The Administrative Library is the central library and documentation centre for civil servants within the Danish central government
History
The library was founded in 1924 as the Library for the Ministries of Labour and Social Affairs. In 1979 the Library was divided into two independent libraries by which The Administrative Library became part of The Ministry of Finance. The Library now became the central library and documentation centre for civil servants in the Danish central administration. In 1995 the Library was transferred to The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.
Service
The Library offers literature for use outside the library; information searching within the library collections; information searching in external databases and websites; documentation service (primarily within the law collection) and loans from other libraries.
At the Library you have free access to the Library’s database and various external databases.
Our users will visit the Library; they e-mail or phone their wishes to us. Users can also order literature through the Library’s database.
Once a day the Library attendant delivers ordered literature to the central government users. Users in other public institutions can have their material sent to them but users in private institutions and firms will have to collect their material at the Library.
Co-operation with other libraries
The Library participates in the Danish and international interlending library system. We contribute to the Danish National Library database DanBib with all titles except those concerning law and public administration – those titles are reserved for our users within the central administration.
Approximately once a year we organize a one-day seminar for libraries within the central administration and other small libraries.
Staff
The Library employs 10 staff members. Those are 1 Library Director, 5 librarians, 1 assistant and 1 attendant. 2 system managers are employed by the MiniBib system.
Users
The Library is obligated to serve central government civil servants.
Furthermore, we serve employees in other public institutions as well as private institutions and firms.
The public including university students may also use the Library and its facilities but have to borrow books and periodicals for use outside the library through their local public library or university library.
Collections
The main subjects for the Library are those of law, public administration, economy, politics, statistics, management and various aspects of the development of society. Geographically we cover literature on Danish, other Scandinavian and European conditions. Literature concerning the European Union too is purchased as a result of an increasing demand in information on and information published by the European Union.
Besides books and periodicals for lending, we dispose of a law collection for use at the Library. The main contents are Danish bills, regulations and laws as well as EU bills, regulations and laws.
The collections consist of books, reports, periodicals, periodical articles, databases and a small collection of newspapers.
The bookshelves can be freely accessed.
The loan period expires after 1 month for books, and 2 weeks for periodicals and series.
Online library system MiniBib
MiniBib was established in 1982 and now includes 25 co-operating libraries.
Legal deposit arrangement
The Library is obligated to collect all publications issued by the Danish State. This is organized through a legal deposit arrangement. The publications include both printed and electronically editions.