The library was opened in 1988 on the initiative of Enric Bricall, Elisava’s director from 1986 to 1998, who had the idea of a library that would be open to the different areas of design. Over the years since, the library has become a benchmark for knowledge in the design sector.
Library
The Enric Bricall Library is one of the main services to support teaching and research, as well as the education of future professionals in the world of design and engineering; the service is open to the entire Elisava community and specialists in the sector.
There are two different spaces in the Enric Bricall Library. The welcome area is a space where you’ll find the library’s latest acquisitions, the copies of the magazines we subscribe to, a small exhibition space to display some of the documents from the Enric Bricall Reserve Fund, and a space equipped with computers and scanners. The working area is a quiet space intended for study. It contains lit tables equipped with laptop sockets. Connect to the Virtual Campus for access requirements or visit the library.
Opening Hours
Monday through Thursday, from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Contact
biblioteca@elisava.net
Online catalogue
In the online Catalog of the Enric Bricall Library you will find all the information about the new acquisitions, the new issues of magazines and publications and a selection of Final Degree Projects and Final Master Projects by Elisava students.
Collection Books Magazines Audiovisual material Digital library
The Enric Bricall Library has a collection of more than 10,000 specialized physical documents in the fields of graphic design, product design, industrial design engineering, architecture and interior design.
The collection of books is focused on supporting the needs of the teachers and students, as well as making the most noteworthy new releases in the sector available to the Elisava community.
The library has subscriptions to more than 40 specialized magazines, including
032c – Adbusters – Apartamento – Archive – Auto & Design – Axis – Cabana – Communication Arts – Damn – Disegno – Diseño de la Ciudad – Distrito Oficina – Domus – Elephant – Exit Experimenta – Eye – Frame – Foam – Gràffica – Harvard Business Review – Inventario – Kinfolk – MacGuffin – Modern Matter – Món d’Ahir – Monocle – Neo2 – Nightingale – Nomad – Novum – Office et Culture – On Diseño – Proyecto Contract – Renewable Matter – Slanted – Sixtysix – Temes de Disseny – Theknos – The Funambulist – The Plant – Viewpoint Colour – Visions by – Wired – Wallpaper
In addition to books and magazines, the library has a collection of more than 300 films and documentaries related to design and engineering.
The Elisava community also has access to an extensive library in digital format. The eLibrary contains more than 52,700 eBooks in the field of humanities, design, art, architecture, science, technology and engineering that can be downloaded in full. The eLibrary must be accessed through the Elisava Virtual Campus, using the link you’ll find in the section called “Library Resources”.
Enric Bricall Reserve Fund
The Enric Bricall Reserve Fund is a special collection at the Elisava Library containing books which, due to their typographic excellence, are representative of the graphic avant-garde of the 20th century.
The collection is managed by Gloria Farré-Escofet, a researcher on the history and culture of design, with the collaboration of the librarian Andreu Jansà.
Due to the nature of the material, it must be conserved under special conditions. As a result, materials from this collection cannot be checked out and are not freely accessible. For access, contact the library staff. The documents in this collection are identified in the catalogue with the initials FREB.
Pieces from this special collection are regularly exhibited in the display cases in the library.
Materials Narratives Collection Space
Materials Narratives is a platform for interpreting and learning about materials aimed at researchers, teachers and companies. Focused on experimentation and design using new materials, for years it has been compiling research on how the materials in our environment can be understood from a comprehensive perspective and from a social, cultural, sustainability and technological point of view. The different international academic and research projects have been developed by Elisava Research and the Elisava undergraduate and master’s degrees.
The Materials Narratives platform also offers services aimed at companies and organizations, guiding them in education and innovation through materials, and detecting and developing new opportunities through different collaboration formats such as: research projects, training capsules, materials development, or the selection of commercial materials for the different sectors – Material Boxes.
Services Lending Interlibrary loan
As a member of the Elisava Community, you will be able to borrow documents available at the Enric Bricall Library and also borrow them from other Catalan university libraries.
The lending service allows you to borrow different documents from the library. This is an exclusive service for the Elisava community, so you must have an Elisava ID. Connect to the Virtual Campus for the requirements.
Elisava is a member of the Consortium of Catalan University Libraries. The vast majority of the documents that are part of the collections of the Catalan universities can be located in the collective catalogue and requested for loan.
The catalogue contains more than 3,700,000 bibliographic records and provides access to more than 8,000,000 physical documents held in the collections of more than 160 libraries. If you are interested in consulting a document from another university, you can request it through interlibrary loan. Make the request in person at Elisava’s library or contact us via email at biblioteca@elisava.net.
Information resources Collective catalogues Open Access Databases Reference Managers
The library offers tailor-made sessions to people who have an interest in a specific topic or a specific resource. In order to serve users who cannot attend a face-to-face session or who prefer to follow their own learning process, here you will find references and quick guides for use:
If you can’t find what you need in the Enric Bricall Library catalogue, the following catalogues may be of use:
- CCUC (Collective catalogue of the Catalan Universities)
- ALADÍ (Public libraries in the province of Barcelona)
- REBIUN (Spanish universities)
- BEG (Specialized libraries of the Generalitat)
- WorldCat (Collective catalogue of world libraries)
Some open access databases:
- MaterFAD: FAD materials database. It lets you search for materials according to different criteria and gives you access to documents detailing their technical characteristics. Access is free, but you must register as a user.
- RECOLECTA: Aggregator of Spanish scientific repositories. It is open access and full text.
- OAIster: Aggregator of open access digital resources worldwide. It includes books, articles and digitized manuscripts, audio, video, photographs, statistical data, PhD theses and research papers.
- Europeana: Search engine for the digitized collections of museums, libraries and archives in Europe.
- ccindex: Open access database of bibliographical references from journals specialized in architecture, art, social sciences, cinema, design, cultural studies, philosophy, photography, literature and music. Access is free but you must register as a user.