AECID’s Library has been formed over the years through the combination of two major collections: that of the Hispanic Library, and that of the Islamic Library. The quality of its bibliographic collections and the specialization of its holdings make it a prime source for Europe’s most important specialized information centres.
The creation of the Hispanic Library dates back to 1941, within the Hispanic Culture Council, whereas the Islamic Library started out in 1954, with the creation of the Spanish-Arab Culture Institute. These two collections total more than 700,000 volumes in books, journals, audio materials and electronic resources.
Moreover, in the 1980s, a collection was started on development cooperation issues, giving rise to the Spanish Cooperation Library, which is now an essential information source for society as a whole regarding cooperation.