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I was at a Museum where the transformation was underway, the works to enlarge the Museum had already begun. They called me to start up a large project, the Library, the brainchild of the Director, Miguel Zugaza, and the Technical Director, Gabriele Finaldi, in order to create the Library and Documentation Centre.
When I arrived at the building where the Library was located, it was teeming with people, there was not room for anyone else. I was allocated a very small area, which we jokingly called "the closet," just a couple of square metres, where I almost didn't fit. It wasn't a bad reception, but there simply wasn't a spare desk for anyone. At the time the Library was in a basement that had formerly been a garage, but the conditions were not fit for the books or for the workers. The Library staff were dispersed, occupying places on three or four different floors. The reader area was likewise inadequate, to the point that users and staff shared the same parts of the Library.
Moving to the Casón del Buen Retiro was like going from zero to a hundred, from an entirely inadequate setting to a splendorous area.
He has worked at the Museum as Head of the Library, Documentation and Archives Area, subsequently moving to the Department of Manuscripts and Incunabula at the National Library of Spain as director.
Interview recorded on December 13, 2017
