Ligue des Bibliothèques Europeènnes de Recherche, Groupe des Cartot hécaires de LIBER

National progress report of Spain 1998-2000

For the period 1998-2000 the National Progress Report for Spain is based on information received from seven cartographic centres placed in different cities. They depend on different kind of centres as National Libraries (NL), Museums (M), Universities(U), Archives(A) and official centres where the respective national cartography is produced (OC).These are the following:

These centres have been selected as the most representative ones in Spain due to their respective activities and responsibilities. In all cases the undersigned national correspondent is in permanent contact with all of them during the year.

Activities
All the above mentioned centres have had their own projects and policies depending on the official institution to which they belong. As in past years, the promotion and knowledge of cartographic collections, have resulted in an increasing number of users who consult the records with different objectives: research, academic work, map librarianship, excursions, legal themes and many others. On the other hand, all these Spanish centres are strongly interconnected with the aim of creating timely information about their respective activities.

One of the objectives has been to continue forging relationships with the university world: geographers, historians, cartographers, engineers, and architects being the most typical. Of course, these professional contacts have given a more important connection with these professors and teachers, who organized some of their lessons in map library premises, often given together with the map curators in charge. These visits promoted the presence of students. At the same time, some TV reports have been produced on the premises of some map libraries. The promotion in these cases is bigger because of the greater influence of TV in society.

During the last two years much time has been devoted to commemorate two centenaries: in 1998, the 400th anniversary of the death of the King Philip II and in the present year 2000, the 500th anniversary of the birth of the Emperor Charles V in Gant. On the occasion of these two events, a very important number of exhibitions and other kinds of activity (lectures, symposia, special lessons) were organised in different cities. As both monarchs were very interested in geography and cartography, the presence of cartographic material (maps, views and plans of cities, etc.) has been very well represented in these exhibitions and has played a very decisive role. (See more details under Exhibitions below)

Another recent objective of national activity has been the preparation of the next Conference on the History of Cartography organised by Imago Mundi, to be held in Madrid in July 2001. This is being sponsored by the Ministerio de Defensa-Museo Naval, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Ayuntamiento de Madrid, Patrimonio Nacional, Imago Mundi and the Casa de América. The Secretary´s office is in the Biblioteca Nacional where the map curators Carmen Líter and Francisca Sanchis are overseeing everything concerning the programme and are in direct and constant contact with Imago Mundi.

Education
Courses concerning map curatorship were given and organised by different institutions and centres at the following times:
  1. Sant Cugat del Vallès: November 1998. Tractament arxivístic de mapes i plànols. Course organised by Arxiu Nacional de Catalunya.
  2. Sevilla: 1998. Seminario técnico: nuevos retos en la cartografía. Cartografía Histórica de Andalucía: la evolución de la técnica cartográfica. Course organised by the Instituto de Cartografía de Andalucía.
  3. Madrid: 1-20 October 1999. Los materiales cartográficos. Métodos de producción y evolución histórica. Descripción y tratamiento. Course organised by Biblioteca Nacional de España, given by Ángel Paladini Cuadrado, José Martín López, Carmen Líter Mayayo, Carmen García Calatayud, Franacisca Sanchis Ballester, Justo Bernaldo de Quirós and Concepción Huidobro.
  4. Barcelona: 22-26 February 1999. La cartografia catalana. Course organised by the Cartoteca de Catalunya of the Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya and the Department of Geography of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. The themes were: "Les cartes portolanes mallorquines", "Guerra i cartografia a Catalunya. Segles XVII-XX" and "Cartografia catalana. Segles XIX-XX". They were taught by Vicenç M. Rosselló Verger, Montserrat Galera Monegal and M. Carme Montaner Garcia. This course is published by the ICC.
  5. Sevilla: 1999. Jornadas de cartografía. La cartografía hoy: ¿evolución o revolución?. La cartografía histórica: conservación y difusión. Course organised by the Instituto de Cartografía de Andalucía.
  6. Sevilla: 1999. I : Descripción de documentos cartográficos en los archivos. Course organised by the Asociación de Archiveros de Andalucía and the Instituto de Patrimonio de Andalucía.
  7. Madrid-Colmenarejo: 2000. Curso de catalogación y automatización de materiales especiales. Material cartográfico. Course organized by the Fundación Tomás y Valiente and the Universidad Carlos III of Madrid. It was taught by Carmen García Calatayud, among other teachers.
  8. Barcelona: 21-25 February 2000. Approaches and challenges in a Worldwide History of Cartography Project. Course organised by the CTC of the Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya and the Department of Geography of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. The themes were: Prologue, Maps as artifacts, Maps as images, Maps as social documents and texts and Epilogue (Meeting points, viewpoints, challenges). It was taught by David Woodward, Catherine Delano Smith and Cordell D.K. Yee. This course is being prepared for publication by the ICC in February 2001.
  9. Sevilla: 2000. II: Descripción de documentos cartográficos en los archivos. Course organized by the Asociación de Archiveros de Andalucía and the Instituto de Patrimonio de Andalucía.
  10. Vic: 8 sept.- 1 nov. 2000. Mostra Cerdà. Urbs i territori. Course organized by the Museu de l'Art de la Pell, Ajuntament de Vic, Departament de Política Territorial i Obres Públiques and the Institut d'Estudis Territorials.

