Lisbon Department of Libraries and Archives

Additional information

The Department of Libraries and Archives from Lisbon Municipality runs a structure of 20 libraries and 4 archives.

The first public library in Lisbon was founded in 1883 and we received the legal deposit for books, newspapers and periodical publications since 1931. These give us the possibility to offer to the community a national level collection of printed materials in our country.

The Lisbon Municipality archives are the second biggest archive in the country, and in the last years have been developing an automation and digitalization project, which enables it to really build up a service that contributes to the development of the information society. A collection of 88000 photographs from Lisbon and from the most famous Portuguese photographers is already digitalized and ready to be offered in www based service.

As this municipal structure belongs to the capital of Portugal, we have been in a privileged situation to develop special projects targeting the Cultural Heritage issue. New protocols of collaboration between the municipality and industrial partners in the communication and media area have just been signed in order to deliver users oriented technological based services to the community.

We believe that through our projects we can really act as a platform of testing and developing new trends that really mirror the needs of a multicultural society that we have to serve.

Besides this work on the Cultural Heritage area, this work concept and technological platform will be used for the development of user’s oriented services in the areas such IST training and e-learning, among others.

To fulfil this objective, we are now working in a strategic level working in new policies to improve the access of citizens to information which includes facilities, technological tools, new proceedings and staff training.