OpenPlatform

Intro

Libraries (in Denmark)

Most libraries in Denmark public as well as Educational and research libraries (aka FFU) are publicly funded. Though they are independent organizations, they are tied together by a cooperative network of functionality and dependencies.

Danish citizens have a free right to borrow materials from ANY public library in Denmark - free of charge. This service does to some extent includes the educational and research libraries.

As well as a free right of loans for the borrowers, libraries are by law obliged to support interlibrary loans - also free of charge for the borrowers.

Since the mid 1970’s libraries in Denmark have exchanged cataloguing records via a union catalogue called Danbib.

The Danbib catalogue and the holdings from libraries participating in the inter library loans cooperative are combined in the Bibliotek.dk system. This is a portal to the common public functionality of the danish libraries (search catalogue, reservation and holdings). Another part of Bibliotek.dk is a service to exchange reservations and Inter Library Loans. This service is highly automated and has a set of rules for reservations and delivery. Public libraries exchange reservations (and materials) via central libraries (Centralbiblioteker) - a regional service. All libraries are serviced by a national transport service for library materials (Kørselsordningen) which makes exchange of items between individual libraries nation wide possible on a nearly day to day basis. The individual libraries themselves handles items between the branches.

Public library

Public libraries are funded and organised by the individual municipalities in Denmark and normally have a main library in a major town with smaller branch libraries in other towns and a mobile library service covering rural areas. The basic library services (loan, reservations) are free of charge for users with residence in Denmark (including expatriates).