Libraries under the liberal order: a definition of a regime's cultural policy

Abstract

This article deals with the activities of the Depósito das Livrarias dos Extintos Conventos (Depository for the Libraries of Abolished Convents), a public body established in 1834 by the liberal government in order to safeguard the storage and distribution of books collected from the libraries of the convents which had been abolished. It speculates on whether these concerns were guided by an underlying cultural policy specific to that regime, the aim of which was to establish an integrated library system. The article explains the cohesiveness of the principles of such a policy, stressing the constraints, the blockages and the diversions which arose as it was implemented. Also discussed in connection with the policy is the theory that a new library model was emerging, that of the public library, as opposed to the private library which prevailed under the Old Regime.