Puerto Rico National Library

Carcel de Puerta de Tierra
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district Contributing property
Puerto Rico Historic Sites and Zones
Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico in San Juan, 2017
Location	Ponce de León Avenue, Stop 8 San Juan Antiguo, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Coordinates	18.4638°N 66.0923°W / 18.4638; -66.0923
Built	1887
Architect	Domingo Sermero
Architectural style	Spanish Neoclassical
Part of	Puerta de Tierra Historic District (ID100002936)
NRHP reference No.	76002253[1]
RNSZH No.	2000-(RMSJ)-00-JP-SH
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	August 11, 1976
Designated CP	October 15, 2019
Designated RNSZH	February 3, 2000

The Puerto Rico National Library (Spanish: Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico) is the national library of Puerto Rico. It was created in 1967 as the Biblioteca General de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico General Library) by Joint Resolution No. 44 of the Puerto Rico Legislature.^[2] It opened on April 11, 1973.^[3] In 2003 it was renamed Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico by Act 188 of August 17 of that year.^[4] The library is ascribed to the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture.

The Library shares its nineteenth-century classical building, (at one time the Bacardi Rum flagship factory^{[citation needed]}), with the General Archives of Puerto Rico. The Library's specialized collections include the Dominican Collection of leather-bound religious books dating from the 16th-19th centuries, the Eugenio Maria de Hostos Collection, which includes 1,300 digitized manuscripts, and the private collection of Concha Meléndez, literary critic and former professor at the University of Puerto Rico.^[5]

The building is located in the Puerta de Tierra historic district on the Islet of San Juan. It faces the Luis Muñoz Rivera Park. It is fully air‐conditioned and has free Internet access. The Library and Archives share a 119-seat amphitheater at street level where each one has its individual side desk, with an unobstructed view.^[6] The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 under its former name, Carcel de Puerta de Tierra,^[1] and on the Puerto Rico Register of Historic Sites and Zones in 2000 under the name Archivo y Biblioteca General.^[7]

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
2. Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico. Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. Programas y Servicios. Biblioteca Nacional. Retrieved 2 November 2021. Archived.
3. Torres Rivera, Juan. "Archivo General de Puerto Rico-Biblioteca Nacional. Su historia". www.puertadetierra.info.
4. Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico. Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. Programas y Servicios. Biblioteca Nacional. Retrieved 2 November 2021. Archived.
5. Gómez de Hillyer, Josefina. "The National Library of Puerto Rico Archived 2015-11-17 at the Wayback Machine." 2010. November 15, 2015.
6. Gómez de Hillyer, Josefina. "The National Library of Puerto Rico Archived 2015-11-17 at the Wayback Machine." 2010.
7. GOBIERNO DE PUERTO RICO, JUNTA DE PLANIFICACIÓN DE PUERTO RICO (December 7, 2022). "REGISTRO DE PROPIEDADES DESIGNADAS POR LA JUNTA DE PLANIFICACIÓN DE PUERTO RICO" (PDF). jp.pr.gov.

Bibliography

• Haidée Muñoz Solá (1992). "Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico" (PDF). Boletín de la ANABAD (in Spanish). 42. Madrid: Asociación Española de Archiveros, Bibliotecarios, Museólogos y Documentalistas. ISSN 0210-4164 – via University of La Rioja.

External links

• www.icp.gobierno.pr/programas/biblioteca-nacional-de-puerto-rico - official site (in Spanish)
• Welcome information by Josefina Gómez de Hillyer, Library Director
• History of the Library by Juan Torres Rivera (in Spanish)