Swedish Library Association

Orientation of Activities 2010-2011
At the annual meeting of the Swedish Library Association on 13th May 2009 in Uppsala, the orientation of the Association’s activities was established.

Vision and intention
Everybody is living in freedom, democracy and tolerance, and has the same value, rights and possibilities.

Everybody has freedom of thought and speech, free and unlimited access to knowledge and information, and access to education, lifelong learning, and personal and cultural development.

Everybody has, during all the phases of his or her life, equally good access to a library service of high quality which is covered by a national library act suited to its purpose and by a well-developed national library policy.

The Swedish Library Association is a non-profit organisation which is independent of political parties and a free agent. The Association unites and works in support of all types of libraries by disseminating information on libraries and their activities, initiating public discussion and creating public opinion, performing lobbying, and promoting research and development.

The Swedish Library Association:
*makes visible and argues in favour of the importance of libraries, the prerequisites for libraries and the challenges facing libraries, and strives for a library act suited to its purpose and for a national library policy;

*follows the developments within different political areas of importance for libraries and proposes measures and actions that would reinforce the activities of libraries;

*elucidates and argues in favour of the importance of libraries for education, research, democracy, the freedom of information and speech, the cultural heritage, reading development, personal and cultural development, and civic information;

*co-operates with kindred institutions and organisations and exerts an influence on decision-makers on different levels;

*supplies a leading branch journal (BBL – Biblioteksbladet) for discussion of library-related topics and the dissemination of knowledge, trends and current developments;

*monitors and communicates new research and education of relevance to libraries, identifies new fields of study, and draws attention to the need for new research;

*co-operates with different actors and creates contacts between research and education in the field of library and information science and libraries/practitioners;

*provides arenas for discussion, the exchange of views and the active involvement of members, as well as a wide range of seminars and conferences;

*contributes to the development of knowledge of the prerequisites for libraries, and the role, mission and quality of libraries through studies performed by the Association, and by monitoring and spreading other studies and surveys, information on good examples, and facts;

* promotes the development of libraries, for example by providing its institutional members with support for different development measures;

*awards prizes to focus attention on achievements in the field of library and information science, library activities and library development, as well as literature and writing;

*participates in the work involved in maintaining classification, cataloguing and indexing systems, in support of library activities;

*stimulates international co-operation and exchange through collaboration with the Nordic library associations and membership in relevant international organisations, as well as by awarding travel grants to its members.

Founding
The Swedish Library Association was founded in 2000 as a result of a merger between Sveriges Allmänna Biblioteksförening, SAB (founded 1915), and Svenska Bibliotekariesamfundet, SBS (founded in 1921).

Membership
The Swedish Library Association unites libraries and librarians from all library sectors. The association welcomes anyone who acknowledges its aims. You can either be a private or an institutional member. In 2009, we count 3,700 members.

International membership
The Swedish Library Association is a member of many international organisations, IFLA, EBLIDA, LIBER etc.

IFLA
IFLA, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, is an important platform for the co-operation with other countries and library development around the world. A global organisation like IFLA is a useful tool for the Swedish Library Association to spread the knowledge about the Swedish Library Society/the Swedish libraries. The association is a member of all the different IFLA sections.

EBLIDA
EBLIDA, European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations is a lobbying organisation for the European Parliament.

Biblioteksbladet, The Swedish Library Journal
Rates and Technical Information
Biblioteksbladet, The Swedish Library Journal, is published monthly except January/July/August, 10 times/year, by the Swedish Library Association. Biblioteksbladet reaches librarians and library professionals
BBL Rates 2010 (pdf)

PDF-dokuments
Swedish libraries: An increased role in the Education Society while adjusting to harder economics and technology. (aug 2001)
By Mats G. Lindquist, Board member, Swedish Library Association
(Director of the Economics Library, Göteborg University)

Nordic Libraries and their organisations in the 21st Century (July 2005). This publication gives you an introduction to what is going on in our part of the world. To the way we work and advocate for libraries, and finally to who we are. Editors: Peter Axelsson, Swedish Library Association Hellen Niegaard, Danish Library Association.

In the Best Interests of the Child
The recommendations have been drawn up by the children’s library advisors from the county libraries in the counties of Gävleborg, Stockholm, Sörmland, Uppsala, Västmanland and Örebro.
The Swedish Library Association accepted these as national guidelines in 2003.