The above quotation stuck in my mind after a conference I participated in this spring. The conference was arranged for a number of libraries all of which are engaged in development projects on the library’s role as a place of learning in terms of information literacy.

Are the libraries mistaken then in potentially assuming a new professional role as instructor in this particular competency? The libraries in question are mostly attached to educational institutions, but they also include quite a few public libraries. The public library is the classic open institution which anyone, who is not currently part of an established educational programme, can visit in order to seek information and ‘educate’ themselves on a permanent basis. As I see it, the conference confirmed that in taking on this task the libraries can fly the flag of public spiritedness, as support for and in cooperation with the formal education system – not least in those areas which the system does not quite encompass.

We have chosen information literacy as the theme for this issue and present a number of articles that examine the concept and the task, theoretically and with examples from ’real life’.

Jonna Holmgaard Larsen
Editor-in-chief
jhl@bs.dk

Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly Volume 37, no. 3, 2004 SPLQ Danish National Library Authority Nyhavn 31 E DK-1051 Copenhagen K splq@bs.dk 4 issues per year Price: DKK 295 Legally responsible publisher: Jens Thorhauge, jth@bs.dk Editor-in-chief: Jonna Holmgaard Larsen, jhl@bs.dk Assistant editor: Vibeke Cranfield, vhc@bs.dk Co-editors: Sidsel Hindal, sidsel.hindal@abm-utvikling.no The Norwegian Archive, Library and Museum Authority Barbro Wigell-Ryynänen, Barbro.Wigell-Ryynanen@minedu.fi Finnish Ministry of Education, Dep. for Cultural Policy Helena Kettner Rudberg, helena.rudberg@kulturradet.se Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs Lay-out: Stæhr Reklame & Marketing ISSN 0036-5602 Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly (SPLQ) is published by the Nordic Public Library Authorities