The social impact of libraries as reported in the Region of Extremadura’s communications media during the economic crisis in Spain

Abstract

The primary objective of this work was to study news items about libraries published in the different communications media of the Region of Extremadura (Spain) in recent years in order to see what impact and visibility libraries have had in those media. A secondary objective was to determine quantitatively whether the complex economic crisis the country has suffered was reflected in any decrease in the number of news items about libraries. For this, a total of 3206 news articles was collected. After their analysis in detail, they were reduced to the 490 which the study’s results address. This decrease by a factor of about seven in the final news items selected was because the title or the first few paragraphs of the news item did not exactly express its content. As a consequence, a qualitative analysis of the content was necessary. The conclusion reached was that the economic crisis suffered by Spain had indeed been reflected in an evolution undergone by news items about libraries in the media. Although the numbers of those items decreased in the period analysed (from 2007/2008 to 2012/2013) coinciding with the crisis, there was an upswing in 2013 compared with 2012 which may reflect the much hoped for ‘green shoots’ of recovery of the Spanish economy.

Keywords

News articles print media economic crisis libraries Spain Region of Extremadura

Introduction

Information is currently one of the most highly valued elements affecting a region’s economic growth, its society, and its culture. Since libraries constitute an essential means of citizens’ entry into the world of globalized information (González-Mateos and Faba-Pérez, 2013), the phrase of Henry Ward Beecher ¹ (1813–1887) ‘A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life’ takes on a special meaning.

During these last few years, Spanish society has become embroiled in an economic crisis that has led to social and political movements which notably gained strength on 15 May 2011 under the banner of Los Indignados [The Indignant Ones], and which introduced innovations into the methods of communication (Fernández-Planells et al., 2014). The crisis has primarily affected the services of health, education, and culture, and has had a great impact on the media. Libraries in general, and rural libraries in particular, have been especially affected by this crisis, as they act as mediators between education and culture. According to data of the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE, [National Statistics Institute], 2012), in recent years there has been a relative stagnation of the budgetary allocations given to libraries in general. While current expenditure for libraries in Spain grew at a mean annual rate of 2.1% in 2010, this datum should really be interpreted as a slowdown since, in previous years, from 2002–2008, the mean annual growth rate was 9.6%. Moreover, the consequences of the drop in budgetary allocations for information resources are evident, with procurement expenditure being the most clearly hit in libraries of all kinds. In addition, staffing decreased by 0.7% in 2012 compared with 2010, with specialized staff declining by 9.9% and support staff by 1.5%. Despite the slowdown in current expenditure in libraries, and the generalized drop in procurement expenditure and number of staff, the demand for library services in Spain has grown in recent years, with increasing visits, membership, and loans (INE, 2012), reflecting the need for and the importance of such centres. In this sense, the study of Gao and Pan (2013) on public libraries in China in the period 1979–2008 showed that there is a clear correlation (r=0.997) between a country’s library development and its economic growth.

Given this context, the main objective of the present research was to study news items about libraries published in the different communications media of the Region of Extremadura (Spain) in recent years, in order to see what impact and visibility libraries have had in those media. A secondary objective was to determine whether the complex economic crisis the country has suffered was reflected in any decrease in the number of news items about libraries. The possible difference in the impact suffered by rural, public, and school libraries would be analysed. Although the relationship between these three types of library is very close (Salaberria, 1997), rural libraries (in Extremadura, public libraries that provide services to populations of only 1000 to 5000 inhabitants)² are of particular interest for study for two reasons: first, because demographically Extremadura is the region of Spain with the greatest percentage of its population living in rural municipalities (88.3%); ³ and second, because, while there is considerable research about rural libraries in other countries, and even in Spain, there is very little research on them in Extremadura.

