Public Libraries Section - Country Reports

Public Libraries Section Country Report: Denmark August, 2000 Borge Sondergard Library Act Suitable for a New Millennium The Danish Parliament passed a new Library Act on May, 4'th this year. The Danish Library Community is thrilled by the content of the Library Act and calls it the most visionary in the history of libraries in Denmark. The Minister of Culture, Ms. Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen, stated just after the passing of the Act: " This is probably the most important Act in the cultural field in my time of Office. And the Act, which will be remembered for the longest time. Libraries have always played a leading role in the development of our society and democracy. Today we have made sure, that libraries continue to play that leading role. They will, in a modern tempo and by modern technologies, develop into cultural places and dynamic knowledgecentres. The Library Act secures, that new technology - and by that new knowledge - continuously is offered to everyone, because the new possibilities - as was the old - will be free of charge." Over the next three years, Danish public libraries will build up sufficient offerings to the citizens in terms of new materials and medias such as Internet access, digital databases, CD-ROMs and music, because the new Library Act states, that from now on, it's not the media that counts - its the content. And best of all, every media shall be offered to the public free of any charges and will be obligatory in every local public library. The Government supplies the local authorities app. US$ 13 million over the next 3 years aimed at building up Internet and new digital materials, and US$ 7 million are spent on national library initiatives. From 2003 the Government will continue to provide the local authorities with US$ 7 million every year. National Electronic Bibliography on the Internet Through many years library institutions and local public libraries in Denmark have worked together in creating a total Electronic National Bibliography, called DanBib. This essential bibliography contains the library holdings from almost every national, research and public library in the country, books as well as pictures, maps, sound, music, reviews, articles and periodicals. The bibliography also states which library posses which material and hereby offers the possibility of an on-line requirement service. This Bibliography has up until now been a professional tool for the librarians. Through the new Library Act money is given to bring the bibliography on the Internet for the public to use free of charge. This means a great step forward for the virtual/digital library. The public is able to sit at home and search for information and materials in the total Danish Library system, and require materials on-line to be delivered through their local library. Today, the public is forces to visit the libraries' on-line catalogues one by one. The Internet-site will be called www.bibliotek.dk (i.e. "library.dk") and in time it will develop into the Danish National Library Portal. The New Library Act indeed gives Danish libraries the means of being a foundation stone in creating the Knowledgesociety, and the staff will do their utmost to secure, that these new possibilities are available to everyone in spite of education and social standing through massive public introduction courses to promote computer literacy. Some Public Library Statistics Public libraries in every municipality in Denmark are now automated. Lendings dropped by 3,3% in 1999 but the number of visitors in the public libraries increased. This shows, that Internet and new materials are well introduced in Danish public libraries, and that the public visits the libraries for other reasons than lending. 75% of the public libraries provide Internet access facilities for the public, and 54% have web-sites with on-line catalogues, requirementservices and other information services. The non-Internet public libraries are situated in relatively small communities (and they will provide Internetaccess before 2003 in consequence of the new Library Act), and I estimate that 90% of the Danish population have libraries with Internet facilities close by. The Danes love the Internet, and statistics indicate, that more than 50% of the homes have access to Internet. The public libraries lent out 73 million materials to the users in 1999. This gives an average of 14-15 materials pr. inhabitant. About 60% of the population uses the public libraries on a regular basis (at least once a year). Public libraries tend to centralise. In the last 10 years more than 25% of the branch and mobile libraries have been shut down - in 1999 yet another 15. These branch libraries are often very small in size and with very few users and very few opening hours. It also seems that the users prefer the bigger libraries with the many materials and Internet, and that they are willing to travel to get to these libraries. In consequence library managers and politicians prefer to strengthen the bigger libraries, and it is only fair to say, that in the small country of Denmark, nothing is really very far away! All in all, there is a very optimistic feeling about the public library situation in Denmark right now.


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