Open libraries - without staff ............. all the time

Do you know this when you visit the library? The experience is no longer as common in Denmark

North Beach: San Francisco Public Library yesterday at 9:55 am

When I as a Dane participant in such a big event like IFLA or the ALA Annual Meeting is one of the questions we often get; is it true that in Denmark the libraries are open without staff? 

The answer I give is; no, we do not have libraries without staff, but we have libraries that are open even when the staff is not there.

More than half of all public libraries in Denmark are now "open libraries"

In Denmark, all the libraries is free to use, In the way, that all the basis services are free of charge for the public. In Denmark almost all the Libraries are funded by tax.

The libraries are obligated to make all kinds of materials available, both physical and digital. Not just books. 

See New e-book deals between all danish publishers and the public libraries in Denmark

We have 98 municipalities and all of them are obligated, by legislation, to have a library and to finance it.

Some of the municipalities have more than one library. We have approximately 450 public libraries, to a population of 5,5 mil. people.

Half of the libraries are closed in the last ten years, but the development has hopefully stopped now.
It seems that development lead to fewer and fewer libraries, but bigger and better libraries, I hope

What is a "open Library"
We have 98 main-libraries and 350 smaller Libraries, some of them we call “open Libraries” it is term for a concept that allows users to access the library space in principle 24/7 and serve them- selves with loans and return materials. And use the computers, read or maybe even set up a meeting or an event, if the space allows it. In the first instance the term ‘open library’ was chosen as the concept was implemented in libraries that had typically been branches with short – and often inconvenient – opening hours. And ‘open library’ is also a term preferable to ‘self service library’, as this concept requires another kind of professional support enabling the users to complete the necessary transactions themselves and to find their way in the library.

Since 2004 when the first open library was created, this concept has spread to 280 libraries in Denmark and more are planned and the first main-libraries in bigger cities is now also "Open Libraries"

The reasons for this fast spread of a new concept are several. First and foremost the concept is simple. All Danes have a medical card with a magnetic stripe and a bar code, and along with a pin code obtained at the library this card gives you access to the library. In the library there is a video camera, and during some of the opening hours there may be staff, but the principle is self-service at the automated loan and return desk. And in by far the most of the many opening hours, there is no staff at all.

Medical card with a magnetic stripe and a bar code

For example my local library (Vigerslev in Copenhagen) had before an opening hours from 10 am till 5 pm, now with "open library" concept is now open from 8 am to 10 pm. But there is only personnel between 10 am till 5 pm.

A typical model is that opening hours are from morning to late evening every day. And due to the log-in procedure there are valid user statistics. Users come and go all through the long opening hours. Forget about branches open a few hours at midday.

For many years Danish libraries have worked with self-service in loan and return transactions, which means that a majority of users are familiar with selfservice procedures, which by the way are extremely simple.

The open library concept demonstrates that it is possible to create institutions that are under the protection of the public and are designed to meet citizens’ needs in a flexible way. It is likewise obvious that there is a potential for further development of the concept.

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