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Public libraries: co-operation on national scale and local initiatives
History and legislation
The first public reading rooms and libraries in the Netherlands were established around the turn of the century by private initiative, based on similar institutions in Britain and the USA. Utrecht and Dordrecht were the first towns offering ordinary people the chance to read newspapers, periodicals and books. A central association was set up in 1911 to promote public libraries and to force the government to acknowledge the importance of public libraries to public education, and to provide funding. H.E. Greve, the Parliament's assistant-librarian, devoted his doctor's thesis and his energy to the movement of the public library. It was not until 1921 that state responsibility for public libraries was acknowledged and 'Conditions for Government Grants' were formulated. By 1975, towns and cities were reasonably well provided with library facilities but services in rural areas had lagged far behind. The Public libraries Act of 1975 was primarily concerned with planned, structural expansion of services, although standards of staff, media and opening hours never reached their intended establishment. Nevertheless, the number of libraries rose sharply, particularly in rural areas, due to the activities of the Provincial Library Centres, which had the legal task to support libraries in municipalities under 30.000 inhabitants. Large numbers of new users jointed, notably young people were exempt from membership charges. Both government and local authorities made the expansion possible by an increase of subsidies to libraries.
Decentralisation
Following the general tendency in Western administration, the responsibility for public libraries was decentralised to the provincial and municipal authorities under a new, Social Welfare Law in 1987, primarily an administrative measure which regulated funding. The central government remains responsible for quality, innovation, co-ordination and efficiency of the national system of public libraries, while the provincial authorities are accountable for support services to the local libraries and the municipalities are responsible for the realisation of the local library services. It should be noted here that most public libraries are private foundations and not part of the local or council services. They are nevertheless mainly (78%) funded by public means and as such public institutions accessible to all. In order to support the co-operation between the various levels of authorities the Act prescribes a division of tasks and the necessity to make arrangements and agreements, also with other sectors of education, culture and information. In 1994 the legal frame work for public libraries changed by the introduction of the Specific Cultural Policy Act. As the name demonstrates, the traces of specific concern for public libraries have disappeared, legislation no longer guarantees the existence, identity and values of public libraries, including free access and freedom of membership charges, at least for children, but has become instrumental to politics and cultural policy. One of the effects is the involvement of public libraries in reading promotion policy and in the Public Lending Compensation Scheme, the latter being included in the revised Copyright Act 1996.
Network of services
Public libraries form part of the national library system and constitute a cohesive network of local, provincial and national facilities. About 1150 public libraries and 90 mobiles serve the multicultural population of 15.6 million people on 34.000 square kilometres. Public libraries reach a substantial proportion of the population: 4.5 million people are registered members of which 47% children under 18 years of age. Almost 30% of the inhabitants are member of the public libraries: 20% of all adults, 60-90% of all children. Even more people are reached by services for which a membership card is not required: reading rooms, study areas and open shelves, information and consultation on site, and exhibitions.
The public libraries provide services to different target groups, such as young people, members of ethnic minorities, refugees, disabled or elderly people and participants in adult education. They have contacts with educational and cultural institutions and organisations and support them by outreach activities. More than 7000 schools are supported by specific library services and programmes.
Public libraries are heavily used, although mostly only figures on loans are available. About 40 items a year are borrowed by library members, mostly books but also audio-visual materials like videos and CD's. The number of loans in total is about 180 million, on a total collection of 44 million items.
Finances
The financing of Dutch public libraries shows some peculiarities, almost contradictory to some international library principles. The costs of the public libraries are increasing, partly due to rising staff costs (47% of total costs) and technology investments, but also due to some legislation, e.g. on public lending rights. Provisional regulations made the public libraries pay 10 million guilders a year. Based on the Copyright Act a legal Board of Negotiation has now been established in which the various parties (publishers, authors, producers of CD's etc.) and the public libraries are represented. After extremely difficult negotiations an annual allowance of about Hfl. 23 million was agreed upon. This amount has to be found by extra funding from local authorities, cutting down expenditure or, mostly, by passing the extra costs to the library users by means of higher subscriptions fees and an extra payment for each loan. Although children are still mostly exempted from subscription fees, there is reason for serious concern. Public access and the information service in the public domain are also threatened by an increasing exploitation of information by publishers, stirred up by new technology.
In general, adults pay about Hfl. 30 for an annual subscription. Additionally they have to pay extra for borrowing non-book materials. Payment is also required for photocopying, reservations for interlibrary loan and the use of Internet. In total 12% of library income is generated by users. Another 10% is created by various activities and the rest, 78% i.e. Hfl. 645.000 is provided by the local and provincial authorities with some national funding for projects. The government supports the Library Association with Hfl. 9 million for the realisation of national duties and priorities.
Co-operation
Co-operation is the key in the Dutch public library system. Supported by the Public Libraries Act 1975, many small libraries co-operate with the provincial library centre. After decentralisation the co-operation has continued on a voluntary basis by partly buying services. About 440 public libraries derive co-operation services from the provincial library centre, ranging from management, automation, mobile services to exhibitions and media. Other public libraries can profit from the provincial services as well. These support services include also interlibrary loan, training, advice, transport and research. Some provincial services are offered by larger municipal libraries with a special support task (see WSF).
On a national scale the public libraries co-operate in various ways. Central services and support are provided by the NBLC organisations (Association, Foundation and Ltd), for all aspects of library work. NBLC's weekly reviews (at least 15.000 new book titles annually) enable libraries to select media and to order them centrally. The Netherlands Libraries Service (NBD), a co-operative foundation between publishers, booksellers and public libraries since 1970, is the central media supplier delivering annually at least 2,8 million books to the public libraries. This economy of scale also applies to bibliographic data, (reading) promotional materials, documentation files, newspapers clippings, training courses and an expedition network. The latter is performed in co-operation with the provincial library centres and also used for the distribution of government information and community information in general. NBLC is also a publishing house and a furniture company.
All public libraries (600) and their branches (550) are member of the NBLC Public Library Association, which fulfils the tasks of advocacy, representation, professional support, innovation and collective policy development. Members have adopted the Charter for Public Libraries (1990) based on the UNESCO Public Library Manifesto. The Association has launched a strategic plan to be reached by the year 2005 in which the public library sector has to strengthen itself by enhanced co-operation to promote the corporate identity of the public library as the centre of information, culture and education. Pilot projects have introduced new marketing tools, new scales of co-operation and division of tasks. A new professional profile will be realised by specific training which enables more outward directed library services in co-operation with other social and cultural institutions. The government will support the renewal of public information or community information with the help of information technology. Internet is now accessible in 400 libraries. Some 100 have their own website. A main effort will be to make the public library the gateway to the electronic highway and public information services. An overall plan will provide all public libraries with Internet- computers, legislative and other public information on CD-ROM, and advanced communication with schools. Media-education is set up both for the general public and pupils in schools. Libraries become the heart of the school-reform as a study home. Cultural education will be enhanced in co-operation with museums and cultural institutions. NBLC co-operates with some provincial library centres to realise a general index and classification of Internet-sources, accessible by the general public. By these projects public libraries in the Netherlands hope to maintain a qualified public service for the benefit of all.
NBLC, 1999.
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25 June 2026
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