Automation of map-catalogues etc.
The process of automation in Spain continues its progress: this is the present situation:

BIBLIOTECA NACIONAL DE ESPAÑA
The National Library is working on the retro-conversion of their catalogues. The process began with the printed material and continued with the non-book material, among them the cartographic records. Since 1992-3, the carto-bibliographic description of the material received in the National Library via legal deposit, interchange or acquisition is processed online in the database Ariadna and accessible on the Internet. Since 1995 the edition of the Bibliografía Española.Cartografía is accessible electronically and generated through this same database Ariadna.

BIBLIOTECA DE CATALUNYA
The map library continues its process of cataloguing online. As for the rest of the Biblioteca de Catalunya records, it uses the programme VTLS (Virginia Technical Library System).

CARTOTECA UNIVERSITAT AUTÒNOMA DE BARCELONA
The catalogue of this University map library, based especially on map series contains about 28,000 items and it is totally automated. The access is through geographic names and in a second level through thematic concepts. Since 1998, they are working in the integration of the graphics in the catalogue which provide information about the real state of the collections.

ARCHIVO CARTOGRÁFRICO Y DE ESTUDIOS GEOGRÁFICOS DEL CENTRO GEOGRÁFICO DEL EJÉRCITO
In 1989, this archive has been connected with the database of the Ministerio de Defensa which permits consultation of the description of the historic military maps in the database CARIBHE. A collection of cartography devoted to the Spanish- Portuguese frontier, together with their respective texts concerning this same area, has been catalogued. It consists of 178 records and 850 sheets. The catalogue is in the process of being published. Likewise, the process of cataloguing the Spanish 20th century cartographic records has continued. Total: 757 maps and plans.

CARTOTECA DE CATALUNYA
The implementation of the programme VTLS was already completed and the system has been put into service. This has permitted access via the Internet to bibliographic records corresponding to books (about 25,000 titles) as well as the important collection of periodical publications (about 2,300 titles). At the end of the year 2000, the first maps will be incorporated with priority given to the ICC production. Meanwhile, maps are processed just to be consulted "in situ". During the period corresponding to this report, about 14,000 maps have been incorporated in the local catalogue. The integration to the consortium CBUC (Catàleg de Biblioteques Universitàries de Catalunya) has permitted sharing the collections with the catalogues of the Catalan universities and other cultural centres.

CARTOTECA DEL INSTITUTO DE CARTOGRAFÍA DE ANDALUCÍA
In the ICA map library continues the process of digitisation mentioned in the previous report. During the last two years about 40,000 black-and-white items in TIFF format and about 400 colour items in JPEG format have been processed. At that moment, the total number is: 105,000 b/w records and 1,200 colour records.

Acquisitions, collection development and exploitation

BIBLIOTECA NACIONAL DE ESPAÑA
The policy of acquisitions in the Map Library in the BN is based on one hand on the legal deposit law of the correspondent copy received via the national legal deposit. On the other hand, the presence of the library in the auction houses, contact with antiquarian bookshops, private collectors etc permits the development and expansion of this important collection.

