Prácticas y representaciones bibliotecarias en la Biblioteca Pública de Buenos Aires

The article briefly studies the library management practices in the Public Library of Buenos Aires from 1810 to 1818. It is based on a document from the General Archive of the Nation: the “Libro de cargo y data, o de cuenta corriente de los encargados de los gastos de la Biblioteca Pública formado por el Director de ella Dr. Dn. Luis José Chorroarín en el año 1812”. Thanks to that source it is possible to track the administration and the different processes that allowed to manage that important place, one of the first creations of cultural politics of the Revolution of May. Thus, several subjects of particular interest are seen here: incomes and expenditures; personnel; selling of duplicate or damaged material; bookbinding; book acquisition; building maintenance; etc. Among several conclusions, the relevance of this type of administrative and bureaucratic document is mentioned in order to know the variety of library practices within the framework of the Library Science History in Argentin