Regarding this second reason, internationally, there are studies about rural libraries in Australia (Haines and Calvert, 2009; Leary, 1991), USA (Mehra et al., 2010; Standerfer, 2006; Watkins, 2004), Finland (Wigell-Ryynänen, 2009), France (Germanaud and Rapaport, 1988), Israel (Hoffman-Pfeffer, 1987), and China (Yuan, 2011). In the case of Spain, there has also been considerable research on rural libraries in different geographical areas such as Andalucía (Busutil Rivera, 2011; Gavira Moreno, 2009; Villegas Lirola, 2009), Álava (Gómez Santamaría, 2009), Asturias (Busto Fidalgo, 2009), Barcelona (Cano Vers, 2009; Comalat Navarra and Reyes Camps, 2001), Castilla-La Mancha (García López and Arroyo Ortega, 2005; Lorenzo Jiménez, 2009), Madrid (Cid Ruiz and Fraile de la Hoz, 2009), and Valencia (Moliner Ruiz, 2010a, 2010b). However, there has been a lack of research on rural libraries in the Region of Extremadura. The only recent study was coordinated by Hidalgo Mateos in 2012, analysing 182 Extremadura rural libraries considering staffing, equipment, services, and users (Hidalgo Mateos et al., 2012).

Furthermore, one finds very little research, and even then fairly outdated, on the image and visibility of libraries in Spanish media. Campos Pérez and Cid Leal (1994) consulted news items about libraries, archives, and documentation centres from 1987 to 1993 in four newspapers of the Region of Catalunya, emphasizing the ‘traditional and old-fashioned’ image that the media convey of libraries and archives. García Pérez (1995) analysed the news items about libraries in 12 Spanish daily newspapers from 1982 to 1994, reaching the conclusion that there had been no progressive increase in the literature about libraries in the period studied. Gómez Gómez et al. (1997) studied the image of libraries in four newspapers of the Region of Murcia from 1990 to 1996, highlighting the lack of news about libraries and the fact that most of these news items were disseminated by the libraries themselves. Finally, Guardiola Giménez and Hernández Pedreño (2002) analysed the social impact of libraries, other documental institutions, and books in news items published during 2000 in a newspaper and a digital press database. They found a strong presence of libraries in the database but not in the newspaper. The authors discuss the social change that has occurred in libraries: ‘It seems that finally, having overcome and consolidated the expansion period and location of libraries, they begin to have a role in the news because of their ability to mobilize and energize cultural life’ (Guardiola Giménez and Hernández Pedreño, 2002: 194).

Data and methods

To acquire the news items about rural, public, and school libraries, and to be able to compare them, first, the following three print media were selected as broadly representing the Region of Extremadura:

The Diario Oficial de Extremadura (DOE) (http://doe.juntaex.es/). This is the Region’s official journal of record, i.e. it publishes the documents that, in accordance with the law and with the constitutional principles of openness and legal guarantee, must be published openly.

The daily newspaper HOY (http://www.hoy.es/es) because of its tradition and characteristics. Founded in 1933 with three distinct characteristics that have been preserved over the years: being from and for Extremadura, having regional coverage and dissemination, and staying at the forefront of technology.

El Periódico Extremadura (http://www.elperiodicoextremadura.com/) because of its tradition and spirit. As the paper’s website indicates, staying true to its readers, it has always been a reflection of the moment and the history of Extremadura. Its more than 90 years of existence have made it the ‘old man’ of the regional newspapers. During all these years, there have been many technological advances, but the spirit remains the same as was implemented from day one: serious, straight, and rigorous journalism which is always aimed at serving the society of Extremadura.

Second, the period of analysis of the news items was decided on. Given the objectives of the study, a period of four years was selected. These years correspond to two periods: 2007 and 2008 (incipient economic crisis in the country), and 2012 and 2013 (the first fragile ‘green shoots’ of recovery beginning with the second half of 2013 according to information from the European Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Olli Rehen⁴).

During the months of October, November, and December 2013, a search for articles on rural, public, and school libraries were carried out in these three media online⁵ for the four years of analysis. A total of 3206 references were retrieved (1196 on rural libraries, 1594 on public libraries, and 413 on school libraries). These were closely analysed to check their conformance with the subject of the present research because the headline or first paragraph did not always express exactly the actual content of the news item. This qualitative filter left a final set of 490 news items closely about the topic of study (300 on rural libraries, 83 on public libraries, and 107 on school libraries). As can be seen above, although in absolute terms the news items about public libraries had been the most representative (1594), they were the fewest finally selected (83) (only 5.20% of the absolute number). This was because there were many that were repetitions, merely informative notes, or simple citations lacking interest. Both rural libraries (second in absolute numbers, 1196) and school libraries (with the fewest news items in absolute numbers, 413) reached a mean of selected news items that was somewhat greater than 25% of the original absolute numbers (300 and 107, respectively), indicating greater coherence between the published news items and their real theme.

