85 procent av svenskarna anser att bibliotek är viktiga för att samhället ska fungera

Kanske några läsare av bloggen vet att jag älskar Sverige. Faktiskt älskar jag också Danmark och Norge. Du gamla, Du fria, Du fjällhöga nord. Du tysta, Du glädjerika sköna! Min kärlek är äldre än Wallander, Brottet, Borgen eller Bron. Fantastic men dessa är. Tack BBC4.

We have always had good links with our colleagues in the various library schools in Scandinavia, particularly at the Royal School of Librarianship in Copenhagen and the Library School at Borås in Sweden. We always have a good number of friends from Sweden come to our i3 conference here in Aberdeen. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I admire Scandinavian library design but it is wider than that if I’m honest. I like the whole Nordic approach to libraries. One thing I really like is the link between the library research that goes on in places like Borås and the wider profession.

The title of this blog is taken from research done in 2007 by Lars Höglund, professor of library science at Borås, which looked at shape of modern library services. The translation is that 85 percent of Swedes believe that libraries are important for society to function. That is a really bewilderingly significant statistic. I wonder if this would be replicated here in Scotland.

 

Some other really important statistics emerge from the Swedish Library Association’s Fakta om bibliotek 2011 and I’ve taken the liberty of translating some of the headlines:

• 93 procent av svenskarna tycker att bibliotek är viktiga för barns läsutveckling. 76 procent tycker att biblioteken är i takt med den moderna människans behov.
• 93 percent of Swedes think that libraries are important for children's literacy development. 76 percent think that libraries are in line with the needs of modern people.
• Biblioteken är den samhällsinstitution som flest svenskar har förtroende för. 70 procent har mycket eller ganska stort förtroende för biblioteken och endast 4 procent ganska eller mycket litet förtroende.
• Libraries are the social institution that most Swedes trust. 70 percent have very great or fairly great confidence in libraries, and only 4 percent fairly or very little trust.
• Den yngre åldersgruppen 16–29 år är den som främst använder biblioteket för studier/arbete och som frågar personal om hjälp. Att delta på kulturella evenemang är mest frekvent i den äldre åldersgruppen 65–85 år.
• The 16-29 year olds are the main users the library for study / work and they make most use of staff through enquiry mechanisms. Participation in cultural events is most frequent in 65-85 age group.
• År 2010 gjordes över 16 miljoner nedladdningar av artiklar ur elektroniska tidskrifter. Det är dubbelt så många som fyra år tidigare. E-boksnedladdningarna har fördubblats på tre år.
• In 2010 there were over 16 million downloads of articles from electronic journals. This was twice as many as four years previously. E-book downloads have doubled in three years.

 

Some really revealing attitundal and societal statistics there with, arguably, the results on the “big issues” like the role of the library in society or the extent to which libraries are trusted being particularly significant. Similar pictures emerge elsewhere in the Nordic countries. Grampian Information has achieved a real coup for its annual conference this year; one of the keynote speakers will be Jens Thorhauge (recently retired as Director General of the Danish Agency for Libraries and Media) and who is certainly the most knowledgeable man on libraries in Denmark. So this interesting Nordic perspective will be coming to Aberdeen on 8th November.