The specialist library of the Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia takes up much of the basement level of the new building (1995), including book, video and sound libraries, an image archive and Internet access.
The book library contains nearly 24,000 science and technology references, 60% of which are private and institutional donations. The following are of particular interest:
- The Maluquer collection, specialising in aeronautics and astronautics;
- The Ricart Collection, specialising in automobile and aircraft mechanics;
- The Escudé i Galí Collection, specialising in electrotechnical subjects;
- Unpublished manuscript holdings
Receipt of competing collections
- Bonaplata Awards
- Competition for young people focusing on research into mankind and production processes
- National scientific and industrial archaeology campaign for young people
- The Antiquarian Collection, featuring titles from the 17th and 19th centuries
- Non-book materials: (postcards, calendars, posters, advertisements, leaflets, etc.)
Other notable features are the collections of books and catalogues on the textile and railway industries, information technology and industrial heritage.
The library regularly receives some 150 journals from all around, dealing with science and technology, and preserves more than 200 now-defunct journal imprints.
The video and sound library holds some 400 references (1000 hours of image and sound), essentially dealing with the history of science and technology, manufacturing processes and the treatment of textile fibres. As for sound records, in addition to old recordings, there are also the proceedings of all the events, conferences and seminars organised by the MNACTEC.
The MNACTEC Library belongs to the Specialist Library Network of the Autonomous Regional Government of Catalonia (the BEG), and can be consulted via the Online Catalogue.
