Information service
The Documentation Centre provides, presentially or otherwise, all manner of information on the Museum’s bibliographic and documentary resources, and helps users in their search for anything to do with the natural sciences.
Reading stations
- Castell dels Tres Dragons Library: 20
- Museu Martorell Library: 6
- Media Library: 21
Personal lending
The personal lending service enables users to temporarily borrow documents from the Documentation Centre, or other centres, while guaranteeing conservation of the documents and preservation of the copyright. The 30 days lending period can be extended, and a maximum of five volumes from the Library and the Media Library may be withdrawn at the same time.
The following documents are excluded from the lending service:
- works published prior to 1901
- periodicals
- off-prints
- maps
- encyclopaedias and dictionaries
- commonly used reference works, or those of particular bibliographic value or in bad condition
- where works with accompanying material are concerned, each case will be studied separately
The personal lending service at the Documentation Centre is free of charge, provided the document on loan forms part of the Museum’s own resources. Should it be from another library, the user must pay any fees charged by the centre that supplies it.
In order to borrow documents the user must be a holder of the Documentation Centre membership card. To become a member you are required to provide the number of your ID card, passport, driver’s licence or residence permit; to fill in the form with your personal details; and to sign an undertaking not to infringe the current legislation on copyright.
Children under 14 must have authorisation from their father, mother or legal guardian, as must those over 14 who are carrying no proof of identity. The authorisation form is available at the information desk.
Any change in personal details (address, telephone number, etc.) must be notified.
The membership card is valid for three years.
Membership has certain advantages, such as:
- reduced entrance fee to the Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona
- 5% discount in the shop
- invitations to all the inaugurations at the Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona
Documents on loan can be renewed in person, by telephone or by e-mail. The user is required to give his or her first name and surnames.
Document delivery service
All the documents in the centre are at your disposal. However, should the Library be unable to provide the document you require from its own resources, it will endeavour to obtain a copy or borrow the original from a library that does have it. If the document is supplied by another library, the user must pay the fees charged by the supplier centre.
Requests should be sent to the address shown above.
Inter-library lending
When the Documentation Centre is unable to provide documents from its own archives, it will request them from a library that does have them. Likewise, it places its documentary resources at the disposal of other libraries.
Copying
Photocopies may be obtained of any document, depending on its state of conservation and on the current regulations governing intellectual property. There is a self-service photocopier in the Media Library. In the Library photocopying is done by the staff. The copies are sent by post to the user who requested them.
Please send your request to the following e-mail address: bibmuseuciencies@bcn.cat
Bibliographic exhibitions
On particular occasions (donations, commemorations, cultural events of general interest, etc.) we organise thematic exhibitions based on the documents held in our Documentation Centre.
Sounds à la carte
When the Media Library was created, the Natura Sonora (Sounds of Nature) department and the Documentation Centre suggested making the Museum’s collection of sound recordings –one of the largest in Europe– available to the public.
Using a computer application, people can listen to the sound of a particular animal species, or to a soundscape (forest, savannah, jungle,…). At present 8,425 recordings are available. Of these, 30% are at the species common-name normalisation stage.