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Statistics for Libraries and Museums 2003

Libraries

Public Libraries
Regional Libraries
Mobile library services
Libraries in Sixth Form and colleges of further education
Libraries in primary and compulsory secondary schools
Prison libraries
Academic, special and research libraries

Museum statistics

Public Libraries

All the communes in Norway have their own central libraries, with the exception of the communes of Tønsberg and Nøtterøy, which share a library. Including these 434 central libraries, there are in total 892 permanent library units; mobile library divisions are not included in this figure. The numbers show a sharp decline compared with 2002, when there were 951 permanent library units in Norway, although the decline can be in part explained by the fact that some lending units that do not qualify as true library divisions have been included in previous years. The main decline is, however, real and demonstrates that the trend of library closures has not slowed.

65% of communes have a qualified director of library services, and there are in total 1087 qualified librarians working in Norwegian public libraries; of these, 748 are employed full-time. Qualified librarians provide 930 of the total 1852 full-time equivalents in the libraries, while the remainder are divided among 1617 other members of staff.

Opening hours

265 of the public libraries were open on Saturdays in 2003, and 205 of these were central libraries. Three central libraries and three branch libraries were open on Sundays. Since 2002, the average opening hours in central libraries have declined from 25.4 to 25.1 hours per week. Nevertheless, for the totality of library units the opening hours have increased from 16.9 to 17.5 hours per week. This increase in the average can largely be explained by the closure of several subsidiary divisions, revealed by the fact that the total number of library opening hours has declined by 2.7%.

Finances

It is difficult to compare the total running costs of public libraries in the different communes, and from one year to the next. The reason for this is the disparity in costs which may be included in the library’s accounts, for example in respect of building rents, cleaning charges, and janitor services. Recorded figures show a small rise in expenses of 1.3%. Adjusted for inflation, in 2003 this represents approximately NOK 14 million, a figure that corresponds with the increase in salary costs. An increase in the costs of materials other than books and periodicals of 6.2%, does not match the decline in the costs of paper based materials. Combined, there has been a decline of 3.4% in the costs of media acquisition from 2002 to 2003. Accordingly, nationwide expenditure for media acquisition amounted to NOK29.43 per head of population; this figure, however, disguises wide variations between communes, where in particular the size of the commune has a significant effect. The media costs per head naturally increase in the smaller communes having an up-to-date media collection, and in communes with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants they are almost five times higher than in communes with more than 100,000 inhabitants. A calculation of how the costs for materials for books, periodicals, newspapers and other media such as audio books, video cassettes and music are divided is not easy, since only 198 libraries have submitted separate figures for these. For the libraries that reported figures for the acquisition of other media, the costs represented 15% of the total media expenditure. In addition to the public libraries’ own media costs, there are the centrally funded purchasing arrangements by the Arts Council Norway. Roughly a quarter of the Council’s and the public libraries’ total media expenses go towards the Norwegian Culture Fund books.

Visits

For the first time since 1997, visitor numbers show a decline in visits per head of population. However, the change is so small that no predictions can yet be made as to whether it represents a real variation in the trend of the last few years. At the level of the commune, the variations are much greater, and range from an increase of 19.1% in Buskerud to a decline of 13.5% in Oslo from 2002 to 2003. As previously noted, the number of visits increases with the size of the commune except in communes with fewer than 1000 inhabitants.
National statistics reveal little of how library users spend their time in the library other than borrowing books and other materials. Access to the Internet is an important facility, and in 2003 only five communes did not offer their users access from at least one of their public library divisions

In addition to visits actually made to the library, many of the users took advantage of the services offered on the library’s home page. These “virtual” visits are not currently recorded in the national statistics, and it is important to be aware that visitor numbers shown do not therefore reflect the entire spectrum of library use.

Loans

The number of loans in 2003 was up by more than 800,000 from 2002, or 2.8% per head of population. Although there is some variation between the communes, only three communes report a decline in the number of loans. Loans of audio-visual materials continued to increase, in line with the trend of recent years, but in 2003 book loans also increased by 1.8% per head of population. The highest increase shown was for the loans of children’s books, which made up 41.4% of total book loans in 2003. The highest increase both for adult and children’s literature was for fiction, 1.5% and 4.8% respectively, while the increase in these two groups for specialist subject literature was 0.4% and 3.6% respectively. Loans of materials other than paper based books and periodicals increased by 6.6%, and represents 26% of total loans made. Almost half of this figure is made up of loans of video and DVD cassettes.

