Promoting reading 1
Among the outreach activities of public libraries
, there is a tradition of establishing physical book stocks at places other than inside the library building and its branches; a type of outreach activity that has undergone a certain amount of renewal in recent times. Reaching out by establishing new bookstocks can mean everything from more obvious variants such as libraries in waiting rooms, to the more experimental, such as libraries at indoor public swimming pools. As part of an effort to move parts of the bookstock to places other than the physical library locale, communal laundry room libraries have been established in many parts of the country, for example. The cloakroom library is another variant, as is the changing room library. Workplace libraries have a long tradition to fall back on, and after a period of decline appear to be enjoying renewed interest. This also applies to mobile libraries of various kinds, such as book buses and book boats. During the summers in Borås, large sections of the lending service have been moved out onto the street in order to offer a drive-in library. Workplace libraries One of the more established variants of bookstocks in locations outside the library walls is workplace libraries. Mats Herder’s sociology of literature thesis, Arbetsplatsbibliotek i Sverige. Studier av en uppsökande folkbiblioteksverksamhet och dess framväxt (Books at work: studies on public library extension services in Sweden and their development) (1986), provides a history of workplace libraries. Workplace libraries for educational purposes have existed since the nineteenth century, established by employers and/ or philanthropists. From the end of the nineteenth century, workplace libraries were established by representatives of the labour movement. These libraries were usually not located at the workplace, but in Folkets hus (the community centre) or in someone’s home. Workplace libraries in the form of seamen’s libraries have been in existence since 1916, and still exist today. These were paid for by seamen’s trade union organisations, but during the 1930s began receiving aid from the state. In the 1970s, a more comprehensive trial involving workplace libraries began subsequent to the Swedish state enquiry into literature of 1968. For a period of twenty years, workplace libraries grew up rapidly and were seen as an effective way to gain new readers. But what is the situation with workplace libraries today? A comprehensive report on workplace libraries was written by Peter Almerud (2004), commissioned by the Swedish Arts Council. A workplace library is defined in this report as a library containing general literature located at a workplace and for the employees’ recreational reading and that someone takes responsibility for and that is continuously renewed. The report showed that, since the end of the 1980s, workplace libraries have become marginalised in cultural policy debate and in the activities of public libraries. On the whole, the workplace library as an activity appeared to be declining; for example, a halving of the number of workplace libraries since 1990 was reported. In 2003, it is estimated that there were around 1200 workplace libraries, of which 500 were under municipal direction, 400 under trade union direction in collaboration with En bok för alla, and 300 were independent workplace libraries. There is much to indicate that this figure has dropped further since then. In a report from 2010, Nina Frid states that workplace libraries are facing major challenges. The adult education working group for a reading boost in Sweden gave a similar picture in a report from 2013, which 89