five Catalan university libraries were among the first ten positions on the list. The classification is thus headed by UPF , followed (in this order) by the libraries of: Catalonia International University ( Universitat Internacional de Catalunya ), Navarre Public University ( Universidad Pública de Navarra ), the Universities of Navarre, Lleida, Girona and Salamanca, SEK (Segovia), Carlos III University (Madrid) and, in tenth position, Barcelona University.

The Digital Spanish University Atlas approaches the situation of Spanish higher education from a geographical perspective and relates it to three key elements: supply, demand and resources - in relation to education (teaching and administrative staff and services, university infrastructure and equipment) as well as to financial elements.