Regional Libraries

The running costs of regional libraries increased from NOK 110.1 million in 2002 (calculated at the value of the currency in 2003), to NOK 112.1 in 2003, i.e. an increase of 1.8%. Salary costs increased by 0.5%, to NOK 62 million, an amount which paid for 168.4 full-time equivalents, 7.4 fewer than in 2002. Expenditure on materials continued to fall, and in 2003 decreased by 12.4% to NOK 10.4 million. Loans made by regional libraries have increased by 2%. The main cause for this is the increase in the direct loans made by the regional libraries, and in particular the increased number of loans made from mobile library units. Loans made by the regional libraries’ book buses and book boats increased by 4.9% and now represent three quarters of direct loans, and 56% of the total number of loans made by the regional libraries. The increase in interlibrary loans is smaller, 0.4%, and the number of requests for interlibrary loans is continuing to fall. The number of requests received for interlibrary loans was down all of 5.3% from 2002 to 2003. Since the majority of requests come from within the county, it is the fall in the number of these that has made the most difference, but there has also been a decrease in the requests from other counties and from abroad. The tendency in recent years for public libraries increasingly to request materials directly from other libraries is therefore continuing. The fact that the fall in the overall number of requests coincides with a decrease in the proportion of the requests passed on by the regional libraries demonstrates this clearly. Over the past five years, there has been a fall in the requests received of 28.5%, but during the same period there has been an 80% decrease in the number of requests that are passed on. Also during the past five years, borrowing by the public libraries have increased by 10%, another factor that point to this trend.

Mobile library services

At the end of 2003, there were 36 mobile library units in Norway. This shows an increase compared with the number at the end of 2002, and 2003 is thus the first year since 1995 (when there were 55 mobile units nationwide) that has not recorded a decrease in the number of mobile units. The increase is due to the new book and culture bus service run by Troms regional library, inaugurated in September 2003, following the purchase of the inter-county book bus which until 2002 covered the districts of Dyrøy, Gratangen, Lavangen and Salangen. It should be noted that in the discussion of the number of mobile units, this does not imply the number of actual buses or boats run. The book boat servicing the three counties of Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane and Møre og Romsdal, for example, is counted as three units because of the use of different staff and materials for each county. The commune of Kristiansand hires the Vest-Agder regional library book bus one day a week and is itself in charge of the running of the bus on that day. The bus is therefore counted as two units. In 2003, total loans made from the mobile units numbered 811 000, an increase of 6.5% on the previous year. The trend over the past 10 years, however, shows an overall decline in loans made by mobile units of 15.8%, a proportion which in reality is somewhat higher since some of the units did not hand in statistics for 1994.

Libraries in Sixth Form and colleges of further education

Expenditure on materials per head of student population has declined by 11% compared with the previous year. Despite this, the number of books has increased from 0.96 to 1.04 for every student. On the other hand, the number of periodicals and newspaper subscriptions continued to fall in 2003. Countrywide, there were 15.42 books per student in Norwegian colleges of further education, and when all media are included there were 19.25 units per student. Figures show a small decline in the number of book loans per student of 0.4%, but the trend differs for literature on specialist subjects and fiction. While loans of specialist subject literature per student showed a fall of 5.5%, there was an increase in loans made of fiction per student of 8.6%. The largest increase recorded for student loans was in respect of audio-visual materials, a rise of a total of 36.3%. This means that overall loans per student have risen by 3.3%.
More than 90% of college libraries offered Internet facilities to their students in 2003, and only six counties do not offer Internet access through the libraries of all colleges of Sixth Form and further education. It should be noted that in the cases where the college library does not contain Internet facilities, Internet access may be available from other points in the college.

Of the total number of 630 library staff in the colleges of Sixth Form and further education, 234 are fully trained librarians and 63 others had attended at least a six month training course in library science. 56% of the full-time equivalents in the college libraries were provided by qualified librarians, although there is great regional variation. At a regional level, 96% of the full-time equivalents in the colleges of Sixth Form and further education in Oslo were provided by qualified librarians, whereas the number for the county of Rogaland was only 6%.

Libraries in primary and compulsory secondary schools

It is not easy to make an annual comparison of statistics in respect of primary and secondary school libraries since there are variations in reports from schools. In 2003, around 95% of the school libraries in the sector supplied statistics, as against 94% in 2002. Furthermore, the basis used for the data reported is not always uniform, and the statistics are sometimes incomplete. All this should be borne in mind when interpreting the statistical results. This year, table 8 does not contain columns for the total number of staff hours worked in the school libraries, whereas the columns covering the personnel with a minimum of six months’ training in library science are included. The reason for this is that the quality of the data in respect of other staff this year is too poor to be reliable. Statistical data for 2002 revealed wide variations in respect of what proportion of the personnel are fully qualified librarians out of the total number of staff. Countrywide, a third of the work done in the school libraries was carried out by qualified librarians. On a county basis, this proportion varied between 9% and 55%. Consequently, caution is required when the figures found in this year’s statistics are used to indicate the overall personnel resources in the school libraries.
There has been an increase of 9.5% in loans per pupil made in the school libraries, with the greatest increase recorded for fiction. Nevertheless, the difference that has developed between specialist subject literature and fiction is not as great as that noted in the libraries of the colleges of Sixth Form and further education, with an increase in loans of 7% and 10% respectively. As noted in previous years, there are wide variations between the counties.