The present research is basically quantitative. Therefore, to process the items, a database was designed with the following fields: ID (number); Date (date of publication); Source (publication medium: DOE, HOY, El Periódico de Extremadura); Geographical scope (national, regional, provincial: Cáceres CC and Badajoz BA); Type of library (rural, public, school); Date of consultation; Link to the news item (URL); Headline (title); News (first paragraph); and Comments (by the analyst). An example is provided in Appendix I.

Results and discussion

Overall analysis

To discover the influence of libraries in the media in Extremadura, and whether the economic crisis was reflected in the number of news items concerning libraries over the years of the period studied, first, a comprehensive analysis was made of the 490 news items, taking into consideration the four variables in the study: the type of library, the year of publication, the geographical scope of the news item, and the publishing medium.

Regarding the type of library, after computing the total of the 490 selected news items, rural libraries represented the greatest percentage, 61.22% (300 news items), followed by school libraries with 21.84% (107 news items), and public libraries in last place with 16.94% (83 news items). In relation to the presence of rural libraries in the Extremadura media analysed, a priori the high percentage of news items about them is very positive considering that Extremadura is a region with a strongly marked rural presence. Concerning the school libraries, the reasonable percentage of news items is due to the dissemination this type of library is given by the Consejería de Educación y Cultura [Board of Education and Culture] to the Extremadura Network of School Libraries (REBEX). With respect to public libraries, there was a lower percentage of news items because many of them were mere press releases or citations with no content, and were therefore discarded from the study.

Analysing the total number of news items for each year, the greatest number of news items corresponded to 2007 with 35.92% of the total (176 news items). There was a slight decline in 2008, with 27.76% (136 news items). This decline was accentuated in 2012 to 14.08% (69 news items), a clear reflection of the economic crisis. The 2013 data show a tendency towards a reversal, although at 22.24% (109 news items) still far from the specific weight of these items before the country’s economic turmoil began. To better appreciate the evolution undergone by news items about libraries in the Extremadura media in the two time periods studied (2007/2008 and 2012/2013), the rate of variation (RV) for one year compared with the preceding year was calculated. The result was a negative RV of -22.73% in 2008, and a positive RV of 57.97% in 2013. Being indicative of the controversial ‘green shoots’ that might be heralding the beginning of a weak economic recovery in Spain, this allows one to have somewhat optimistic expectations for the future. The inter-annual RV (%) was calculated according to the formula:

R V = (\frac{x_{t} - x_{0}}{x_{0}}) * 100

where

x_t is the final value,

x₀ is the initial value.

With respect to the analysis of the 490 news items according to the geographical area to which they refer (national, regional, or from one of the provinces of Extremadura, Cáceres or Badajoz), only 2.45% (12 news items) were national. This clearly reflected the local nature of the sources used in which the principal scope of the news is regional or provincial. Regional news was slightly more frequent with a representation of 13.88% (68 news items). These focused on issues about the Biblioteca Regional de Extremadura [the Extremadura Regional Library] or the regional Promotion of Reading awards. Provincial news had greater weight. Those referring to Cáceres and its province accounted for 35.31% (173 news items). They were focused on aspects of the A. Rodríguez-Moñino/M. Brey Public Library of Cáceres, and on rural libraries and their promotion of reading and cultural extension. The notable representation of Badajoz with 48.37% (237 news items) was due to many items referring to the construction of the new building of the capital’s Bartolomé J. Gallardo Public Library and its subsequent inauguration in 2013. There were also many references to rural libraries in the province of Badajoz and issues related to the extension of their services.

