Swedish libraries: An overview

Abstract

The Swedish library infrastructure is well developed. A substantial part of the Swedish population is library users. This article gives an overview of the library landscape. It gives a background to the public library development as well as the development of university and university college libraries. Some special library collections are mentioned. A background to the 1997 Library Act is given. There is an overview of the national policy on literature and the remuneration system for Swedish writers, translators and illustrators. The new national structure with the National Library as the supervising authority for both academic and public libraries concludes the article, and indicates that co-operation between public and research libraries will deepen.