The Cabildo approves grants for municipal library funds

The Insular Government Council of the Insular Council of Tenerife, in a session held on September 2, 2026, approved the general bases and the call for applications that will govern the granting of subsidies for the provision of bibliographic and audiovisual funds for municipal public libraries 2026. The approval took place following the modification of the Strategic Subsidy Plan, and the announcement is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, number 108, of September 9, 2026 (reference 1845688, page 25599).

The purpose of these grants is to finance the acquisition of bibliographic and audiovisual material for the public library of each municipality, in order to provide library centers with an updated and renewed offer of their collections. The total available credit amounts to 90,000.00 euros, charged to item 26.0801.3321.46240 of the Council’s budget for the current fiscal year.

Beneficiaries and requirements

City councils of the island of Tenerife and their institutional public sector may receive the subsidy, provided that the library service meets the following requirements:

Be municipally owned.
Have a minimum public opening schedule of 15 hours per week.
Belong to the Canary Islands Library Network (BICA).

Acquisitions must include both new publications as well as a selection of narrative, poetry, or essays, and at least 10% of titles by Canarian authors, on Canarian themes, or from Canarian publishers. A maximum of 3 copies of the same title may be acquired, and reference funds, serial publications, exam preparation materials, or funds destined for library extension services are excluded.

Distribution criteria

The distribution of the credit is determined based on the number of inhabitants of each requesting municipality, according to the latest official population figures as of January 1, 2026, published by the Canarian Institute of Statistics. Each municipality obtains a score from 1 to 8 points according to its population, and the amount is calculated using the formula Cn = (Ct/ΣPn) x Pn, to which a fixed amount of 500.00 euros per requesting entity is added.

Less than 4,000 inhabitants: 1 point.
Between 4,000 and 5,999: 2 points.
Between 6,000 and 9,999: 3 points.
Between 10,000 and 14,999: 4 points.
Between 15,000 and 19,999: 5 points.
Between 20,000 and 39,999: 6 points.
Between 40,000 and 100,000: 7 points.
More than 100,000: 8 points.

Application and deadline

The application shall be formalized through the procedure “Subsidies for the acquisition of bibliographic funds for municipal public libraries 2026”, enabled on the Council’s electronic office (https://sede.tenerife.es). The submission period will be 20 calendar days starting from the day following the publication of the summary of the call in the Official Gazette of the Province.

The processing of the procedure corresponds to the Head of the Administrative Culture Service, and the competent body to resolve it will be the Insular Director of Culture. The maximum period for resolution and notification will be six months, and the justification for the grants must be submitted by June 30, 2027. The acquired funds must be incorporated into the absysNET platform of the BICA Network and remain available for loan or in-room consultation for at least three years.

Relevance for the municipalities

The call, signed by the Insular Councilor for Culture, Museums, and Sports, José Carlos Acha Domínguez, represents an opportunity for the 31 municipalities of the island to renew the collections of their public libraries, with special attention to Canarian editorial production. The distribution by population ensures that both large centers and smaller municipalities receive a proportional allocation, reinforcing the quality of the public reading service throughout the island.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, number 108, September 9, 2026, section III (Local Administration), page 25599 (official reference: 1845688).