Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly


	Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly

Editorial: Library plans for a changing society
The interest shown in the role of librariesin society is greater today than for a longtime. During the last few
years in all the Nordic countries
political initiatives havebeen taken
in order to develop nationalstrategies for the public library system.

The Heart of the Library
The title in itself, The Public Libraries
in the Knowledge Society, indicates
a distinct line of vision and developmental direction.
The connection is not to the experience society or to the future in general, but to overall political strategies for globalisation and innovation.

		Playing together SOU 2010:11 Library operations There are around 1,300 public libraries in Sweden, of which 290 are central libraries and over 1,000 are branch libraries, and, every year, they clock up around seventy million visits and lend the same number of books or other media. The public libraries are administered by municipalities whose library services are complemented by county libraries, lending centres and legal deposit libraries. The county libraries are financed primarily by the county councils, who are responsible for them. On average, central government grants provide around a quarter of the necessary finance.

	The voice of the libraries The strategy drawn up for the Finnish Library Association in the first decade of the millennium has produced clear guidelines for the association’s activities and has made it possible to re-assess measures based on the set objectives.