CSIC's Library & Archive Network is part of  the CSIC Scientific Information System  and is made up of the Unit of Scientific Information Resources for Research and 59 research libraries, as well as 14 scientific archives. Its Libraries and Archives  are located within CSIC's research institutes.

CSIC Library & Archive Network also provides library services to research staff in centres and institutes that do not have a library through the 100%DIGITAL Plan.

The Network also includes 4 external libraries belonging to research-related foundations (Residencia de Estudiantes, Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Fundación Ortega y Gasset, and Museu de Ciencies Naturals de la Ciudadella).

CSIC's Library & Archive Network is a horizontal system of tools, services and  scientific information that allows the selection, organization, dissemination, access and conservation of scientific information resources in order to be a useful tool for the life research cycle developed by CSIC institutes. The network supports scientific excellence by guaranteeing intellectual, physical and electronic access to information, ideas and services for a multidisciplinary research community like CSIC, through the use, locally or remotely, of quality infrastructures and services.

The documentary collections offered by the Library and Archive Network covers a wide range of resources aimed at all CSIC research areas, with more than 1,810,510 monographs and 65,549 journal collections on paper, and access to 571,550 e-books and 21,589 electronic subscribed  journals, in addition to other materials such as maps, photographs, manuscripts, etc. The Network also manages archival collections, with more than 140,000 textual and iconographic documents. All this can be saeched  in CSIC union catalogs, which are among  of the largest catalogs in the country.

A policy has been designed to disseminate the  CSIC's heritage collections of special value of CSIC libraries and archives through more than one hundred digitisation projects that have resulted in a set of 20,522 digitised documents and 1,554,430 images that can be accessed through the Simurg portal (CSIC Digitised Collections).

CSIC's Library & Archive Network is fully involved in the dissemination of science generated in CSIC in accordance with the open access policies subscribed to by the institution. As an outstanding resource, CSIC Institutional Repository (DIGITAL.CSIC) is made available to the entire scientific community, thus helping CSIC research staff to comply with legal mandates and allowing great accessibility to their scientific production.

The direction and management of the Network is the responsibility of the Unit of Scientific Information Resources for Research (URICI) with offices in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. URICI is responsible for the coordination and development of the Network, as well as for the control and management of its automation. Its objective is to modernize its services and make the most of its resources. Their  main functions are:

• manage the union catalog of the Network's bibliographic collections, 
• facilitate access to journals, electronic books and databases through the Virtual Library
• preserve and to provide access to CSIC scientific production through DIGITAL.CSIC
• automate access to CSIC historical archives
• regulate the provision of library services
• coordinate the development of library collections
• provide working tools and training for library staff
• maintain the Network external and internal communication channels
• represent CSIC in library cooperation forums
• collaborate with CSIC authorities in defining the Institutional scientific information policy.