Spain’s National Library Director Resigns

By Laura Galos -- Críticas, 9/1/2007

Rosa Regás, director of Spain’s Biblioteca Nacional (National Library) in Madrid, resigned on August 20, citing that she lacked the confidence of the nation’s new culture minister, César Antonio Molinas. “[He] told me I have not done anything [for the National Library],” an appalled Regás said following a meeting with Molinas, according to several published reports. “I was speechless.”

Regás, 74, had sparked controversy during her tenure as library director. Appointed as director in 2004 when the Socialist government of Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero took office, she was accused of using her powerful position to promote her Leftist views. And though the national library holds the Spain’s newspaper archive, Regás notoriously announced that she did not read newspapers or watch the televised news, claiming it upset her too much for her to do her work. According to The Independent, Regás believes the newspapers are too critical of the government and expressed happiness at their falling sales, saying “fortunately, fewer and fewer newspapers are being sold.” Outraged media representatives accused her of a “totalitarian” mindset.

The library itself has been beset by recent thefts. Only two days before Regás’s resignation, the library announced that a pair of world maps, printed in 1482 and composed by Greek geographer Ptolemy, had been stolen. During the ensuing investigation, pages from four 16th and 18th century books were found to have been ripped out and stolen as well. The maps were taken from a restricted area open only to card-holding researchers. Regás claimed that the thefts have nothing to do with her decision to resign.

Also a writer, Regás is the recipient of the prestigious 1994 Premio Nadal for Azul (“Blue”)  and the Premio Planeta for La canción de Dorotea (“Dorotea’s Song,” 2001). She said she plans to spend the immediate future traveling and writing. “I regret leaving because there are many projects underway," she said, adding that “the criticism from the opposition was very hard to deal with, all the more because women are not well-regarded by the Right, especially when they are energetic like me.”