BIBLIOTECA DE CATALUNYA
The most important number of records was created from the legal deposit corresponding to the cartographic material published in Catalonia. About 1,500 maps have been processed, and the acquisition of some ancient maps of Catalonia were also added to this collection.

MUSEO NAVAL
The acquisitions in the Museo Naval during these two years consisted specially in the incorporation of the most popular facsimile editions. Of note are the Carta Universal by Americo Vespuccio (New York Hispanic Society), the Mappa Mundi Catalán (Biblioteca Estense, Modena) and the 30 plates of the celestial and earth globes made by Coronelli in 1688. Acquisitions also included original maps such as the manuscript (composed of 45 sheets and 15 plans) corresponding to a description of the Yslas Marianas signed in Manila in 1827 by Manuel Sanz.

CARTOTECA UNIVERSITAT AUTÒNOMA DE BARCELONA
This map library was created as a part of the Department of Geography by Professor Pau Alegre who continues being directly responsible. It was incorporated in 1995 to the General Humanities Library and its new arrangement allows it to give a better service to the users from different faculties and schools. Due to its university nature, the map library needs to be specially provided with cartographic series concerning national and regional areas. It is necessary to emphasise the material received as a permanent deposit from the Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya production and the collection of atlases (national and thematic) from over all the world.

CARTOTECA DE CATALUNYA, INSTITUT CARTOGRÀFIC DE CATALUNYA
The policy of providing the CTC collections has continued in the same way concerning books and maps. That is:
  1. Updating the coverage of the different countries in the world, medium and small scales.
  2. When possible, the acquisition of ancient maps and books published during the period from the 17th to the 19th century.
  3. Continuing to support the policy of acquisitions of high quality cartographic facsimile editions.
  4. The collections have been completed with the acquisitions of non-book materials such as CD-ROMS. Two of the most important being the Catalogue of the British Library Map Library and the Mapamondi. Une carte du monde au XIVè siècle :L´Atlas Catalan. (Bibliothèque Nationale de France)
The total number of records acquired during the two year period was 19,809 maps and 1,507 books for the specialist library.

New developments in electronic media/communications

BIBLIOTECA NACIONAL DE ESPAÑA
The National Library project for the future digitisation of the maps of the Iberian Peninsula published before 1900.
la Servicio de Cartografía.
E-mail: info.cartografia@bne.es

BIBLIOTECA DE CATALUNYA
Unitat Gràfica
E-mail: infbibl@bnc.es

CARTOTECA UNIVERSITAT AUTÒNOMA DE BARCELONA
"Cartoteca general: nova web a la vostra disposició". In: Biblioteca informacions, Oct.1998. p. 4-6.
Cartoteca General This page includes GEODOC.
E-mail: cartoteca@cc.uab.es

ARCHIVO CARTOGRÁFICO Y DE ESTUDIOS GEOGRÁFICOS DEL CENTRO GEOGRÁFICO DEL EJÉRCITO
E-mail: infodefensa@mde.es

CARTOTECA DE CATALUNYA, INSTITUT CARTOGRÀFIC DE CATALUNYA
Cartoteca de Catalunya
E-mail: mgalera@icc.es

CARTOTECA DEL INSTITUTO DE CARTOGRAFÍA DE ANDALUCÍA
Instituto de Cartografía de Andalucía
E-mail: http://www.copt.junta-andalucia.es/Transversales/Transversalesinferiores/E-mail/E-mail.htm

Conferences and symposia
International Conference on the History of Cartography. Madrid has been chosen as the venue for the 2001 conference. All the cultural events and exhibitions due to the celebration of the mentioned centenaries of the Spanish monarchs Charles V and Philip II, included their respective symposiums and lectures given by eminent Spanish specialists together with the best specialists from abroad, particularly the UK and USA.

Exhibitions
These are the main cartographic exhibitions and those with an important number of cartographic records:

Publications

Montserrat Galera, Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya, Cartoteca de Catalunya, Barcelona