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Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche,
Groupe des Cartothécaires de LIBER
TRANSLATE ENGLISH to Français, Deutsch, Italiano, Português, Español! Explanation
© LIBER and author
The promotional activities for an archive or library -a map library in our case- are often relegated to a secondary plane for economic reasons, shortage of staff, etc. In reality it is often difficult enough to resolve problems of storage, cataloguing and material organization, not to mention making available the time and resources to consider proposals directed at making the collections themselves known.
Notwithstanding this, when the Cartoteca de Catalunya was created in 1986 as a section of the Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya, promotion of the study of cartography was positioned right from the outset as one of the priority activities. In Barcelona, and by extension in Catalunya, there existed no tradition of cartographical historical studies, nor were they a discipline secondary to other subjects, except for a few most notable isolated initiatives. The fact of being far-removed from some qualitatively important sources -a major part of manuscript cartography, for example, is housed in Madrid- and the fact that map libraries were formerly not given the same support as they have enjoyed in recent years, must surely be some of the most direct causes of this deficiency.
For these reasons, although in many subjects we were far from the levels achieved by other map libraries -in automation, for example, due to our recent creation- the Cartoteca de Catalunya set itself as one of its objectives that of stimulating to a section of the community which might potentially be interested in the history of cartography. To that end, two lines of action were drawn up and are being implemented:
a) The first is directed at promoting the Cartoteca and its collections. This type of work is aimed at direct diffusion of the cartographic material itself and at increasing awareness of the institution. Within this line we might mention publications -such as the recently issued catalogue on the cartography of Catalonia, an annual information leaflet, etc- together with the organization of exhibitions, etc. These are the usual promotional activities of many documentation centres.
b) The second line of work is directed at stimulating interest in the history of cartography as an instrument for study in very diverse fields. This is not a matter of promotion of our collections as such, but rather promotion of the discipline itself. The aim, in short, is to promote the history of cartography, which until relatively recently lay rather at the fringes of academic disciplines.
This second line of work forms the basis for the Cartoteca de Catalunya's organising of annual seminars on the history of cartography and map libraries, with a view to bringing together professionals and students of the subject. The aim was to create a forum in which university teachers and students, map librarians and other interested persons such as collectors could take part.
Organization of these courses, the first of which took place in the 1989-1990 academic year, is shared between the Cartoteca de Catalunya and the Geography department of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. The Cartoteca de Catalunya draws up the programmes and takes responsibility for financing the courses, while the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona's geography department includes these seminars in its postgraduate and doctorate programmes. This is therefore a joint formula between the two institutions, permitting contributions from two different fields, at both the organizational level and in terms of course contents.
These are single-subject courses, devoted each year to a different geographical zone, which handle and concern two aspects: the history of cartography and the description and functioning of its map libraries. The aim behind this is to provide not only theoretical knowledge, but also the sources to enable research work to be carried out: description, utilization and efficient exploitation of map libraries. As a complement to this, during the course, the Cartoteca de Catalunya makes available a small sample of books and maps relating to the area under study.
The speakers are historians of cartography and map librarians from each of the countries in question. The participation of these professionals allows us to have an interchange of views between both groups, with the complementary perspectives on a single theme thus contributing to its enrichment. As an example, we might cite the interview with Prof. Campbell and Md. Pelletier (guests at the first course), published in issue 19 of the "Revista Catalana de Geografia" in September 1992, devoted to the congress of the LIBER Groupe des Cartothécaires in Barcelona 1992.
Three of these seminars have been organized to date, devoted respectively to a general introduction to the history of cartography (1990), the cartography of the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal) (1991), and Italian cartography (1992). For the next years, we hope to discuss the cartography of the Netherlands in 1993, French cartography in 1994 and British cartography in 1995.
In order to increase the diffusion thereof, the texts of these courses are published in the monograph series of the Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya (1). We might emphasize that they are published in the languages in which the courses were taught: the first volume in Catalan, French and English, the second in Catalan, Spanish and Portuguese, the third in Italian, while the third volume on the cartography of the Netherlands, for the courses to be taught in the month of February 1993, is to be published in English and is currently at the preparatory stage.
We may consider the balance of this work to be totally positive, both in respect of the numbers attending the courses held to date and regarding the exchanges of information and experiences which it has made possible. On the one hand the courses have been attended by university lecturers not only from the co-organizing Universitat Autònoma, but also from Barcelona's Central and Polytechnic universities, together with students enroled on postgraduate courses. Map librarians from various institutions in Barcelona and from other cities in Spain, and many people not professionally connected with maps, have also taken part in the courses. It is not often that one has chance to bring together within one framework such differing points of view on a single subject. The aim of these courses is therefore not so much the promotion of an institution as the promotion of the discipline, and we believe that in the shorter or longer term this will contribute in favour of wider diffusion of the task and work and research potential of map libraries.
With the example of this promotional work carried out by the Cartoteca de Catalunya, we would like to stress the fact that when it comes to choosing amongst promotion and diffusion activities, each map library must evaluate effects on their most immediate area. It is not a matter of designing a project solely on the basis of the economic resources available, but rather a matter of getting to know the role played by the cartographic library in this setting and of defining the role which we wish it to play at present and in the future.
(1) Introducció general a la història de la cartografia. Barcelona : Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya, 1990 (ISBN 84-393-1261-X), 137 p. Texts by Montserrat Galera (Catalan), Monique Pelletier (French) and Eila Campbell (English).
La cartografia de la península ibèrica i la seva extensió al continent americà. Barcelona : Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya, 1991 (ISBN 84-393-1670-4), 279 p. Texts in Spanish by Montserrat Galera, Rodolfo Núñez de las Cuevas, Maria Fernanda Alegria and Jožo Carlos Garci.
La cartografia Italiana. Barcelona : Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya, 1993 (ISBN 84-393-2514-2), 241 p. Texts in Italian by Marica Milanesi, Emanuela Casti Moreschi, Leonardo Rombai, Vladimiro Valerio.
La cartografia dels Països Baixos, 1995 (ISBN 84-393-3284-X), 267 p. Texts in English by Dirk de Vries, Peter van der Krogt and Jan Smits.
La cartografia Francesa, 1996 (ISBN 84-393-3806-6), 171 p. Texts in French by Monique Pelletier, Philippe Prost and Gilles Palsky.
La cartografia dels països de parla alemanya : Alemanya, Àustria i Suïssa, 1997 (ISBN 84-393-4257-X), 278 p. Texts by ???
La cartografia anglesa = English cartography, 1997 (ISBN 84-393-4288-8), 308. Texts in English by Catherine Delano Smith, Roger J.P. Kain.