DENMARK
Management training pays off
A study among Danish library directors
in the public sector in 2001 compared
with a study in 2004 with focus
on the public libraries shows that all in
all directors in 2004 feel more comfortable
and satisfied with their role as
leaders and are under less psychological
pressure than previously.
Various reasons have contributed to
this development. Since 2001 a major
process of change has taken place in
the general running of the libraries as a
result of the new library act which
must be said to have been a huge
success. The intense concentration on
further education and management
development has resulted in a tremendous
educational upgrading which has
made the leaders much more aware of
available management tools. A new
tendency indicates that women no
longer underestimate their knowledge
in relation to their male colleagues. The
size of the library also turns out to be a
strong element, as size of library and
the different management roles with
their associated tasks, are related.
Altogether the study shows that selfawareness
in the profession has
improved.
The studies which were initiated by the
Union of Librarians in collaboration
with the Royal School of Library and
Information Science, are carried out by
senior lecturer Niels Ole Pors.
Biblioteksskolenyt, 6/2004
SWEDEN
Swedish cultural policy
Dr. Sven Nilsson addresses himself to
Swedish cultural policy in consequence
of Sweden having got a new minister
for culture, Leif Pagrotsky. He maintains
that the enormous potential of
Sweden being today a multi-cultural
country, must be activated and released,
and that the immigrants are not
a liability to Sweden. It is the exclusion
of them which will prove costly to
everybody, as the human development
potential freezes into bitterness, frustration
and silent rebellion.
Time has gone when cultural policy
could be contained in a national
agenda and one could reject that which
was foreign. The world has changed.
With immigrants and a globally published
and largely commercial popular
culture, it becomes increasingly difficult
to define the state in terms of its
traditional cultural institutions. Only
the libraries have a public which
resemble the population average at the
moment.
The new cultural policy which must
find its form, will have to regard culture
in a much wider context and build
on the fact that the use of media-based
art, culture and entertainment is a
dominant and growing activity in
society today.
Ikoner, 6/2004
NORWAY
The public library – a place for learning –
a route to the knowledge society
In 2005 the Norwegian Library Association
launches an important campaign
FOKUS 2005 in order to highlight the
libraries’ role and opportunities in the
society of the future.
The campaign is part of a broad international
campaign to expose the libraries
of the world and is supported by
IFLA, so far about 20 countries participate.
The purpose of the campaign has i.a.
been formulated like this: “People use
the libraries in many different ways.
But most of what is happening in the
libraries also involve learning, and it is
exactly this aspect of the libraries’ activities
that we feel should be accentuated
in the years to come.We believe it
is necessary to look at the libraries in a
larger context than previously.We want
to place the emphasis on the public
library’s – and consequently also the
local authorities’ – role in the knowledge
society.
Bibliotek Forum 1/2005
