Dette er ein utvida versjon av denne norske saka som sto på trykk i utgåve 4-2022.
In September of last year, a question from Dutch Sander van Kempen ticked into the e-mail boxes of several library bureaucrats around Europe - from Italy in the south to Norway in the north. How much did the countries spend on public libraries per inhabitant? 'In the Netherlands, we spend around 500 million per year on public libraries. We have around 17 million inhabitants. So, we spend around 29,41 euros per inhabitant on public libraries', wrote the senior adviser at the National Library of the Netherlands to colleagues in the NAPLE Forum (National Authorities on Public Libraries in Europe), an international non-governmental association that works for the interests of national libraries. Twelve countries responded.
The article continues below the figures.
10 billion is not enough
Germany spends the most on public libraries of all the countries that responded to the survey, a whopping 930 million euros a year. However, their 83 million inhabitants still come out at the bottom, with 11.2 euros per inhabitant. This is only one-sixth of what every Finn is granted. Finland is at the top with 60.1 euros per inhabitant. Denmark is right behind with 59 euros per inhabitant, while Norway and Sweden both spend around 42 euros per inhabitant.
Most countries have a threefold division into state, region/county, and municipality. The Dutch specifically asked ab
