Professionals reject Vox's language audit in Palma's libraries
The Association of Librarians, Archivists and Documentalists of the Balearic Islands warns that the motion by the PP and Vox parties could call into question professional criteria and politicize the management of Catalan and Spanish-language collections.
PalmThe Association of Librarians, Archivists, and Documentalists of the Balearic Islands (ABADIB) has expressed its strong opposition to the motion that the Palma City Council will approve this Thursday, promoted by Vox and supported by the PP. The initiative seeks to commission a comprehensive study of municipal library holdings to "guarantee a balanced and representative offering in Spanish and Catalan," but, according to the association, this proposal calls into question the professional criteria of library services and introduces political parameters into an area that is regulated by clear legal frameworks and technical criteria.
The reaction comes after Vox justified the motion by claiming that municipal libraries have few books in Spanish. Official data refutes this assertion: Palma's municipal collections total 265,545 items, of which 150,004 are in Spanish and 86,945 in Catalan. Furthermore, in the new additions made in 2025 through the Balearic Islands Catalogue (CABIB), the number of titles in Spanish is almost double that of those in Catalan. "This legal framework does not contemplate audits of collections based on political parameters, but rather coordination, institutional cooperation, and the development of public cultural services," ABADIB emphasizes. The professionals reiterate that the management of collections—selection, organization, and access—must respond to independent technical criteria and the needs of the community. Any ideological segmentation of the collections violates the principles of equal access and pluralism that should govern public libraries. The association warns that using language as a tool for political confrontation is "worrying and counterproductive" and argues that libraries already reflect the linguistic reality of the citizenry. Therefore, it demands that any debate on library policies be conducted with respect for professional criteria and the current legal framework, and not through ideological audits that could jeopardize the technical independence of these public services. Political use of language
Another key point is the political use of language: "Language cannot be used as a tool for political confrontation with libraries," warns ABADIB. The association adds that "it is deeply worrying and counterproductive to turn language—a linguistic right recognized in the Balearic Islands—into an argument to question the management of professional public services widely valued by citizens."
According to the organization, linguistic diversity is already part of the ordinary functioning of the facilities: "Public libraries already work with linguistic diversity as a criterion for accessibility and to respond to the real needs of users, in Catalan and Spanish, as well as in other languages present in the community." Given this scenario, ABADIB rejects the notion that, under the pretext of "transparency" or "evaluation," the technical independence of libraries should be jeopardized, and demands that any debate on library policies be based on evidence, current legal frameworks, and respect for professional criteria. It is expected that this Thursday's plenary session will approve the motion from Vox, which will be supported by the PP, to commission a study quantifying the number of titles in each language, since the far-right party believes that there are few books in Spanish in municipal libraries. MÁS per Mallorca has strongly criticized the initiative, deeming it "absurd."
"Smokescreen"
"This is a smokescreen to cover up the real neglect of neighborhood libraries by the PP and Vox parties," denounces councilor Miquel Àngel Contreras: the Son Cladera library has been temporarily closed since April, and the Génova and Sant Jordi libraries were on the verge of closing due to unpaid rent. Currently, Palma's municipal libraries have a total collection of 265,545 items, of which 86,945 are in Catalan and 150,004 in Spanish. Furthermore, in relation to the CABIB (Bilbao Library Association), the collection increased by 3,065 titles in Catalan and 5,873 in Spanish in 2025.