The Biblioteca de Catalunya, national library of Catalonia

The Biblioteca de Catalunya (Library of Catalonia) was founded in 1907 as the library of the Institute of Catalan studies. In 1914 was converted into a public and research library. This article reviewes the evolution of the library since its origins, ant it points out that, due to the circunstances of its foundation, the library has been closely linked to the course of Catalan history. One of the aims of the institution, since its early times, has been to become the national library of Catalonia. In spite of having acted in some stages of its history as a national library, it hasn't been until 1981 that this status has received legal sanction. Nowadays, the library has got clearly defined objectives, and it lives a phase of changes that affect the reorganization of the library's building and its services.