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The public library’s core service – the loan of books – under pressure - but still in demand

The core service of the library, the loan of books and other printed materials, is under pressure. Over the past decades the choice of media has expanded so that instead of talking of books only, we now talk about the libraries’ physical materials. Music, film and multimedia have arrived on the scene, and have turned the book into just one among other physical materials for the libraries to offer on loan. In the recent past electronic loans have become part of the libraries’ mediation, thereby again reducing the loan of physical materials to become one of two forms of loan. As the spectrum of the libraries’ collections of materials has become increasing broader, the spectrum of the libraries’ services has similarly broadened.

To a greater extent than before, the libraries now offer not only the loan of materials, but also help to exploit the knowledge inherent in the materials. The public libraries’ collections have become one among several tools to fulfil the libraries’ mission: Support of learning and cultural activity.

This development, which makes the public libraries’ loan of physical materials an increasingly smaller part of library service, while at the same time it is commonly held that the library’s position regarding access to information knowledge has likewise been reduced, puts the libraries in a quandary. Traditional services are still the most sought-after, but they are also the ones to have suffered the greatest decline. Analyses of the population’s media habits, such as the study of Danish cultural and leisure time habits from 2004, also clearly point to the fact that potential library users of future generations will undoubtedly be very avid users of the new media.

How are the libraries to succeed in complying with electronic developments and at the same time meet the demand for traditional materials? Can the demand for books be associated with a combination of a moribund generation and an as yet not sufficiently developed electronic media offer, and thereby be curbed? – or it is a question of putting the emphasis on a stronger promotion of the book as an inestimable source of experience and as the medium which for example enables children to become proficient readers?

Professor Niels Ole Pors from the Royal School of Library and Information Science refers in on of his columns in Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly to British library statistics that show a fall in the loan of books of 40 % over ten years.

Nordic libraries’ lending statistics to a great extent reflect the same development – albeit not quite as dramatic and not at quite the same rate. The general picture is that the loan of book is decreasing, but that to some degree this is counterbalanced by an increase in the loan of other physical materials. The addition of electronic loans also brings about an increase in the collective loans figure. In Sweden and Denmark the loan of books has fallen over a period of years. In Finland and Norway, on the other hand, the decrease did not start until 2005.

The reason for the predominantly falling tendency in the loan of books is undoubtedly rather complex. The competition from other media is bound to play a part. Another factor might be the purchasing power of the population, which means that many people buy books instead of borrowing them. Finally there is the dilemma of the libraries’ use of acquisition budgets. Are the libraries to a certain extent ’guilty’ of favouring investments in electronic developments which they deemed necessary? Or have they just adapted their acquisitions to a dwindling demand? A kind of chicken and egg complexity which it is difficult to disentangle. It is at any rate a fact in Denmark that the libraries’ acquisition of books has fallen dramatically over the years.

The Danish minister of culture, Brian Mikkelsen, wants to promote the libraries’ loan of books, and part of the Danish National Library Authority’s Development Pool was set aside for this purpose. Projects were run to show whether there is a connection between purchased titles/copies of books and the loan of these. At the same time the projects were supposed to develop and test new forms of mediation and initiatives. Scholars from the Royal School of Library and Information Science have monitored the projects and have been able to conclude that all in all it is highly probable to generate a great number of loans as well as high circulation figures of a chosen material through focused acquisition and promotion.

Another point is that in this way lending figures can be augmented, not only in terms of popular material, but also in the case of more exclusive quality literature. It is quite clear, however, that it is not sufficient for the libraries to have the books in stock. Particularly literature that is not at the top of the list needs an imaginative exposure, and promotion is essential in creating bigger lending figures. If the libraries are to ensure increasing lending figures for books in the future, they have to start by acquiring more books. This – and a more effective exposure – will do the trick.

In any case, whether the budget is small or large, it is necessary to concentrate on rationalising operational procedures and optimize loan of books and other physical materials.

Jonna Holmgaard Larsen,
chief consultant Danish National Library Authority, jhl@bs.dk 

Translated by Vibeke Cranfield

Naestved Library, Denmark
Næstved Library, Denmark. Inagurated in 2004. Automatic return machine. Architect: Jan Arnby maa.Tegnestuen AK38.
Photo: Shade/Light

Recent system developments of public libraries in Iceland

Iceland is in the unusual situation of having a shared library management system both for cataloging and circulation, which serves almost the entire country. All the leading libraries, including the National Library and scores of municipal, university and school libraries, have chosen to subscribe to the system. The scope of the project calls for increased cooperation between member libraries, and it offers interesting opportunities, e.g. in the field of inter-library loans, of patron privileges, and in cataloging.

The Icelandic Library Consortium

In November 2001 a group of shareholders, representing several municipalities and the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, founded a company to run a new library system for Iceland. At the time, Iceland was estimated to have approximately 400 libraries, and the new system was expected to serve all of them, providing for services such as cataloging, circulation and inter-library loans.

When the company was founded, the Aleph 500 library system from Ex Libris Inc. had already been purchased. The main task of the new company was to implement Aleph 500 and run it under service agreements with the libraries and their owners.

The project was unusual in many ways. This was the first time a computerized library system was implemented on this scale in Iceland. Even if it turned out that it was not realistic to expect all 400 libraries to join, 200 libraries are now participating and a great majority of those that aren’t, are small or very small libraries. Each member municipality has the right to use the system for all of its libraries. A look at the number of inhabitants these municipalities indicates that it now serves over 90 % of the population of Iceland.

The project was also extraordinary from the system point of view, since it involved libraries of different types. Our current customer categories are the national library, public libraries, university libraries, primary and secondary school libraries, research libraries, government libraries and association libraries. Among the larger libraries are the National and University Library of Iceland, and the public libraries of all the larger towns. The system also serves around one hundred school libraries, libraries of the ministries, the Alfiingi (parliament), the Central Bank, the National Museum, and the Árni Magnússon manuscript institute.

Finally, this project was unusual from the organizational point of view, since the company founded to run the system was a shareholders’ company, which is currently an uncommon form of cooperation between the state and the municipalities. The company owners intend to assess the structure and results of the company in the near future, and in doing so they may consider some form of privatization or outsourcing.

A few milestones

In our current work, we have reached a few major milestones. The implementation of the system includes several project phases. Aleph is a client-server based system with a web interface (web OPAC), and one of the first tasks was to translate key components of the Windows-based client to Icelandic. System tables had to be configured based on individual library needs. Designing, translating and coding a web interface came next. Migrating data from legacy systems was a huge task which could only have been completed with active participation on behalf of member libraries. Furthermore, the company had to provide training for librarians, run a help desk, provide statistics on the system and much more.

Here are some of the key milestones on our journey, so far:

And here are some of the tasks we have ahead of us:

Benefits and opportunities

We all know what an immense role the Internet is playing in the distribution of information and entertainment in our part of the world. Using the web has created lots of opportunities for librarians, but running a country-wide library system like we do in Iceland offers some additional opportunities.

Member libraries generally use the same library card, but the card may or may not give the owner borrowing privileges in a given library, depending on whether the annual fee has been paid or not. Recently a few public libraries in neighboring towns of Reykjavik started sharing their resources by granting privileges to each others’ patrons. This means, for instance, that if someone has paid the annual fee in the Public Library of Hafnarfjör›ur, he or she can borrow books in the Public Library of Kópavogur without paying a fee there too. If these libraries are satisfied with the results of this project, others might follow in their footsteps. Eventually all public libraries in the country might choose to unite in sharing the fees, so paying for privileges in one library would give you automatic access to all public libraries in Iceland. This would certainly make life easier for the general public.

Having one shared library system opens up other opportunities. Obviously, cataloguing is already much more effective than it used to be. Cataloguers now enter the bibliographic data only once for all of the 200 libraries, which saves a great deal of redundant work. However, the cataloguing process needs to be controlled carefully to ensure quality of the data since more people rely on its quality now than ever before. We also hope to make cataloguing more effective through collaboration with SVUC, the Scandinavian Virtual Union Catalog.

Having a centralized library system makes maintenance of the patron records easier. Domicile data are retrieved from the National Registry centrally on a regular basis, so librarians do not have to worry about maintaining patron data in dozens of different locations. The government-sponsored personal ID is also the key ID in the library system, so your patron ID is the same no matter which library you are dealing with.

The system also opens up for more effective handling of ’delinquencies’, and the libraries could benefit from defining a collective policy in that area, so they do not end up with time-proven ’delinquents’ moving freely from one suffering library to the next.

Inter-library loans have been implemented in the system, but more work is needed in that area. While ILL functions offered by the system certainly need to be streamlined, administrative issues are also involved, since it would be very helpful if all the libraries could agree on a common ILL tariff. If all library users knew that an inter-library loan inside Iceland costs e.g. the equivalent of 5 euros, regardless of library, they would be more likely to want to use the resources of distant libraries. Users, who find books in Geg-nir, expect to be able to get these books into their hands, and it would be a poor excuse if the librarian says (s)he’s sorry but this book belongs to another library. The customer will simply think: “Okay, I found the book in Gegnir, now I want it!” Thus, the new library system is bound to encourage more cooperation between the country’s libraries, which, needless to say, will be a great blessing for the users.

Generally speaking, librarians are knowledgeable users of the Internet. But information sources on the Internet compete fiercely with information in paper format. As long as libraries are not planning to shut down their paper-based operations, they should make every reasonable effort to distribute paper-based information efficiently. When writing literature reviews or working on school papers, most users start looking for information on the Internet, then check out library books, and finally may resort to manuscripts if that happens to be relevant. For most of us, this order describes different levels of ease of access. Now that Icelandic library catalogues are available on the Internet, we should further enhance the ease of access to printed materials – and, for that matter, to manuscripts too. A single and country-wide library fee, a single and universal tariff for inter-library loans and enabling people to order inter-library loans over the Internet are important steps, capable of helping the printed stuff we love so dearly in surviving competition with e-data.

Árni Sigurjónsson, general manager
The Icelandic Library Consortium, arni@landskerfi.is     

Development in national catalogues and loan cooperation

For more than ten years Denmark has had one shared national union catalogue, DanBib, covering both public and research libraries. Since the end of 2000 it has formed the basis for library.dk, which provides free access for all Danish citizens to order any kind of material from all the country’s public libraries to be collected from the borrower’s local library. The shared catalogue is also the basis for several initiatives to streamline the interlibrary loan process. Automatic updating of requests from DanBib directly into the local library systems has been established, and turning requests from library.dk into automatic request is not far away.

DanBib is the common bibliographic superstructure system for the collective Danish library system and the professional tool for library staff. DanBib is both the national union catalogue and the libraries’ digital infrastructure and includes the national bibliography as well as the stock of all public libraries and major research libraries. The system also contains common functions concerning dissemination of loan cooperation, reuse of bibliographic data, verification and transfer to foreign databases.

Common technical and bibliographical standards link together DanBib and the libraries’ local systems both through reporting of data from libraries and by technical support of interlibrary loan cooperation.

The idea of letting a common base replace former specific public and research library bases was originally launched at the first joint library directors’ conference in August 1990, following the establishment of the Danish National Library Authority as the common agency for both sectors

DanBib was established in 1994 on the basis of an agreement between the government, i.e. The Ministry of Culture, The National Association of Local Authorities and Copen-hagen and Frederiksberg municipalities – named together: the DanBib Commissioners. The task was delegated to the Danish Library Centre (DBC) in an agreement between DBC and the commissioners.

In the first instance DanBib replaced the research libraries’ joint base, and later the public libraries were likewise covered by DanBib. Right from the beginning DanBib was accessible according to the standard at the time via TEL-NET and other services such as direct modem call and Datapak. The first test web version was established in 1997, and DanBib at last went on the air in 2002 with a fully operational web interface with www.netpunkt.dk

DanBib is financed by subscription payment. In case of public and school libraries the payment depends on number of inhabitants. State libraries subscribe via the Danish National Library Authority and payment depends on library type and number of employees. The Authority provides funding for the research libraries’ subscription to the extent of about 2/3 of the total subscription fee. Other subscribers pay according to usage.

The DanBib base is built on material from the following sources:

The data model in the DanBib base builds on the principle: ’One title, one record’. Ideally this means that for each version of a material one only gets one hit in DanBib, however many cataloguings have been submitted of the material. All records entered in DanBib should therefore be matched with already existing records.

The research libraries take part in the DanBib cooperation by reporting new, altered and deleted records to the union catalogue. Another model applies to the public libraries, where new records are submitted separately and go through a central validation process. Apart from that all public libraries submit a separate report on their holdings.

In practice the interface www.netpunkt acts as a gateway to central databases and tool for the library staff and here primarily DanBib. At netpunkt.dk one can do a simultaneous search in several bases at the same time, or you can transfer searches from one base to another.

Access to DanBib is also available via Zpunkt, which gives libraries with a Z39.50 client the possibility of switching to some of DBC’s bibliographic services with a view particularly to search and download.

In connection with DanBib a great variety of services have been developed over the years. In 2003 these were segregated from the general DanBib subscription and named ’DanBib+’, and the libraries now pay only for the services they actually use.

bibliotek.dk

Since October 2000 library patrons have had the opportunity of searching, reserving and ordering books, CDs and other material whenever they want and from whichever library they want via www.bibliotek.dk. bibliotek.dk contains material available in the public libraries and public Danish research libraries as well as all national bibliographic records. It is free of charge to use bibliotek.dk, as the service is financed by the state. An English version is also available at www.library.dk

The foundation for bibliotek.dk is the statement in Act regarding library services from May 2000: “The government strives to ensure that as far as possible the national common library catalogue is made available to everyone by access via the Internet”.

Practical preparations for bibliotek.dk had started a year previously, which was the reason for bibliotek.dk being ready for opening to the public already on 30. October 2000.

Although bibliotek.dk is fully state-funded, the development of the service was negotiated with local government representatives and carried out in agreement with them. This happened through negotiations with the DanBib commissioners where it was agreed that bibliotek.dk could build on top of DanBib. It is in fact basically the same software that is used for the running of both DanBib and biblio-tek.dk

The Danish National Library Authority was from the beginning entrusted with the administration of bibliotek.dk and Danish Library Centre with the day-to-day running of the base.

Some key figures on bibliotek.dk:

From the beginning the facilities in bibliotek.dk have been search and requisition. Apart from general search you have advanced search with Boolean combination and a command search with the possibility of writing CCL commands. Apart from this there are four search possibilities associated with material: music, articles, sheet music and net documents. Every resident in Denmark can use biblio-tek.dk to order material to be collected at any library in the country.

My library.dk is a general facility with personalisation of collect library, favourite library, search method etc. The user interface is adapted according to the chosen library’s decision.

Several versions of the same title in the same language are shown together, and it is then up to the user to choose before submitting his request.

New material is included in bibliotek.dk (and in DanBib) as soon as it is registered at DBC – typically just a few days after being received there. If there are no localisations in the record, a warning is given when the request is received.

The library professional committee on bibliotek.dk discusses i.a. annual development plans, which after a public hearing are discussed with the library directors’ associations in December each year.

Interlibrary loan

The central function in interlibrary loan cooperation in Denmark is the BOB-base (base of requests), where all requests from end users are collected and all requests between libraries. A number of libraries use BOB for the administration of requests, but the individual library can also receive requests via email. The library can also receive interlibrary loan requests as direct updates directly in the local lending system with ILL requests via Z39.50. This direct update started operating in autumn 2004 and has led to considerable rationalisations in the more than 50 libraries using the function. During one week in September 2005 Herning County Library thus received 1,857 requests, of which no less than 99,6 % were dealt with by automation: Reservation, ready for print-out on pick-up list or rejection.

Number of interlibrary loans from Danish public libraries (including renewals) has during the years 2001-2005 increased from about 1 mil. to over 1,6 mil.!

The development plan for bibliotek.dk includes user-initiated interlibrary loan without staff. The idea is for a library to set up a number of parameters, whereupon biblio-tek.dk requests, which fulfil these, are automatically turned into an interlibrary loan request.

The Transportation Scheme

As support for the lending cooperation on physical materials between the libraries in Denmark and with the aim to create a seamless distribution as a follow-up to bibliotek.dk, the National transportation scheme was established in Denmark in 2004.

The scheme is intended to ensure that all physical materials are transported efficiently and cheaply between the libraries nationwide.

The scheme is built as a pivotal solution, where 10 major county libraries and 2 university libraries are pivotal points. Each night five times a week there is transport between the 12 pivotal points, and the next day the materials are transported via regional routes organised by the pivotal point. This means that the material reaches its destination in approx. 24 hours.

Trimming possibilities are i.a. type of material, year of publication and supplying libraries. A manual test going through 1,000 bibliotek.dk requests showed that 75-80 % of requests for non-music materials could be done as automatic interlibrary loans – and that only five per thousand would entail ’error requests’ after trimming. This project therefore looks to be able to rationalise interlibrary loan procedures considerably.

Leif Andresen, library advisory officer
Danish National Library Authority, lea@bs.dk

Translated by Vibeke Cranfield

The Transportation Scheme

As support for the lending cooperation on physical materials between the libraries in Denmark and with the aim to create a seamless distribution as a follow-up to bibliotek.dk, the National transportation scheme was established in Denmark in 2004.

The scheme is intended to ensure that all physical materials are transported efficiently and cheaply between the libraries nationwide.

The scheme is built as a pivotal solution, where 10 major county libraries and 2 university libraries are pivotal points. Each night five times a week there is transport between the 12 pivotal points, and the next day the materials are transported via regional routes organised by the pivotal point. This means that the material reaches its destination in approx. 24 hours.

The scheme is partly financed by the users and partly by the state. The state pays for the national part and for 2 days’ transport to all municipal central libraries. In addition to this the municipalities can purchase more days after negotiation with their regional pivotal point. The educational libraries negotiate their participation in the transportation scheme with the regional pivotal point according to The Danish National Library Authority’s guidelines, while state libraries with obligations in terms of lending cooperation pay per dispatched material.

By the end of 2005 all public libraries had joined the scheme, as had the largest state libraries and a fair number of educational libraries. In all 350 libraries with 860 service points.

Collaborate across borders

Visit a library and access them all! Such is the motto these days of all libraries in Värmland, regardless of whether they are hospital, university or regular public libraries. The collaboration is extensive and crosses the border to Østfold in Norway.

Collaborative venture

Bibliotek Värmland

What is Bibliotek Värmland? Well, it is a collaborative venture between all 16 of Region Värmland’s public libraries, hospital libraries and university libraries and the county’s AV-Center (a media-pool that supplies schools and institutions with, among other things, educational films). One of the results of this collaboration is that the visitor can use the same library-card at all libraries. Returning books or other media can be done at any library in Värmland. The libraries borrow from one another across the borders. On the web site www.bibliotekvarmland.se the user gains access to all library catalogues and other media such as e-books, e-music, films and databases. Is not such an approach quite the obvious choice? Should not all the libraries of Sweden have pursued this goal a long time ago? 

Inga Lill Walander Olsson maintains that it takes time to instigate collaborative ventures across administrative borders. Each local authority has a strong sense of self-determination; the hospital libraries file under the county councils and the university libraries under state regulation. Collaborative measures across such boundaries are not made over night.

Norwegian prototype

The prototype of this collaboration lies several miles to the west, across the border and into Norway. To be more precise in Østfold. This is where Svein E. Nielsen is the appointed county librarian.

- Yes, we got going a bit earlier. But, we discussed solutions from an early stage and this has simplified matters for Värmland once they decided to set these ideas in motion, using us as a reference. We have always maintained a high degree of visibility with regard to our activities, says Svein E. Nielsen.

- Collaboration across the borders widens our perspectives. Media is flowing freely between Värmland and Østfold. As a consequence of this collaboration the cultural exchange between the two countries has increased.

We have a border calendar informing about cultural activities on both sides of the border. We also wish to expand on the collaboration enabling public- and school libraries to sit down and discuss mutual possibilities and solutions, says Svein E. Nielsen.

Inga-Lill Walander Olsson confirms that Østfold has inspired Värmland and she goes on to exemplify.

- The premise of each discussion has been to view all the media collections as one mutual pool of reserves. From these discussions various questions and solutions have come to the fore. How, for instance, do Norway and Sweden resolve the logistics between the libraries and coordination of the different computer systems? Who’s responsible for the web portal? And how does one, through smarter collaboration, render the keeping of book stacks more effective?

To continue after project

The project was initiated in 2003, funded by the Ministry of Finance, Region Värmland, and the Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs and the National Library of Sweden. The project has now reached its end, but has fared well and will be established as a permanent fixture, funded by Region Värmland.

There are in particular two things that have been vastly improved upon, and which the users appreciate. One of them is that loans can be returned anywhere. The other is the borrower’s card that can be used throughout the county. Another outcome of the collaboration is that the selection of films has increased. After a few weeks they are taken to another library. This approach offers the visitor a wider range of films. But the great stumbling block in this project, as in many other projects, is how too reach the general public and inform them of the implemented improvements and expanded service.

- It is an ongoing situation which we in the library sector have to do battle with. Much of what is on offer in the portal is not getting through, such as the possibility to borrow e-books and e-music. But maybe it is a case of demand not being quite on the scale we imagined.

However, Bibliotek Värmland has blazed a trail and made a simple yet clear pronouncement of its collaborative approach. These days the telephone catalogue has a mutual page for all the libraries in Värmland. Several other counties are now latching on to this.

The user in focus

An important aspect of the developmental work has always been to apply the guiding principle of placing the user in focus.

- Our work must not be organised according to the librarian’s perspective; instead we must consider what is best for the user. There have been times when we got bogged down in our discussions and were tempted to fall back on routine procedures. Whenever we reached that stage, we simply turned it around and asked ourselves what was best for the user. This would usually relieve the tension says Inga-Lill Walander Olsson.

Points of view from outside

So, what do staff and users have to say about Bibliotek Värmland? Jan Schützer is head of the hospital libraries in Värmland. - I’m of the opinion that it works satisfactorily and that my colleagues are on the whole positive. It is an important initiative; we need to show that we are improving our service facilities. Hospital libraries assume a natural place in this collaborative venture as we are the only medical libraries in the county with a lot of literature and information for patients and their relatives.

All the staff has participated in working teams during the project. One of them is Jimmy Jansson, librarian in Torsby. - It is important that we get together throughout the county. If we can feel and act like a unit then the users will stand to gain.

There are many that subscribe to a conservative point of view regarding libraries, but they tend to take need when they see how far ahead we are in our services and IT-technology. They can now download films and music from us. And it remains crucial that we are fast and available if we want to keep people asking for our services.

He also feels that there is a lack of strategic marketing for the services being offered.

- Perhaps one had hoped for more general awareness of what we have to offer; it looks as if a lot of people have not received this information.

The elderly visitor Herwig Berger in Hagfors is one who is pleased with the increase in library service.

- When I occasionally visit Karlstad, a visit to the library is a must. I am constantly finding new titles and authors which I borrow. To be able to return them in Hagfors is something I appreciate a lot.

Eva Bergstedt, freelance journalist
ebergstedt@hotmail.com

Translated by Jonathan Pearman  

Ski Library, Norway
Ski Library, Norway is located in Ski Storsenter (a shopping mall) next door to the kinoe. Inaugurated in 2004.
Photo: Anders Ericson

The development of Sámi library service

The Sámi Parliament was inaugurated on 9 October 1989 in Karasjok, Norway. The Sámi Parliament is the national elected parliament for the Sámi in Norway, designed to strengthen the political position of the Sámi people and contribute to their fairer treatment. The Sámi Parliament has therefore been given the leading role in the future political development of the Sámi people.

The Sámi special library is a part of the Sámi Parliament’s administration. In the Sámi Parliament’s policy it is a superior aim to give all of the Sámi people a satisfactory library service. To have a better Sámi library service will contribute to more knowledge and information about the Sámi people and Sámi culture to others. As a national cultural institution, the Sámi special library has the overall responsibility for all Sámi library services in Norway, and it functions primarily as a libraries’ library.

The Sámi Parliament in Norway

The Sámi are a minority in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Norway officially defines the Sámi as an ethnic minority and a separate people who are at the same time also Norwegian citizens. This has not always been the case. From the 1850s onwards, the Sámi people were exposed for a long period to discrimination, and different kinds of reforms to assimilate the Samis were introduced. The situation improved during the 1960s, and since 1980 the legal status of the Sámi has improved considerably. The Sámi Rights Committee produced its first provisional report in 1984. Their recommendations laid the foundation for the Norwegian National Parliament’s decision of 1987 to enact a special Sámi act and thereby establish the Sámi Parliament. The Sámi Parliament was inaugurated on 9 October 1989 in Karasjok, Norway.

The Sámi Parliament is the national elected parliament for the Sámi in Norway, designed to strengthen the political position of the Sámi people and contribute to their fairer treatment. The Sámi Parliament has therefore been given the leading role in the future political development of the Sámi people.

Every nation has a right to own and manage its own history. The Sámi people are no exception. Development of Sámi culture has to be done on the culture’s own premises. It is the Sámi people who have to exercise and develop their own culture. The Sámi Parliament’s overriding aim is to secure the Sámi people a real possibility to protect and develop the Sámi culture. To make this possible, separate art galleries, theatres and libraries are required. The Sámi people of Norway already have several Sámi national institutions. I will just mention some of them, like the Sámi theatre, the Sámi art gallery, Sámi cultural institutions with library and museum functions, and the Sámi Parliament’s library: the Sámi special library.

The Sámi special library is a part of the Sámi Parliament’s administration. The library’s main tasks are acquiring, preserving, organizing and providing access to books and other materials in the Sámi languages, and about the Sámi situation in any language. It also functions as the administrative library where the Sámi Parliament’s administration and politicians can find all the information they need in their work.

The library was established in 1954, and has been a fully government-funded institution since 1983. As a national cultural institution, the library has the overall responsibility for all Sámi library services in Norway, and it functions primarily as a libraries’ library.

Sámi literature in competition with the majority literature

Historically, the Sámi people have a long oral tradition. The first book written in a Sámi language by a Sámi was published in northern Sámi in 1910. Two years later, the first fiction book was published. Words and language are important in every culture, and the effort to ensure the Sámi languages a status equal to other Nordic languages is essential. Therefore, it's important to encourage Sámi writers to use their own language. Today it’s getting more usual to write in the Sámi languages. There are municipalities in Finnmark where Sámis form the majority of the inhabitants, and the Sámi language is an obligatory subject for all pupils in the local schools.

But the situation for Sámi literature is still difficult. As with other minority languages, books in Sámi have got to compete with the majority language’s literature in libraries and bookstores; for visibility and acceptance as good literature, and also to be produced and distributed.

Development of Sámi library service

There is a great need for more information about Sámi library service in Norway. However, there have been some positive developments during the last few years. Several conferences about Sámi library service and Sámi literature have been offered. Participation has been increasing, and many libraries have shown a growing interest in Sámi language, culture and society.

The Sámi parliament’s budget includes a grant meant to support the collection development of Sámi library materials in public and school libraries throughout the country’s municipalities. The intention is not to relieve the municipalities of their responsibilities concerning investing in Sámi material, but rather to contribute to a strengthening of service to the Sámi population and motivate local libraries to take responsibility for their Sámi patrons. The applications from the libraries for this funding have been increasing each year, which is very positive.

The area of Sámi settlement covers four countries. In an effort to give a Sámi library service to all Sámi people, library buses serve Sámi municipalities on both sides of the Swedish-Norwegian and Finnish-Norwegian borders. The library buses are an excellent way of giving a complete library service, because the buses seek out people where they are, and it is possible to give this service also across the borders, no matter where the library is situated.

The Sámi Parliament has emphasized the importance of giving financial support to the whole Sámi settlement, and not only certain parts. This kind of support to preserve and develop Sámi library service is essential in rural areas. The financial support for library buses is transferred to the Sámi Parliament, as a part of the subsidies the Parliament already administers. All together six buses get this financial support.

There is a continued need for further development of Sámi library services, and many more development projects could certainly be initiated. A few should be mentioned here:

 Liv Inger Lindi, head librarian
Sámediggi/The Sámi Parliament,
liv.inger.lindi@samediggi.no    

Ålandic network

Katrina is the title of the best known Ålandic novel, which was written by Sally Salminen (1906-1976), first published in 1936 and translated into some twenty languages. Katrina is also the name of the collective database of Ålandic libraries.

The media collection of all the Ålandic municipal libraries is in the Katrina database. Additionally, the collections of 26 specialized libraries of different types and sizes are registered. The catalogue is accessible on the Internet at http://www. katrina.aland.net, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Book borrowers themselves can control which books are available, submit a reservation and control his or her own book loan and book return times. Book borrowers receive a message about reserved books via text message, e-mail or regular mail. The library user also has the possibility to receive a message via e-mail when the library has received a new book in the book borrowers field of interest.

Åland has 16 municipalities, of which Mariehamn is the largest, with a population of 10,780 and Sottunge is the smallest, with a population of 127. Each one has its own library. The number of loans per resident varies greatly, with Kökar clearly leading with 29.7 loans/resident and Mariehamn holding strong in second place (26.9).

As the central library for Åland, Mariehamn City Library’s responsibilities include coordinating library activities in public libraries and in the provincially maintained research libraries and functioning as an information center.

Being available to help municipal libraries with technical or other problems and organizing classes in the art of using the library system (now, Bookit) in the best way are also important functions. A few times a year, large, half-day classes are arranged, for example, in how to collect one's own statistics. Municipal librarians are also invited to the small, informal run-through of routines, which the city library staff rather impertinently refers to as ’morning prayers’  –  one hour in the morning now and then.

New technology does not only deal with the library system, but to a large extent also with the new media, which is are being developed more and more rapidly. E-books, downloading of books or music in mp3 format, new systems for talking books and newspapers – all of these are challenges on which libraries all around Scandinavia must take a stand and find forms for, even in a small region like Åland.

Copyrights are also a “hard nut to crack” for Åland, which belongs to Finland's copyright jurisdiction, but with its Swedish-speaking population has a extensive demand for Swedish material.

The central library collects and makes accessible as much literature about Åland and Ålandic authors as possible in the local collection, Alandica. With the exception of the collection of the physical media, this work has come to a great extent to be displayed virtually. On the website of Marie-hamn City Library, under the heading Alandica, one will not only find books and other media, but also presentations and collections of links about Ålandic phenomena, such as Midsummer, Bomarsund and holiday traditions. The Ålan-dic authors heading at http://www.mhbibl.aland.fi/forf/ features the closest we have come to an index of Ålandic authors. The work now continues in association with Åland’s museum and Åland’s provincial archives, so that we can eventually produce an ABM (Archives, Libraries and Museums) partnership of which we can be proud.

Eva Gustafsson-Lindvall, head librarian
Mariehamn City Library, Åland Isles
eva.gustafsson-lindvall@mariehamn.aland.fi

Translated by Turun Täyskännös

Reading is fun – at any age

Organised reading is popular: Lots of people are doing it!

The Danish National Library Authority’s communication consultant describes how the first season turned out in a new cooperation between the Authority and Radio Denmark on the establishment of reading circles in Danish libraries. Parallel with this initiative, but under its own steam, the nationwide campaign on Children and Literature carried on into its third year. The campaign aims to support and develop children’s experiences with literature.

The year of the novel

Cooperation between the Danish National Library Authority and Radio Denmark P2 was a success right from the start.

“Thank you for the excellent initiative. Valby Library would be very pleased to participate ...”

“Thisted Library joins the scheme with the greatest enthusiasm ...”

“Rønde Library would like to join in and is eagerly expecting to receive posters and PR-material ...”

Libraries all over the country were brimming with enthusiasm and praise when the Danish National Library Authority in early September 2005 invited them to join a new collaboration with Radio Denmark P2. The collaboration was christened: P2 Prose fiction club.

The literary magazine Alphabet on Radio Denmark has since 1999 awarded the P2 Novel Prize – a prize given to the listeners’ favourite choice among each year’s publications. The magazine and the Danish National Library Authority were together blazing a new trail with this initiative of establishing book clubs in libraries round about the country. The local book clubs were to meet once a month to discuss the nominated novel of the month. The literary discussion from one library would be recorded for Alphabet, and the author would subsequently be confronted with

excerpts from the debate and the programme would then be broadcast on the radio. In order to get as much diversity in the seven chosen novels, they had to reflect - within their particular genre – both the popular and broadly appealing aspect and the one appealing to the minority. Radio Den-mark’s marketing department created posters and bookmarks, which were sent to the participating libraries to attract attention to the collaboration.

Literatursiden.dk – the libraries’ net magazine on fiction –prepared material for each title as an inspiration and introduction for the clubs such as for example portraits of the authors and recommendations.

Organisation of the collaboration

It soon became clear that variations on the theme ’establishment’ of local book club’ were numerous. Most libraries by far wanted to take part in the reading of the first novel. Other libraries wanted to participate a couple of times, and others joined at the turn of the year for the reading of the fourth novel.

Recordings for the radio

Right from the start Alphabet’s editorial office put great emphasis on the listeners’ experience of the discussions. The criteria were therefore: Five participants and one chairman at the microphones, a broad age spectrum, and that men, too (“We must insist on at least one” argued the Alphabet editorial office) would voice his opinion during each recording.

The recordings took place in seven libraries geographically distributed right across the country, so that every region was represented: Nykøbing Falster County Library in October, then Vejle Library, Frederiksberg Library, Godt-håbsvej branch library, Middelfart Library, Regional Library of Northern Jutland, Herning County Library and finally in April Birkerød Library.

Each month Alphabet has marked the culmination and the end of the discussion of the novel of the month.


Hjørring Library, Denmark. The book 'Whatever' by Bente Olesen Nyström is being scrutinized and compared to KarnapNok, which is a faithful copy from the book. KarnapNok is also a
different example of a book case, it contains fairy-tale books on the back.
Photo: Carl-Hermann Hansen

The jury votes

This year the eight member jury was appointed among those readers who participated in recordings for the radio. A weekend in May was set aside for the recording of the jury’s intensive debate and discussion, and the Music Library at Brandts Klædefabrik in Odense was chosen as the scene for the recording, the final voting and awarding of points. The recordings were subsequently broadcast on Alphabet – and the winner of the P2 novel prize revealed. On 29. May the winner, Morten Ramsland with his successful novel Hundehoved, was presented with the P2 novel prize. The members of the jury and the nominated authors were invited to the festive event at Danish Radio.

Prose fiction club to continue next season

Radio Denmark P2 and the Danish National Library Authority resume their cooperation with Prose fiction club in the coming autumn. On the basis of the 55 participating libraries’ response to an electronic questionnaire about the initiative, Radio Denmark and the Authority will be summing up the experiences gained during this first season. Next season starts some time in September.

Children and literature – a campaign about children, young people and books

The meeting between the good book and the good reader generates the good experience.

The objective of the campaign Children and literature is to further children and young people’s pleasurable meeting with literature of good quality – fiction as well as non-fiction and literature of high artistic quality as well as literature of great practical value and relevance to children and the young.

The Children and literature campaign was launched on the minister of culture’s initiative in 2003 and has since May 2004 been an inter-ministerial campaign for reading run by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Family and Consumer Affairs.

Guiding stars during the first three years

The most important ’guiding stars’ for Children and literature are the good experience, the good book and the good reader. Projects and activities under Children and literature stem from these guiding stars and reach the objective via three tracks:

Beacons and projects

In all the years local projects have been specifically priori-tised in the campaign’s budget. Right from the beginning the interest was keen to the extent that in 2003 more than 60 projects were given financial support, and following the third round of applications nearly 120 projects have received money to encourage local children and young adults’ zest for reading.

The concrete, local Children and literature project often gives rise to a closer dialogue between politicians, professionals and the broader public, and it may also fuel the desire to build on previous experiences, to adjust and to explore new avenues.

Each year Children and literature puts focus on selected areas and activities, the so-called ’beacons’. One of them is the Orla Prize, awarded for the first time in 2005.

Orla Prize 2006

The Orla Prize is unique, because it is the result of children and young people’s own choices within four categories: Picture books, children’s books, books for the young and cartoons. The prize is named after Ole Lund Kirkegaard’s figure and children’s books’ classic Orla Frøsnapper; ’the boor and king of the gun’ Orla is chosen as front figure, because in his rough and humorous way he can encourage children and young people to take an interest in books –without admonishing finger-wagging.

The Orla Prize is a collaboration between Children and literature, Radio Denmark and several other partners: The Publishers’ Association, the Danish Association of Booksellers, Danish School Librarians, the Union of Danish Librarians and the net libraries Dotbot & Ask Olivia. The idea of the prize is to highlight children and young people’s choice of books and to obtain a greater exposure of books for children and young people.

The total of 40 chosen titles will be the object of Radio Denmark’s production on radio, TV and on the net – and Radio Denmark will put spots on radio and TV to ask children to vote on the homepage www.dr.dk/orla. The prize-giving was broadcast live on TV on 24. May.

Ready-Steady-Deliver

One of the successful local projects which also acted as a beacon in 2005 – and again in 2006 – is the quiz Ready-Steady-Deliver (in Danish: Smart-Parat-Svar).

The idea is that by taking part in Ready-Steady-Deliver pupils in the sixth form become aware of the riches to be explored in the world of books and will then be able to act as attractive role models for their contemporaries. The quiz is supposed to make it smart and trendy to read, and highlight the potentials of reading. Children are given the opportunity to be “with it”, to be part of the media image in a different way from the usual competitions in dancing and singing.

Last year campaign activities reached far into the realms of school and library. More than 70 libraries played hosts to the quiz in the introductory municipal round, where about 3,560 quiz teams competed. Including the audience of the teams’ classmates about 13,000 11-12 year olds were involved in the first round. Many libraries got generous local press coverage, and several of them have made arrangements with local sponsors as to prizes – books, gift tokens etc. More information about the quiz can be found at www.smartparatsvar.dk.

Knowledge-sharing

During the Children and literature campaign a large number of publications have been produced, which in an attractive and accessible way present research-based knowledge and practical experiences about children’s reading and writing. The publications are very popular, and their content and form seem to meet a largely uncovered need for knowledge.

Finally the annual Children and literature conferences are immensely popular among children’s librarians, school librarians and all who are involved with children and reading. The conferences are free; they are of a high standard and enjoy political support through one or several ministers’ participation.

The value of the campaign

Children and literature has attracted attention to children’s reading and has made positive inroads all over the country. The many local projects give the campaign a certain impact and a great variety of expressions and forms, and both projects and the promotion of knowledge and experiences have meant happier and more enthusiastic voluntary child readers as well as more knowledgeable adult cultural educators.

Chief coordinator for Children and literature in the Danish National Library Authority is consultant Anna Enemark Brandt. More information about Children and literature and the campaign programme at www.laeselyst.nu.

Sine Storr, communication consultant
Danish National Library Athority

Translated by Vibeke Cranfield

Words on the run: Promoting litterature in Norwegian libraries

Literature has escaped from the books! It is spreading at break-neck speed along the digital motorways, appearing shakily on the walls of Oslo’s underground railway and exploding from the mouths of poetry-slam participants. It has also been observed on the inside of public toilet doors and in the lunch packs served on flights between Oslo and Stavanger.

Some literature is still showing caution but has nevertheless found a place on the pavements, rack upon rack of soft, pocket-book covers staring cheekily at the passers-by. Literature can also seduce through an iPod or a CD.

Has literature gradually escaped from the library at unsupervised moments or has it sprung from the printed page through some magic from Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? An even more important question is why should we bother to make literature available in libraries, when it can be found in so many other ways and places?

The public library as a living space
The public library becomes even more important as a living space of literature, a place where both old and young can read broadly and in depth in order to appreciate context and relationships.


Finding a needle in a haystack

“To ask why we need libraries at all when there is so much information available elsewhere is about as sensible as asking if roadmaps are necessary now that there are so very many roads.” (Jon Bing, professor of information technology Law)

Although the Internet can open the door to literary experiences, it is still mainly used as a means of localising literature, either in libraries or through Internet book dealers. Literary advice from librarians is also in the process of being digitally extended. Ønskebok.no is an electronic aid for young readers, allowing them in an entertaining way to choose for themselves how scary a book should be or where in the world they would like the story to be set. This programme, which is still under development, is a Norwegian version of the British whichbook.net. 24 readers are at work creating a database to ensure that from the autumn of 2007 it will be possible to search for exciting, sad, surprising and fantastic books.

Legislation and cultural policy

The public library system is the only promoter of literature in Norway subject to legislation. The Library Act declares that the material “made available” shall be noted for its quality, versatility and topicality, that the activity shall be outwardly directed and that the service shall be publicised. Has any library ever been prosecuted for breaking this law? No, the Norwegian library system has taken its responsibilities very seriously. Fiction, mainly in the form of novels, represents more than 50 % of adult borrowing and, together with biographies and historical works, most of what is read by Norwegians. The purchasing programme of the Arts Council Norway ensures that every year public libraries receive a wide selection of new, Norwegian literature for both adults and children. The state finances the purchase of 1,000 copies of all new literature for distribution to libraries. The arrangement also covers a certain amount of non-fiction.

Since 2003 there has been a strong political initiative to promote culture in schools.

A government report that year clearly confirmed that reading is considered to have a unique place among the multitude of media. Many public libraries cooperate with schools in their efforts to promote the pleasure of reading. Arrangements are made for pupils to meet various professionals skilled in the presentation of literature and a follow-up programme is designed to increase their interest in reading. A talk in the library by a philosopher can provide food for thought and the inspiration to think and read more.

These are among the many initiatives included in the so-called Cultural Rucksack, a state-financed programme aimed at giving all school children interesting cultural and artistic experiences.

The library as a literary centre

In recent years the focus has been increasingly on promotion and communication.

The challenge of being visible in a cultural landscape mainly dominated by experiences of the moment lies precisely in daring also to communicate ideas that are valid beyond the short-term. In Norway the book trade’s reluctance to maintain reserve stocks has led to an increased turnover of best sellers and shorter lives for the great majority of titles. This development makes the public library even more important as a store of literature, a place where both old and young can read broadly and in depth in order to appreciate context and relationships. The Norwegian public library system is heading towards a more differentiated situation in its methods of promotion. Other channels of communication are being taken into use, cooperation is being extended to include new partners and more arrangements and exhibitions are being organised than ever before. Public libraries have registered an increase in visitors, while lending figures since 2001 have increased slowly but surely, particularly with regard to children’s books. Promoting literature does in fact work!

Norsk kulturråd. Litteratur. Innkjøpsordningene (Arts Council Norway. The State Purchasing programme for contemporary Norwegian Fiction and Non-Fiction) http://www.kulturrad.no/ (select English)

Filosofi i skolen (Children and Youth Philosopers) http://www.buf.no/prosjekter/skole/index.php?page=hejpm (select English)

Den kulturelle skolesekken (The cultural rucksack) http://www.denkulturelleskolesekken.no/index.php?id=om

Gi rom for lesing!: Strategi for stimulering av leselyst og leseferdighet 2003-2007. (Make space for reading!) http://www.utdanningsdirektoratet.no/templates/udir/TM_Tema.aspx?id=475 (select English)

ABM-utvikling. Statistikk for folkebibliotek. http://www.abm-utvikling.no/prosjekter/Interne/Bibliotek/statistikk/Folke-bibliotek/index.html 

Åse Kristine Tveit, senior adviser Department of Strategy and Planning, Norwegian Archive, Library and Museum Authority

Translated by Eric Deverill

 

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