As to the analysis of the 490 news items depending on the medium consulted, the fewest were those in the Diario Oficial de Extremadura (DOE), representing only 6.53% (32 news items). This was followed by El Periódico Extremadura with 15.10% (74 news items). The greatest weight by far corresponded to the news items about libraries published in the newspaper HOY, with 78.37% of the total (384 news items). The DOE’s news items about libraries were mostly about school libraries, their creation, and the budgetary funding granted to them by the Government of Extremadura. The El Periódico Extremadura does not stand out for devoting any particular attention to libraries, despite its being the second newspaper in the region and having a large number of Extremaduran readers. The percentage representations show that the medium which gives most importance to libraries is the newspaper HOY, which is also undoubtedly the paper with the largest circulation.

Integrated analysis

Next, the results of the 490 news items will be presented in an integrated form, combining the variables studied with the year of publication: news items per year according to type of library, news items per year according to geographical scope, news items per year according to the medium of publication. In parallel, notable trends in the 300 news items which were about rural libraries will be analysed.

Type of library by year of publication

Table 1 lists the number of news items found for each type of library in each year analysed. Figure 1 shows their percentages relative to the total news items per year (columns) and Figure 2 shows their percentages relative to the total news items by type of library (rows).

Table 1.

News items by type of library and year of publication.

Type of library	2007	2008	2012	2013	Total
Rural	105	95	33	67	300
Public	28	11	16	28	83
School	43	30	20	14	107
Total	176	136	69	109	490

Figure 1.

Distribution of news items by type of library as percentages of the yearly totals.

Figure 2.

Distribution of news items by year as percentages of the library type totals.

In Figure 1, one observes that, in the four years analysed, rural libraries had the greatest percentage representation, followed by school libraries in 2007, 2008, and 2012, and by public libraries in 2013 when school libraries dropped to 12.84%.

Figure 2 shows that all three types of library had their greatest percentage of their respective totals of news items in 2007 (35% rural, 33.73% public, and 40.19% school), only equalled by the public libraries in 2013 with the same percentage as in 2007. In 2007, the country’s economic crisis was still in its infancy, and therefore libraries were not yet reflecting this. There was an increase in news items about public libraries in 2013 because of the appearance of references to the construction and opening of Badajoz’s Bartolomé J. Gallardo Public Library. Undoubtedly, events concerning State Public Libraries give rise to numerous articles in regional media, as was noted by Gómez Gómez et al. (1997) in documenting many news items related to the Biblioteca Pública del Estado of Murcia, and which dealt with such economic issues as the high level of investment, funding problems, construction delays, etc., showing that the world of culture is no stranger to economic issues, and that of libraries even less so. For the three types of libraries, there was a sharp decline of news items in 2012 compared with the previous years (in the case of public libraries this sharp decline was with respect to 2007). It is likely that the significant cuts in budgets because of the crisis, coupled with the monothematic presence in the media of news items on the progress of the economy, influenced the fall in frequency of news items concerning libraries in recent years.

To see more precisely the evolution of news items in each type of library, the values of RV corresponding to the percentages shown in Figure 2 were calculated. News items about rural libraries had a negative RV, -9.52%, in 2008 compared with 2007, but in 2013 they attained a positive rate of 103% compared with 2012. The news items about public libraries decreased greatly in 2008 compared with 2007 (RV -60.71%), but increased considerably in 2013 compared with 2012 (RV 75%). Finally, news items about school libraries decreased by 30% in 2008 compared with 2007 and by the same proportion in 2013 compared with 2012.

Geographical scope of the library by year of publication

Table 2 lists the number of news items found by geographical scope of the library and year of publication of the news. Figure 3 shows their percentages relative to the total news items per year (columns), and Figure 4 shows their percentages relative to the total news items by geographical area (rows).

Table 2.

News items by geographical scope and year of publication.

Scope of the news items	2007	2008	2012	2013	Total
National	5	6	0	1	12
Regional	28	18	13	9	68
Cáceres	57	49	23	45	174
Badajoz	86	63	32	55	236
Total	176	136	68	110	490

Figure 3.

Distribution of news items by geographical scope of the library concerned as percentages of the yearly totals.

Figure 4.

Distribution of news items by year as percentages of the total of the geographical scope of the library concerned.

In Figure 3, one observes that, in all the years analysed, the greatest percentage of news items about libraries corresponded to the province of Badajoz, followed by Cáceres (the sum of the two reaching very high values, in every year exceeding 80%). National library news was completely absent in 2012.

