The 20th century was a great period for the Finnish public libraries. Even if one should be mistrustful of institutional success stories, it is difficult to interpret the facts otherwise: public libraries in this northern corner of Europe have risen from somewhat modest origins onto a level of excellence virtually unparalleled in the world. Libraries are generally good and they are intensively used; people visit the lib rary as naturally as they go into their own living rooms. It has not always been like that. When comparing the Finnish public libraries with those of their Nordic neighbours in 1956, a British observer, Lionel MacColvin, reported that “in the remaining Scandinavian country, Finland, there was still much to be done”. Today he would be pleasantly surprised by the libraries of “this immense lonely country”. Finnish Public Libraries in the 20th Century endeavours to give answers, why and how this phenomenal development took place.

Nordic Public Libraries. The Nordic cultural sphere and its public libraries

Editor: Jens Thorhauge in co-operation with Birgitta Modigh, Asbjørn Langeland, fióra Óskarsdóttir, BarbroWigell-Ryynänen

The book gives an introduction to Nordic public library service with the main emphasis on topical portraits of libraries which may seem very different, but which nevertheless reflect a tradition and a certain way of thinking. The initiative for this publication was taken by the Nordic public library authories who are also joint editors of Scandinavian Public Library Quar terly. It contains five national chapters and portraits of 13 public libraries in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the autonomous areas: Aland Islands, The Faroe Islands and Greenland. Published by the Danish National Library Authority. The book is richly illustrated and costs DKK 250,-.

Norwegian Public Library Buildings 1990-2000

During the period 1990-1999 no less than 194 Norwegian public libraries moved into new premises. This number includes both main libraries and branch libraries. Only 11 of Norway’s 435 municipalities have more than 50,000 inhabitants, which means that the vast majority of Norwegian public libraries are small and that many are housed in buildings primarily constructed for other purposes. Therefore in only a very few cases can one talk of a specific library architecture.

In a publication from the Norwegian Directorate for Public Libraries a selection of new public libraries from the last decade is the subject of a well-informed and thorough essay by Mari Lending, research scholar at the Oslo School of Architecture. The text is accompanied by the excellent photographs of Jiri Havran. In her review of modern Norwegian public libraries from Karasjok in the far north to Arendal in the south, the author begins by placing the institution of the library in a historical and social setting.What is a library and how should it physically present itself to the public? She concludes, “With the coming of the 20th century and architectural modernism the specific, individually character of buildings has become partly blurred and partly reinterpreted... Central public institutions, traditionally treated as monuments, are now subject to a new stylistic interpretation.”

Two of the libraries mentioned represent a significant contribution to contemporary Norwegian architecture. Architects Lunde and Løvseth have given Tønsberg a library which, while reflecting past local history, is still totally modern.
Stein Halvorsen and Christian Sundby have created a spectacular, beautiful building to house the Sami Parliament and the Sami special library. Mari Lending maintains that “these examples illustrate the rewards to be gained from bold and innovative architecture. In addition to providing the books, the public and the library staff with an environment of supreme aesthetic and functional quality, the area or the town acquires a building of character with which to identify. Buildings such as these should set the standard for library construction in Norway.”
This publication, the result of a project led by Anne Line, is from both a literary and visual aspect an interesting and instructive study of modern Norwegian library architecture.

Sidsel Hindal Norwegian Directorate for Public Libraries
Translated by Eric Deverill

Library Building Roskilde University Library

The new university library, designed by Henning Larsen, was opened by Queen Margrethe of Denmark on 9. November 2001. The journal Arkitektur describes the building as “architecture at a level rarely experienced in our part of the world..”