086543575

LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES

loan of the books to the in­ habitants of the community is gratis. In course of time a line staff of librarians, men and women, have been tra i­ ned, and the chief-librarians a t the larger libraries are oppointed by the State. A t present the number of libraries w ith public subven­ tion are 730, of which 652 in the ocuntrydistricts. The aggregate number of the vo­ lumes are 1,200,000. penhagen belong to the c iti­ zens ; any man or woman over 14 years old has the free use of them and the nearest district- library is always easy to find. Tn each district is a library and the hours are arranged in a way so everybody can take the time for a visit. The libraries have two de­ partm ents: The loan-depart­ ment and the reading-room, into which anybody can walk in w ithout any formalities. In the reading-rooms and most of the loan-departments one can help himself to the books from the open shelves.

The Danish state-subventio- ned public libraries were in ­ stituted according to the law of March 5th 1920. This law defines, how the subvention from the government is to be divided and which requi­ rements m ust be fulfilled to get the subvention. I t fu r­ ther gives provisions for the States superintendence with this kind of libraries. As a rule the libraries range under the city and are controlled by the public. The The Public Libraries of Copenhagen have been in stitu ­ ted to render to the public an easy access to the Danish and foreign literatu re : en tertai­ ning, instructive and special, thereby to further the gene­ ral education. The city go­ vernment considers it being of vaste importance, th a t the citizens should have the most easy access to education and knowledge through the lite­ rature, and therefore, on its own expense, has established the libraries and made them free for all. Thus the libraries in Co­

-

127