As shown in Figure 4, in general, from 2007 to 2012 there was a progressive decrease in news items in all the geographical areas, followed by a rebound in 2013 (except regionally). One might think therefore that the country’s economic crisis has influenced the cultural sphere, which includes libraries, and hence the fall in news items. Fortunately, there was an increase in 2013, especially at the provincial level. Most of the news items from Badajoz were related to the opening of the new building of the city’s Bartolomé J. Gallardo Public Library. To analyse in greater detail the evolution of the news items in each geographical area, the RV values were calculated. Nationally, the rate was positive at 20% in 2008 compared with 2007. In 2012 there were no news items, so that the rate of the following year could not be calculated. In the regional case, there was a decrease with an RV of -35.71% in 2008 compared with 2007, and of -30.77% in 2013 compared with 2012. The provincial news had a negative RV in 2008 compared with 2007 (-14.04% Cáceres and -26.74% Badajoz), but a major increase in 2013 compared with 2012 (95.65% Cáceres and 71.88% Badajoz).

If one now disaggregates only the 300 news items about rural libraries by area (Table 3), their behaviour is observed to be similar to that of all of the libraries. In all the years, the greatest number of news items about rural libraries corresponded to the province of Badajoz (with a greater population density), followed by Cáceres. Much smaller numbers occur in the regional and, finally, the national contexts, with this latter having no news items.

Table 3.

Rural library news items by geographical scope and year of publication.

Scope of the news items	2007	2008	2012	2013	Total
National	0	0	0	0	0
Regional	4	6	3	1	14
Cáceres	38	36	8	26	108
Badajoz	63	53	22	40	178
Total	105	95	33	67	300

Publication medium by year of publication

Next, Table 4 lists the number of news items by medium and year of publication. Figure 5 shows their percentages with respect to the total news items by year of publication (columns), and Figure 6 shows their percentages with respect to the total news items by publication medium (rows).

Table 4.

News items by medium and year of publication.

Print medium	2007	2008	2012	2013	Total
DOE	7	9	9	7	32
HOY	147	107	48	82	384
Periódico Extremadura	22	20	11	21	74
Total	176	136	68	110	490

Figure 5.

Distribution of news items by publication medium as percentages of the yearly totals.

Figure 6.

Distribution of news items by year as percentages of the totals of each publication medium.

In Figure 5, one observes that, during all the years analysed, by far the greatest percentages were for the newspaper HOY, followed at a distance by El Periódico Extremadura, and finally by the news items that appeared in the DOE. The reason could be that the newspaper HOY has the largest circulation in Extremadura.

Figure 6 shows the annual evolution of the news items published in each of the media. The DOE published a fairly equal number of news items in the four years studied. The newspaper HOY had the greatest inter-annual variation, fluctuating between 38.28% in 2007 and 12.50% in 2012. The evolution of the news items in El Periódico Extremadura also showed a variation, but of smaller amplitude, ranging between 29.73% of 2007 and 14.86% in 2012. To observe more clearly the evolution of the news items in each medium, their RVs were calculated. In the DOE, the RV was positive (28.57%) in 2008 compared with 2007, and negative (-22.22%) in 2013 compared with 2012. For the HOY and El Periódico Extremadura, the values were negative in 2008 compared with 2007 (-27.1% and -9.09%, respectively) and positive in 2013 compared with 2012 (70.83% and 90.91%, respectively).

Disaggregating only the 300 news items about rural libraries by medium of publication (Table 5), one observes that their behaviour is similar to that of all the libraries. In particular, in every year, by far the greatest number of news items about rural libraries were published in the HOY newspaper, far ahead of El Periódico Extremadura, and last was the DOE (which published no such news items in either 2007 or 2013).

Table 5.

Rural library news items by medium and year of publication.

