The Administrative Library
The Administrative Library (also called DAB in danish) is a special purpose library which is a part of The Royal Danish Library.
The short story of The Administrative Library
(DAB) 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.
Since january 2017 the library has been a part of The Ministry of Culture. At the same time DAB was merged with The Royal Danish Library.
The present library service at DAB
As a consequence of the merger with The Royal Danish Library, it has been decided that the Administrative Library (DAB) will move approximately 200 meters. From our current address at Slotsholmsgade 12 to The Royal Library's premises in The Black Diamond. The move is expected to be completed in August and will not change the general service provided for the central administration. However, does mean that the library is closed in the following weeks 33 – 34. In these two weeks we will be relocating the collection and office workplaces. Therefore there will be no access to the library (either in Slotsholmsgade or at the Black Diamond). The library will, as far as possible, still be recieving and sending replies to mail sent to dab@kb.dk. However, You may experience longer response time.
From the 27th of august The Administrative Library can be found in The Black Diamond in E Vest. It is a large room so DAB will be able to bring both the present collection and the part of the collection wich is currently stored, to our new location.
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 can freely enter the Library; they may also 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.
Staff
The Library employs 5 staff members.
The users of the library
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 if they want to borrow books and periodicals for use outside the library they have to order the material 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 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 and databases.
The bookshelves can be freely accessed.
The loan period expires after 1 month for books, and 2 weeks for periodicals and series.
Legal deposit arrangement
The Library is obligated to collect publications issued by the Danish State. This is organized through a legal deposit arrangement. The publications can be accessed through our database. Please search our collection here.