Public Libraries Section

Country Report: Denmark

August, 2001

Public libraries in Denmark have been working hard on the implementation of the new Library Act given by the Parliament in the summer of 2000. The Library Act provides the basics, the tools and the economics (partly!) which enable the libraries to match the needs of the Knowledge/Information Society.

The challenge is to develop a public library that is truly hybrid in the sense that it offers a variety of electronic services that interact with the traditional physical library. A library that all the time will improve in its ability to deliver to a growing number of defined target groups precisely the information wanted, needed, requested in the form that suits the various users.

The new Library Act is based on some important principles:

• The library sector is regarded as a whole - national, university, research and public libraries must co-operate. We have a unique tool, the http://www.library.dk/, which contain the holdings in every Danish library. It is now on a website on the Internet, and gives the users the opportunity, not only to search, but also ordering facilities to the entire holdings. "Library.dk" is becoming the portal to Danish libraries!
  
• The extended library. The Act will make it obligatory for all public libraries to give access to not only printed material but also CDs, multimedia and Internet.
  
• Access to and use of materials - at the library or by lending - is free of charge. The principle of "no charge" is defined to the core services.
  
• The possibility to charge users for special services.
  
• The superstructure of the Danish libraries will be changes according to the new technological possibilities. That means that the structure and the tasks of the 16 County libraries will change.
  
• Libraries must co-operate. It is becoming more and more obvious, that the minor municipalities will face growing problems in offering the whole range of library service to their community - they will have to co-operate either with other small municipalities or a bigger one. Libraries will also co-operate in creating Internet resources.

The Danish Library Association - right now! The Danish Library Association is engaged in a lot of things and have been very busy in the last year. Right now were are dealing with 3 major topics:

County Libraries: It is obvious, that not all the county libraries will continue in the present way and that the future tasks of the county libraries will change.

School librarians: The Danish Library Association has initiated a debate with the aim to bring forward at better co-ordination between two educational institutions as far as education of school librarians is concerned.

The Danish Library Association: At the annual meeting in March a new plan for the strategy for the association was decided. The strategy emphasises that the main aims for The Danish Library Association is to make up a library policy, to co-operate with other organisations to promote the Danish Libraries, and to provide all members with arguments supporting the library case.

Sondergard, Borge