Print medium	2007	2008	2012	2013	Total
DOE	0	4	2	0	6
HOY	99	83	25	52	259
Periódico Extremadura	6	8	6	15	35
Total	105	95	33	67	300

Conclusions

There has been an absence of specific research studies on rural libraries, in particular, in the Region of Extremadura, despite their importance as pillars of one’s collective cultural heritage in what is a predominantly rural area. In the present work therefore, they have been examined from a new perspective – analysing the evolution of the impact these libraries have on the society of Extremadura through the news items published about them in various media representative of the Region, considering also the impact that Spain’s economic crisis has had on printed news items about rural, public, and school libraries.

In many media, to be sure that news items are really related to the topic indicated in the headline or opening paragraph, it is necessary to look more deeply into each item. In the present case, only 15.28% (490 out of 3206) of the news items that were retrieved in searching for news about rural, public, and school libraries in the years 2007 and 2008, and 2012 and 2013 were actually relevant to the research topic. This reflects the need to thoroughly analyse news items.

With regard to the presence of the three types of libraries in the media of Extremadura during the four years analysed, there was a high proportion of news items about rural libraries (61.22%) compared with school and public libraries, coherent with the fact that Extremadura is fundamentally rural.

The greatest number of news items about the three types of libraries corresponded to the year 2007 (35.92%). There was a decrease in 2008 (27.76%), which became very pronounced in 2012 (14.08%). The data for 2013 showed a reversal of this trend, with 22.24% of the total news items being published in that year. Nevertheless, this was still far from the specific weight of library news in the year before the country’s economic turmoil began. That is to say that the evolution was of a general downward trend over time, with an upswing occurring in 2013, the last year studied. It is likely that the important reduction in budgets because of the economic crisis, coupled with the monothematic presence in the media of news concerning the progress of the economy, has influenced the reduction in news concerning libraries in recent years. However, the calculation of the rates of variation for the two periods analysed showed a difference in the trend, reflecting the changing economic situation in Spain in recent years. In particular, there was a negative RV (-22%) in 2008 compared with 2007 (incipient crisis), but a positive RV (+58%) in 2013 compared with 2012 (reflecting ‘green shoots’ of economic recovery).

News items about libraries of a single-province scope were the most frequent (Badajoz 48.37%; Cáceres 35.31%), followed by regional libraries (13.88%), and at a distance by library news items of a national scope (2.45%). These results are undoubtedly conditioned by the sources – regional media in which the main focus of the news is, at most, regional. The provincial news items focus on rural libraries, especially on aspects related to the promotion of reading and cultural extension in these centres.

Undoubtedly, the newspaper HOY (78.37%) was the medium that accumulated the greatest percentage of news items about the three types of libraries consulted. It was followed at a great distance by El Periódico Extremadura (15.10%), and finally by the Diario Oficial de Extremadura (DOE) (6.53%) in which there were, above all, references to the creation or endowment of school libraries.

Finally, the results showed that the economic crisis affecting the country has been reflected in the evolution undergone by news items about libraries in the media in Extremadura. Thus, news items decreased in the crisis period analysed (2007/2008, 2012/2013), but there was an upturn in 2013 compared with 2012, which allows one to foresee a near future in which the visibility of libraries in the media will increase.

The present research study was basically quantitative. To complement its results, a more in-depth qualitative study may be carried out in the near future to explore new aspects.

Footnotes

Appendix

Appendix I.

Database.

