Resum

This paper uses an analysis of the repositories of Spanish universities to identify which institutions contain rare book and manuscript collections. The method used in this analysis involved examining each university on the basis of a list comprising eleven elements. A total of 60 universities were found to have repositories but only 28 (16.8 %) of these contained rare book and manuscript collections. In the light of these figures, which suggest that Spanish university repositories do not generally consider the preservation of rare books and manuscripts to be part of their institutional mission, the paper reflects upon why some Spanish university repositories do contain such collections.