As a result of a research project, the article presents considerations about the Biblioteca Pública da Bahia. A historical approach is used in a period between 1811 and 1818, and makes comparisons with librarianship practices. A research corpus composed of primary documents in the collection is used which was compiled from the Fundação Biblioteca Nacional. The research aims to illustrate the importance of historical studies on librarianship in order to understand the uncoupling from the past into the present of practices and activities related to the field. It is concluded that in face of the advances and some epistemological discontinuities as scientists, librarians must not ignore historical studies on their area of expertise.
Biblioteca Pública da Bahia; The History of the Libraries; Brazil; Formation and collection development