Id	Date	Source	Geographical	Type of library	Date of consultation	Link to the news	Headline	News	Comments
1	19/01/2012	Periódico HOY	CC	Bibliotecas Escolares	20/11/2013	http://www.hoy.es/v/20120119/prov-caceres/junta-concede-ayudas-para-20120119.html	Jaraíz de la Vera. La Junta concede ayudas para mejorar las bibliotecas de los centros docentes	La Consejería de Educación y Cultura destinará casi quince mil euros para mejorar las bibliotecas escolares de los centros docentes jaraiceños.	Bibliotecas Escolares. Mejoras.
2	05/11/2007	Periódico HOY	CC	Bibliotecas Escolares	10/10/2013	http://www.hoy.es/20071105/plasencia/colegio-miralvalle-proyecta-abrir-20071105.html	Plasencia. El colegio Miralvalle proyecta abrir su biblioteca al barrio	La biblioteca del colegio Miralvalle acumula 8.000 volúmenes y es una de las aulas más utilizadas por los alumnos del centro y sus familias.	Entrevista.
3	30/06/2007	Periódico HOY	CC	Bibliotecas Escolares	10/10/2013	http://www.hoy.es/prensa/20070630/plasencia/perez-comendador-colegios-miralvalle_20070630.html	Plasencia. El IES Pérez Comendador y los colegios Miralvalle y El Pilar son elegidos para la Rebex	Los colegios públicos ‘Miralvalle’ y ‘El Pilar’ y el Instituto de Enseñanza Secundaria ‘Pérez Comendador’ han sido seleccionados para participar en la fase experimental de la Red de Bibliotecas Escolares de Extremadura.	Red de bibliotecas públicas.
4	13/09/2007	Periódico HOY	CC	Bibliotecas Escolares	11/10/2013	http://www.hoy.es/prensa/20070913/plasencia/aulas-placentinas-tienen-alumnos_20070913.html	Plasencia. Las aulas placentinas tienen 400 alumnos más que el año pasado.	El mayor crecimiento se ha dado en el ciclo de Primaria, al que se incorporan 236 estudiantes más, seguido por el de Infantil, donde las cifras suman 40 nuevos pequeños y Bachillerato, con 13 incorporaciones; Educación Secundaria Obligatoria, sin embargo, decrece en una treintena de alumnos respecto a los datos que la Junta de Extremadura ofreció hace ahora un año.	Pago lectura bibliotecas públicas.
5	11/08/2007	Periódico HOY	Regional	Bibliotecas Escolares	11/10/2013	http://www.hoy.es/prensa/20070811/regional/junta-invertira-millones-mejorar_20070811.html	La Junta invertirá 1,2 millones en mejorar las bibliotecas en los colegios	La Consejería de Educación destinará 1.235.972 euros para la mejora de las bibliotecas escolares de los centros públicos de la Comunidad Autónoma.	Canon libros.
6	09/05/2007	Periódico HOY	CC	Bibliotecas Escolares	11/10/2013	http://www.hoy.es/prensa/20070509/caceres/expertos-alumnos-debaten-sobre_20070509.html	Cáceres. Expertos y alumnos debaten sobre las bibliotecas escolares	Alrededor de un millar de personas entre personal docente, expertos y alumnado, participa en el Complejo Cultural San Francisco de Cáceres en las III Jornadas de Bibliotecas Escolares de Extremadura	Bibliotecas Municipales.
7	21/05/2007	Periódico HOY	Regional	Bibliotecas Escolares	11/10/2013	http://www.hoy.es/prensa/20070521/articulos_opinion/educacion-reto-siglo_20070521.html	La Educación: reto del siglo XXI	Son tiempos de elecciones. Uno de los retos, quizás el más importante, al que se enfrentan nuestros próximos gobernantes en Extremadura, no cabe la menor duda, que es la mejora de la calidad de la educación.	Biblioteca Municipal de Mérida.
8	13/01/2007	Periódico HOY	BA	Bibliotecas Escolares	11/10/2013	http://www.hoy.es/prensa/20070113/merida/ministerio-educacion-premia-biblioteca_20070113.html	El Ministerio de Educación premia a la biblioteca del José María Calatrava	El Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia ha concedido al colegio José María Calatrava de Mérida el tercer premio del concurso nacional de buenas prácticas para la dinamización de bibliotecas escolares. El galardón tiene una cuantía de 6.000 euros.	Hábitos de lectura.
9	17/08/2007	Periódico HOY	CC	Bibliotecas Escolares	11/10/2013	http://www.hoy.es/prensa/20070817/caceres/preve-abrir-algunos-colegios_20070817.html	Se prevé abrir algunos colegios para su uso por parte de todos los ciudadanos	El Ayuntamiento de Cáceres prevé la puesta en marcha de la iniciativa ‘Centros abiertos’, que permite la apertura de las instalaciones de los centros escolares en horario no lectivo.	Apertura bibliotecas.
