How do Politicians and Central Decision-Makers View Public Libraries? The case of Norway

Abstract

This article is based on qualitative intervirews with members of the Norwegian Parliament and central decision makers on how they perceive and evaluate the role of public libraries. Public libraries are viewed very positively among the politicians. They tend, however, to restrict the role of libraries to promoting the literary canon and the cultural heritage through book lending and to support education at all levels. The library’s role in promoting democracy and social equality is not very central in the politicians’ perception. Surprisjngly enough, neither is the Archives, Libraries and Museums authority perspective, only a short period after Parliament decided to reorganize the library sector according to this perspective. IFLA is invisible to the members of Parliament shortly before the IFLA-conference is going to take place in Oslo, heavily supported by public funds.

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References

Aabø, Svanhild. (2005) The value of public libraries: a methodological discussion and empirical study applying the contingent valuation method. Oslo: Unipub. Doctoral dissertation.

Audunson, Ragnar. (2001) Folkebibliotekets rolle i en digital framtid: publikums, politikernes og bibliotekarenes bilder. I: Ragnar Audunson og Niels Windfeld Lund (red). Det siviliserte informasjonssamfunn: folkebibliotekenes rolle i en digital tid. Bergen: Fagbokforlaget.