BibloRed was established in 1998 with construction of mega-libraries being a central part of the Plan for Economic, Social and Public Works Development 1998-2001. In 2001, BibloRed commenced operation within three of the city's largest libraries (Tunal, Tintal and Virgilio Barco), and soon after local and neighborhood libraries were integrated into the Network, as well as other reading spaces.

In 2013, BibloRed became part of the Ministry of Culture, Recreation and Sport.

The Network is currently made up of 24 libraries of which 19 are public, three are in public-schools - one specializing in children and one in sports, as well as a library serving people deprived of their liberty. BibloRed also offers reading spaces in parks and public transport stations via the BibloMovil and the Bogota Digital Library.

GOALS

• Expand opportunities and capacities for free access to information and local and universal knowledge based on the recognition of the needs and interests of communities and public policy approaches
• Guarantee and stimulate the capacities for reading and writing, the sciences, the arts and the various manifestations of culture from early childhood and throughout life
• Increase spaces for debate, dialogue, management, mediation and the social appropriation of knowledge
• Stimulate the use, appropriation and creation of knowledge through digital culture and innovation

BibloRed fulfills its purpose of promoting and facilitating learning among citizens, through the following actions.

• Information Services: Free access to information and knowledge through the offer of bibliographic resources that respond to the needs and interests of the communities. At the same time, BibloRed designs and implements specialized information services that seek to serve specific sectors of the population, as well as contribute to the knowledge and development of the city.
• Collection management: To maintain suitable, pertinent and updated collections that support the educational and cultural policies of the libraries
• Unconventional reading spaces: To bring books and reading closer to citizens through the Paraderos Paralibros Paraparques - PPP, which are reading points that are currently operating in 91 parks across Bogota; the BibloEstaciones located in 12 stations and portals of the Transmilenio mass transportation system; and the BibloMóvil, which is a traveling space that seeks to serve communities that still do not enjoy BibloRed services.
• Digital Library of Bogota: It is a channel that offers simple and direct access to quality information, a meeting space around learning, knowledge exchange, research and citizen participation.
• BibloRed Mediators School: Is a space dedicated to reflection, study and research on issues related to mediation practices in the public library and other educational and cultural spaces, with special attention to reading and writing mediation practices.
• BibloRed is part of the District Reading and Writing Plan, Read for Life, led by the Ministry of Culture, Recreation and Sports. The program aims to increase the literacy of citizens with a specific focus on the vunerable population.

BibloRed operates through a concession model (PPP). The service provider is selected through a public tender process and is in charge of the operation of the Network and reports to the Department of Reading and Library of Bogotá of the Secretary of Culture, Recreation, and Sport.

These are some items that are covered with financial resources:

Human resources, operating costs and expenses, service provision costs and expenses, remuneration of the service provider.

The budget is approximately 8,691,727 USD.

• 6 district administrations have implemented the project
• 128 library spaces throughout the city
• 24 public libraries
• 4 of its 5 central libraries are heritage buildings
• 91 Paradero Paralibros, Paraparques - PPP, 12 Library Stations, 1 Digital Public Library of Bogotá, 1 BibloMóvil
• 16,949,334 people visited the libraries network between 2016 and 2020
• Approximately 12,000 training activities per year with 250,000 attendees
• 3,257,000 loans and 94,700 new reading materials put into service between 2016 and 2020
• 7,000 book and reading agents benefited from the School of Mediators in 2019. BibloRed’s school of mediators is a project dedicated to the reflection, study and investigation of reading, writing and oral mediation practices in the public library and in other educational and cultural spaces.
• +2,000,000 items can be viewed in the Digital Library of Bogotá
• +6 million visits to the web portal in 2019
• Strategy #BibloRedEnMiCasa
• Bogotá´s Digital Library has received 923,795 visits
• 424,504 have been connected to the different activities that the Network has offered online, since the spaces were closed.
• From April 18 to June 30-2020, 24,865 books have been lent, in the home loan model, implemented by the Network during the COVID 19 pandemic.

* Figures as of June 30, 2020

The main difficulty is the operation model of Biblored is, as it operates through a PPP model, which can cause the operation times to be reduced.

Occasionally, this model presents difficulties: the tender process is long and if future terms are not approved, the operation of the winning service provider is reduced to a few months.These frequent operational changes sometimes affect the continuity of the processes

• The Public Libraries Network of Bogotá is coordinated centrally by the Secretary of Culture, Recreation and Sports, which allows for the optimizing of resources and efforts, without putting aside its territorial peculiarities.
• BibloRed is widely supported by citizens for the programs and services offered. The programs are innovative and can adapt to various challenges and needs and are aimed at all age groups with a special focus on the vulnerable population.
• Integrating non-conventional reading spaces into the Network, such as parks and stations of the public transport system, has contributed to guaranteeing access to all the community.
• Through the creation of new programs and services, BibloRed has positioned itself as a fundamental service for the circulation of and access to science, artistic practices, innovation and digital culture in the city.
• During its years of operation, BibloRed has provided citizens with the opporutnity to improve their literacy skills, thus contributing to closing the gaps of inequality. For example, the launch in 2017 of the Sumapaz Public School Library, the first in a rural area of Bogotá.

Replicable elements

Replicable learning is found on many levels: from budget and administrative management of a network of public libraries, through to the design and implementation of programs that motivated the participation of different sectors of the population to offer innovative services and collections.

City of Bogotá’s Best practice document