Books

The initial documentary collection of the Design Library and Archive comprises more than 35,000 books published between the sixteenth century and the present. more than 3,000 predate 1950. Its origins are ancient museum libraries of Decorative Arts, the Museum of Ceramics, Textiles and Clothing Museum and the Cabinet of Graphic Arts in Barcelona. Other institutions that have integrated their libraries are BCD (Barcelona Design Centre), ADG-FAD (Association of Art Directors and Graphic Designers of the FAD), the Association for the Study of the furniture, the Association of Advertising and Public Relations of Catalonia and the area of Urban Habitat of the City of Barcelona.

In these origins must be added many donations received throughout these years by professionals, individuals, institutions and companies.

A fact that reveals the uniqueness of this documentary collection and the value it brings to the research community is that 37% of the previous books in the twentieth century were not located in any other heritage library of our territory. Neither in Catalonia nor in the rest of the state. Much of this uniqueness comes from the legacy of excellent books of clothing from the Countess of Vilardaga (1967) and the donation of Mr. Manuel Rocamora.

The most part of the contemporary documentary collection is located in the reading room and is freely accessible. To organize it, the Design Library and Archive has developed its own classification system: The IMAG.

The most valuable and ancient documents are situated in a reservoir located within the same building of the Museum of Design-DHub. The Design Library and Archive uses RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) to know exactly how many queries it receives each document. With this information, reference documents are always located in the consulting room, easily available.

The documentary collection is available through the library catalog of the Design Library and Archive, and through the following catalogs: