A NEW LIBRARY LAW IN DENMARK: THE EXTENDED CONCEPT OF LIBRARIES

Niels Ole Pors, Library Link Regional Convenor - Europe

I have written earlier in this section about the Finnish library legislation. At the moment there is debate in library circles in Denmark about a new proposal for a new library law.

The new library law is being debated in the parliament at the present time and over 100 interest groups and organisations have had the opportunity to put forward their views and interests.

Library laws have governed Finnish public libraries since 1920. The most radical law in recent times was that of 1964, which made it mandatory that each county should establish a library service having professional staff. The interpretation was that the chief librarian should hold a degree from the library school.

The law has been revised a couple of times since then.

The new proposal should be seen in the light of the Danish Governments commitment to libraries as important partners in the Information or Knowledge Society. Public libraries form a central part of the government�s INFO - 2000 plan.

It is impossible to go into details with the very comprehensive proposal, which everyone thinks will pass parliament in the early 2000, but it contains some rather interesting features.

The most relevant of these is the concept of the extended library. This rather vague term comprises a concept that is radical. It simply equalises the importance of different media and types of materials. Electronic media and music now have the same role as books and journals in public libraries. It is another way to say that free and public access to the Internet, records and reading materials is guaranteed for every citizen. This is a rather important step in the legislative process, because some counties have tried to provide music and Internet services as a fee-based service. It simply means that the law prescribes that every public library system has to give citizens access to Internet - services by using the library.

Another interesting point in the proposal is the emphasis placed on citizen�s access to the whole library system in the country, including all the research and special libraries. The proposal does not cover the research libraries except in these areas in which co-operation with public libraries is necessary for the users access to the whole library system.

On the positive side there is also the state�s increasing commitment in relation to public libraries. The government will increase the support provided to the local public libraries with over �25 million during the next 4 years.

Some of the discussion about the proposal concerns one of the points that has been omitted. In all the earlier laws it has been stated that the chief librarian should hold a degree in librarianship. As a matter of fact this has always been the only requirement in relation to the formal education of staff. It is now omitted and of course it has raised discussion.

It is not easy to indicate the reasons behind the omission, but I guess that it is connected with the very diversified ways in which public libraries are integrated into the overall structure of local authorities. It will - if it remains unchanged - give the local authorities a higher degree of freedom when employing a chief executive. On the other hand I find the discussion about the staff�s formal education more interesting and I am convinced that libraries need a much more diversified academic background than just librarianship among the staff.

The proposal opens doors to a higher degree of regionalisation, which means that in some areas counties are obliged to co-operate. This is, of course, necessary in relation to digital information when forming consortia and negotiating licences.

There are also some rather vague proposals about the possibility of establishing different kind of fee-based activities or other ways of using the concept of user fees.

Quite a lot of the imprecise formulations will be corrected and focused in the coming legislative process.

The general impression among the profession is that the proposal is a leap forward, mainly because it emphasises the central commitment and at least to a certain degree acknowledges the hybrid library.

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