Note
in: Library Trends. Chicago, 1937, page 74-80, including two maps.
Realities of Regionalism
Danish county libraries
LIBRARY TRENDS
PAPERS PRESENTED BEFORE
THE LIBRARY INSTITUTE AT
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
AUGUST 3-15, 1936
Edited with an Introduction by
LOUIS R. WILSON
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
CHICAGO - ILLINOIS
The Danish and Swedish schemes for the organization of "central libraries"
constitute a much more completely organized type of regional service. Denmark
has been the leader in the development of this kind of library, and Sweden has
frankly copied the Danish plan in most details.
I shall next attempt to describe as briefly as possible the essential elements
in the Danish system of central libraries. The population of Denmark, it should
be stated, is approximately 3,500,000, and its area is 16,500 square miles. This
means an average density of 214 persons per square mile for the nation as a
whole, and 169 per square mile for the country outside of Copenhagen. Perhaps
the best comparison with an American state is to say that Denmark is very
roughly half the size of Ohio, both in area and in population.
The Danish library slogan, as enunciated by the founder of its public-library
movement, Andreas Steenberg, may be paraphrased as follows: "Any book for any
person at any place." Public-library service in Denmark is provided by nearly a
thousand parish or municipal libraries, most of them small, since there are few
large cities outside of Copenhagen. In spite of the national slogan, library
service is by no means universal; a considerable proportion of the parishes as
yet have no direct free library service. To supplement the service of the local
libraries, the public libraries in twentynine of the larger cities and towns
have been designated as "central libraries" and perform certain functions which
will be enumerated later.
On the accompanying map (Map 1) are shown the locations of the twenty?nine
central libraries which have been established up to the present time. It will be
noted that there is at least one such library in every county or province and
that certain counties have two central libraries. Copenhagen, the capital city,
does not participate in the regional scheme, and service in the Copenhagen
district is supplied by one of the suburban cities. The average area served by
each central library is about 600 square miles, and the average population
served by each library is about 90,000.
The nature of the services rendered by the central libraries is probable best
explained by a description of the functions of a typical example of the group.
For this purpose, the Central Library for Southwest Jutland, located in Esbjerg,
a seaport of 28,000 population on the west coast of the peninsula of Jutland,
has been selected. This library is responsible for regional service in most of
the county or province of Ribe. This county has an area of 1,185 square miles
and a total population of 43,000. It happens, interestingly enough, that this
Danish county approximates quite closely, both in area and population, the
average American county.
A second map (Map 2) shows in detail the libraries of the county and the
boundaries of the parishes of which it is composed. It will be noted that there
are still a number of parishes without local libraries. The eastern parishes of
the county are served by the central library immediately to the east. Note also
that the principal city, Esbjerg, is located on the extreme west of the region,
and that the longest distance from the city to the boundary of the county is
about forty-five miles.
The Central Library of Esbjerg is primarily a municipal library which serves its
own city. It is governed by a board composed of local members with one
representative appointed by the county and two by the Library Association of
Southwest Jutland. The librarian is appointed by this governing board, but his
appointment must be confirmed by the national library agency in Copenhagen.
The library receives a regular grant-in-aid from the national government as a
municipal library and also a special grant for its services as a central library.
Of its total annual income of approximately 55,000 kroner ($12,300), 30,000
kroner are received from local sources, 4,000 kroner from the county, and 21,000
kroner from the national government.
It should be emphasized that the central library has no direct control over the
local libraries of the county, which retain virtually complete independence. The
Danes, be it said, cherish their local library autonomy fully as much as do
Americans. In his relations with the local librarians, the librarian of the
Central Library may advise and suggest, but he may not command. In the rare case
of serious Inefficiency in the administration of parish libraries, he may
recommend to the national library agency that the national subsidy be withdrawn.
or that a new librarian be appointed. There is little doubt that the librarian
of the central library has great influence in the administration of the small
local libraries in his area, but he has no direct authority over them. In a
strict governmental sense, therefore, the library system of the Danish county is
not at all comparable to an American county library.
The service which the central library renders to the libraries and the people of
the county appears to be comprehensive and generous in the extreme. Both the
municipality and the library of Esbjerg seem willing to give much more than they
receive from the national subsidy without counting the cost in arty precise
terms. They quite cheerfully say it is all part of the service which the city is
glad to render the county. The library merely does its bit in maintaining a
cordial feeling between the principal city and its natural hinterland. The
services actually rendered by the central library to the county include, among
others, the following items: (1) direct reference and loan service at the
central library; (2) bookmobile service to local communities in the county; (3)
interlibrary?loan service; (4) traveling library service; (5) preparation of
reading lists and lists of recent accessions; (6) advice and technical
instruction to the librarians of the small libraries; and (7) some direct
technical service in ordering and cataloging books for small libraries.
Summed up in a sentence, each Danish central library group may be characterized
as a loose federation of libraries in a natural economic and social region. It
is not a consolidated library system organized as a single administrative unit.
Certain Danish librarians are quite frank in saying that the system would be
more efficient if the library areas were served by single consolidated regional
libraries, but they realize that the country is not yet ready for this form of
organization and are wise enough not to try to force the issue.
The essential features of this Danish system of central libraries seem to be
three. In the first place, it provides advice, instruction, and informal
inspection for the small town and rural libraries of Denmark by the competent
staffs of the central libraries. In this respect, each unit might be described
in American terms as a branch of a state library or library commission.
In the second place, the system provides a central unit which offers services
roughly comparable to those of the headquarters library of an American county.
This central unit, however, has no administrative control over the local
libraries which it serves.
Finally, a liberal system of national grantsin-aid has stimulated the rapid
growth of the Danish library system in general. The possibility of the
withdrawal of these library subsidies has provided the national library agency
and the librarians of the central libraries with an effective device for
maintaining reasonable efficiency in the administration of local libraries. In
other words, the subsidy law has sufficient teeth. It is difficult to see how
the Danish plan could operate successfully without adequate state grants-in-aid.
Is it possible to translate this Danish plan into American terms? In many
respects the situation in Denmark is comparable to that in a considerable number
of American states, particularly in those areas which are served wholly or in
substantial part by a system of independent local libraries. To be specific, it
should have possible applications for middle?western states like Illinois and
for New England states like New Hampshire or Vermont. Indeed, it is in the
library demonstration in northern Vermont, conducted by the Vermont Library
Experiment Committee, that we have perhaps the closest American parallel to the
Danish system. In America, as in Denmark, the need for state grants?in?aid to
implement the system is apparent.