Visibility of public library objectives in national legislation and policies
Barbro Wigell-RyynänenOnly part of European countries have a Library Act. Library legislation is a means of securing prerequisites for relevant library and information services; adequate premises, collections and equipment, trained staff. Most European countries have some kind of library strategy or programme, aiming at developing and ameliorating services. Legislation is obliging, all actors in the field must be capable of conforming to it. A library strategy defines objectives and how to proceed to achieve the wanted conditions. My own country is used as an example as we have library legislation, a strategy and two library programmes.
Finlandīs first Library Act came int force in 1929. Citizensī right to quality of services regardless of domicile or income was emphasized from the start. Amendments have been signals of societal change and new paradigma. The Library Act of 1961 came into force with the emerging of the affluent society and brought the idea of the family library as well as substantial state subsidies for upkeep of services, for constructing new library buildings and for acquisition of mobile libraries. When the Library Act of 1999 came into force Finland was recovering from a deep economical recession, during which library use and lending increased notably.The Act linked libraries to the information society; civic skills, internationalisation and lifelong learning were keywords.
The objectives of all European public library policies and programmes aim at ensuring access to information, knowledge and experiences for all citizens. Public library authorities all over Europe aim at developing well-functioning, well-equipped physical and virtual networks of library and information services. NAPLE, the collaboration network of European public library authorities, brings forth the similarities in objectives and aims, the importance of bench marking and comparing and the benefits of close professional interaction.
The Finnish Library Policy Programme identified challenges arising in the civil information society and suggested concrete solutions to them. Public libraries were to be developed as a means of promoting a knowledge-based society for citizens.The Library Strategy, a policy for access to knowledge and culture, was one of the first European library strategies, and it still serves as an example of what European library authorities want to achieve by preparing national stategies and programmes.