17,000 environment titles open for free consultation in Seville

Anyone interested in the environment can freely and at no cost consult the 17,066 items held by the library of the Regional Ministry of Sustainability and Environment, including monographs, journals, reference works and technical reports. Of that total, 1,557 are electronic resources available online. The service is at the Ministry's headquarters, at number 50 Avenida Manuel Siurot, in Seville. The room has 12 reading places and three computers to consult the catalogue, the internet and internal and external databases. The holdings are divided into 13 sections, including Natural Environment, Environmental Impact, Environmental Policy, Environmental Education, Children's Section, Culture and Environment, and Tourism and Leisure.

To take publications home you only need a reader's card, which is obtained with your DNI. You can take up to three documents for two weeks, renewable by phone or email for another two. Anyone unable to travel to Seville can request loans through any library in the Network of Documentation Centres and Specialised Libraries of Andalusia (Red IDEA), to which this centre belongs. The Ministry also manages requests for works not in its holdings through other libraries. Access to the library's website is through the Andalusia Environmental Portal.

During 2025 the service handled 2,538 queries across visits, calls and email requests, 26.9% more than the 2,000 in 2024. At the end of that year it had 4,050 subscribed readers, of whom 114 joined in the same year, more than double the 50 in 2024. Loans were 544, almost 68% more than the 324 of the previous year. Throughout 2025 five activities were organised, with 511 visits, including those on the days of Environmental Education, the Book, the Environment and Libraries, and the talks "Geografías literarias", on literature around Doñana. The study "Recuperación del patrimonio cultural del Parque Nacional de Doñana y su entorno" has also been digitised; its 13 volumes, scattered among institutions and individuals, can be consulted in the online catalogue. The library is also an Official Bookcrossing Zone and offers a flea market service with publications from surplus stock. On the occasion of Library Day, on October 24, an exchange of copies among users was promoted from October 28 to 30, who received a book from the visual guide to natural heritage "Andalucía en el bolsillo".