Julio Mario Santo Domingo Cultural Center Public Library

In 2007 BibloAmigos began the construction of the Julio Mario Santo Domingo Cultural Center Public Library, with a budget of close to $36 billion pesos.

Beneficiaries

The center will benefit over 1.2 million people who live in the districts of Suba and Usaquén. These districts are home to 280,000 children and young people, who represent 18% of the school aged population in Bogotá.

These districts are also home to the full range of social classes. This means that the Julio Mario Santo Domingo Cultural Center Public Library will be a place where people from different socioeconomic backgrounds will meet; a setting for social inclusion through culture.

Services

The Cultural Center will offer the services of a reading room and book loans, magazines and newspapers, encyclopedias and dictionaries. The materials are divided into collections for children, young people, general, reference, and periodicals.

• It will have seating for over 600 readers, as well as reading cubicles for two or more people, and a workroom for groups of up to 20 people.
• An Internet and multimedia room with approximately 40 terminals, an audiovisual collection with films and documentaries on different subjects.
• An audio collection with talking books, as well as special materials for the blind.
• The Cultural Center will have an educational game collection and a baby section that will offer early stimulation programs for children from birth to 6-years-old.
• As at the other main libraries, this one will have a Bogotá Collection with information about the city.
• The library’s underground parking will have 339 parking spots for cars, as well as parking for 140 bicycles.
• The Cultural Center is located in a 5.5-hectare park featuring broad walkways, winding paths, and children’s playgrounds.

Theater

• The building’s 23,000 m2 will include a theater with seating for 1,250 people and the most modern technical facilities for hosting state-of-the-art cultural events. The theater will include an orchestra pit, dressing rooms, and costuming.
• As well as the main stage, the Cultural Center will have a theater studio or auditorium that can seat 300, an exposition salon with spot lighting for displaying paintings, sculpture, and other art exhibits.
• The theater and library administrative offices and the office for BibloAmigos will also be located at the center.

Aportes

The construction of this Cultural Center has been made possible thanks to a generous donation from the Santo Domingo family.

To match this donation, BibloAmigos must provide the basic collection for the library, consisting of 35,000 volumes with their respective technical processing.

The municipal government’s District Recreation and Sports Institute (IDRD) and the Urban Development Institute (IDU) provided the funding for the park and the construction of the parking area.

The Bogotá Aqueduct Company is in charge of installing the water lines. The IDU will be extending Calle 170 and building Carrera 64.