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New services in the Netherlands
Public Library Network
Public libraries form part of the national library system and constitute a cohesive network of local, provincial and national facilities. About 1,150 public libraries and 90 mobiles serve the multicultural population of 15.6 million people on 34,000 square kilometers. Public libraries reach a substantial proportion of the population: 4.5 million people are registered users of which 47% children under 18 years of age. Almost 30% of the inhabitants are registered users of the public libraries: 20% of all adults, and up to 90% of all children. Even more people are reached by services for which a library 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 organizations and support them by outreach activities. Specific library services and programs support more than 7,000 schools.
Although public libraries are heavily used, only figures on loans are generally available. About 40 items a year are borrowed per registered user, mostly books but also audiovisual materials such as videos and CDs. The number of loans in total is about 180 million, on a total collection of 44 million items.
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 cooperation to promote the common identity of the public library as the center of information, culture and education. Pilot projects have introduced new marketing tools, new scales of cooperation and division of tasks. A new view of the profession has been prepared and will be introduced 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. The internet is now accessible in 400 libraries. Some 100 have their own websites. 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-ready 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 hearts of the school reform as study homes. Cultural education will be enhanced in cooperation with museums and cultural institutions. NBLC cooperates with some provincial library centers to create 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.
New Attitudes, New Tools, New Services
Some new services are the following:
Public or community information. Based on the user's right to information a policy program has been drafted, and has been adopted by all public libraries. It distinguishes information for leisure, study, work, general opinion, culture and self-help. Supporting self-help has priority. Therefore, librarians are trained not only to provide documents but also to help in answering basic questions for every citizen in society. This is an extension of former interpretations of librarianship. Librarians are also trained in various fields, e.g. health, social security, housing, careers, in order to understand the back ground, structure and trends of societal fields. In this way they are able to contact local organizations, institutions and groups of volunteers who are providing services to the local community. The idea is that the public library is the local gateway to practical information and service. Information technology will be helpful in providing information to users, to the librarians and to the cooperating network.
There is a division of labor in so called front offices and back offices, (front desk and specialist departments) making a distinction between the general information desk and the specialized services prepared behind the scene. A classification of libraries is set up, based on the type of services that are offered. Professional tools are tested in pilot projects and published in a Handbook, which contains practical methods and information on various fields in society and their sources of information, as well as services for special groups of users, such as young people, immigrants, disabled, and socially disadvantaged people.
The whole program will require a number of years to be implemented in all public libraries on a voluntary basis. Included are provisions of central and regional services for address information, leaflets and self-help documents and programs. There is a well-established service for government information via a national distribution system performed by NBLC and the provincial library centers. Twice a week all libraries can receive information, books and material via this system. National campaigns are also using this distribution system to reach a large public.
Information about the new European currency, the Euro, is also provided via the public libraries. In every region an Info-Point Europe has a special collection of materials about the European Union, statistics, reports; distributes brochures about practical questions of labor, travelling and studying in Europe; and, has access to various European databases. These special information services are located in twelve public libraries in the Netherlands.
Media education for users-groups. new technologies used in the library and other parts of society are a means to self-information and self-education, but not all human beings are equally skilled in using these tools. Part of the national program to connect the public libraries to the internet is to provide user-education for new media, both in the library and in schools. Especially in the schools, not only the technical aspects but also a critical approach to websites, databases and other sources of information is taught in order to make a responsible seeking process possible. Next year is the UN Year of the Elderly, which enables the libraries to cooperate with local groups of elderly to help them to become oriented to a world full of new media. Some of the InfoPoints for Elderly People have been transformed into general information centers for the public in the library. NBLC develops continuos education for the librarians and outlines a variety of activities to be performed in the public libraries.
Transformation of services by new tools for librarians. Two experiments in the fields of distribution of work and marketing show the innovative linking of division of labor, markets and new technology with a professional approach. New services require new tools, and first of all a new attitude. The urge for a change of attitude has become clear from a research on the activities of library staff, which revealed that much of the work was not utilizing to best effect the education level of librarians.
In order to create time and attention for new services, a new division of labor has to be made, allowing the higher educated librarian to perform also other duties than reference work behind the desk. The new task is to promote library services in the community, to talk to community groups and the local government; and to establish a community network for primary information services. This means that staff from other organizations can participate in the information services in the library and be part of the information team. In some cities this has worked very well, as citizens were no longer sent from pillar to post. The other tool, which has been developed, is a marketing instrument, based on the principle that library services have to be adapted to the needs of the users. The user perspective may lead to a different priority of services, materials, et cetera. This does not mean that the library functions as a market, it only means that in the performance of its principle, to serve the right to information of the user, more attention is paid to the person of the user, and the user's needs for information, culture and education. In the field of services to children and youth, more activities have to be set up in consultation and cooperation with them. Participation is part of their human rights applied in the library: seeking information.
Dr. Marian Koren
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25 June 2026
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