10	26/09/2007	Periódico HOY	Regional	Bibliotecas Escolares	13/10/2013	http://www.hoy.es/prensa/20070926/merida/educacion-disena-actividades-para_20070926.html	Educación diseña actividades para abrir los colegios los fines de semana	La Delegación de Educación da los primeros pasos para abrir los colegios públicos de Infantil y Primera las tardes, los fines de semana y periodos vacacionales, para desarrollar tareas culturales, educativas o deportivas.	Apertura biblioteca época exámenes.
11	31/10/2007	Periódico HOY	Regional	Bibliotecas Escolares	13/10/2013	http://www.hoy.es/20071031/regional/vara-sopesa-ligar-ayudas-20071031.html	Vara sopesa ligar las ayudas a las familias al “compromiso” educativo que demuestren	Una familia podría recibir de la Junta de Extremadura una ayuda económica distinta en función del grado de compromiso que demuestre con la educación de sus hijos y su nivel de implicación para conseguir un mejor modelo de convivencia.	Vitela (distribución bibliotecas. Públicas de Extremadura).
13	24/11/2007	Periódico HOY	CC	Bibliotecas Escolares	14/10/2013	http://www.hoy.es/20071124/plasencia/colegios-institutos-abren-instalaciones-20071124.html	Plasencia. Colegios e institutos abren sus instalaciones a la sociedad	Optimizar recursos. Dotar a los barrios placentinos de más servicios. Es el objetivo que persigue la Concejalía de Educación con su adhesión a la iniciativa ‘centros abiertos’, enmarcada en un convenio entre la Junta y la Federación Extremeña de Municipios y Provincias (FEMP).	Biblioteca Virtual Patrimonio Bibliográfico.
14	18/08/2007	Periódico HOY	BA	Bibliotecas Escolares	14/10/2013	http://www.hoy.es/prensa/20070818/merida/consejo-escolar-municipal-convocara_20070818.html	El Consejo Escolar municipal se convocará en el primer trimestre del curso	El Ayuntamiento de Mérida convocará el Consejo Escolar municipal durante el primer trimestre del próximo curso. Esta actuación responde a la petición realizada por la Federación Regional de Asociaciones de Padres de Alumnos (Freapa) de «realizar este consejo municipal que llevamos tanto tiempo esperando», comenta Rafael Delgado, presidente de la entidad.	Retorno a la sede antigua.
15	15/03/2013	D.O.E.	Regional	Bibliotecas Escolares	03/01/2014	http://doe.juntaex.es/pdfs/doe/2013/520o/13050052.pdf	ORDEN de 4 de marzo de 2013 por la que se convocan ayudas para lamejora de las bibliotecas escolares de los centros concertados de nivelesprevios a la Universidad y la selección para los que quieran adscribirse a laRed de Bibliotecas Escolares de Extremadura.	http://doe.juntaex.es/pdfs/doe/2013/520o/13050052.pdf	Biblioteca Municipal Don Benito. Club de lectura infantil.
16	08/10/2007	Periódico HOY	Regional	Bibliotecas Escolares	15/10/2013	http://www.hoy.es/20071008/local/consejera-educacion-prepara-modelo-200710081710.html	La consejera de Educación prepara un “modelo educativo propio para la región”	La consejera de Educación, Eva María Pérez, anunció hoy la elaboración de una Ley de Educación de Extremadura, que permita “asentar el modelo educativo propio” y se convierta en una “garantía para mejorar el sistema educativo en consonancia con los retos que plantea la sociedad actual”.	Propuestas de bibliotecas.

Confirmation statement

We confirm that all authors have agreed to the submission and that the article is not currently being considered for publication by any other print or electronic journal.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was funded by the Government of Extremadura, Consejería de Empleo, Empresa e Innovación, and the European Social Fund as part of the grant to groups GR10019.

Notes

Author biographies

Cristina Faba-Pérez is an Associate Professor in the Information and Communication Department, University of Extremadura, Spain. She is the author of research papers in journals of impact, and director of doctoral theses and research in Library and Information Science. She has completed academic stays in national and international research centres. Her main line of research is the evaluation of Internet resources in Library and Information Science.

Raquel Cebrián-Solís is a Research Grantee of Fundación Caja Badajoz in Spain and is currently pursuing her investigation in the Department of Information and Communications of the University of Extremadura, Spain. Her research is focused on information and media on line.

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