Prison libraries

Public and regional libraries provide library services to the prisoners in Norwegian prisons, and these services are financed by central government. 13 library divisions in 12 different institutions take part in this arrangement, although there are also some prison libraries that do not receive central funding, and included in the statistics for 2003 are three of these.
Loans in the prison libraries totalled 139,460, or one loan for every 86.7 prisoner. This is an increase of 0.4% from 2002. When compared with the loans made by public libraries, the number of loans made to each prisoner is roughly 16 times that made by public libraries to each head of the population. Furthermore, as the public libraries lend proportionately more materials to children than to adults, a comparison between loans made by the public libraries to the adult population with the loans made by prison libraries, the number of loans made by the latter is more than 20 times higher.

Academic, special and research libraries

The Norwegian academic, special and research libraries carried out more than four million loans in 2003. Of these, around 408,000 were interlibrary loans and just under 3.6 million loans were made locally. Total collections now include almost 19.3 million volumes, an increase in 2003 of almost 550,000 volumes. A total of 1,872 staff, producing 1,581 annual equivalents, were employed in the 336 library units. Annual costs rose last year to NOK 1.1 billion, NOK 536 million of this amount representing salary expenditure, and another NOK 290 million being spent on the purchase of materials.
Statistical survey forms were sent to 362 library units, of which 336 responded, representing a response of 92.8%. Unfortunately, several smaller libraries have for various reasons not responded this year, but their figures are likely to have any great impact on the results of the collected data. All the libraries that have submitted statistics are included in the tables to be found on the homepage of The Norwegian Archive, Library and Museum Authority (ABM-Utvikling). All the collected data has been quality controlled by Statistics Norway (Statistisk Sentralbyrå) prior to publication.

Books and periodicals collections

The total collection as of 1st January, 2004 stood at 19.2 million volumes, representing an increase of 22% from 1994. Over the last years, the growth has varied somewhat. There was an increase in 2003 of 547,000 volumes. Since 1994 there has been an overall increase of 5.5 million volumes, with 2 million volumes being taken out of the collection over the same period.
The number of current subscriptions to periodicals has varied somewhat in the period 1994 to 2003, but the figures reveal only a small overall growth of 0.45%. Fluctuations in international exchange rates and library budgets have caused some libraries periodically to cancel subscriptions to printed materials. Others have over the past few years opted for electronic titles only, leading to a fall in the number of printed titles. From baseline statistical data collected in 2001, an attempt has been made to ascertain the number of electronic titles that are accessible from Norwegian special libraries. The number of these has risen sharply over the three years, with 100,000 titles recorded in 2003.

Are the collections used?

From 1994 to 2003, the number of loans increased by 33%. Total loans include local loans, copies supplied in lieu of loans, and interlibrary loans. Since 1994, access to electronic resources has risen sharply, leading to a levelling out of the number of loans from the physical collection nationwide, a trend which appears to be continuing. The importance of electronic sources is becoming ever greater to the users, who are increasingly consulting them.
Inter-library borrowing has shown a clear falling trend over the past five years. In 1999, borrowing stood at 391,000, while last year the number was 300,000, a fall of 23%. In the period 1999-2003, the National Library has recorded a decline of 12%, the university libraries have reduced borrowing by 41%, and the public special libraries by 5%. Public university colleges have reduced their borrowing by 8%, whereas the other university colleges have increased theirs by 52%.
Inter-library lending nationwide has fallen by 17% since 1999, but there are wide variations between the different types of library. The public university colleges for example record an increase of 57% while other university colleges show an increase of 30%. Universities on the other hand record a reduction of 21%, and the other libraries have also had a fall in the same period. Figures for the National Library show a sharp decline, although it has been closed periodically.
The number of local loans per student / employee nationwide has stayed fairly constant, varying between 10.8 and 11.5 in the period 1999 to 2003.

Personnel

During the period 1994 to 2003, the number of full-time equivalents in the academic, special and research libraries increased by 12.3%. Over the past few years, statistical figures reveal a nationwide levelling out of both personnel numbers and full-time equivalents. The National Library has shown the largest percentage increase during the period, although it should be borne in mind that many of the changes occurred in connection with the separation of the National Library and the University Library in Oslo. The public university colleges have shown an increase both in the full-time equivalents and the number of employees, while the universities have had an increase in the number of employees although the full-time equivalents have dropped. The public special libraries have experienced the largest decline both in full-time equivalents and the number of employees. During the same period the university libraries increased the number of employees by almost 15%, while the full-time equivalents decreased by 1.5%. The public university college libraries have increased both the number of employees and the full-time equivalents by almost 37% during the period.

Finances

Statistical data in respect of finances has been of varying quality. Some libraries are not able to obtain the relevant data from their parent institution, while others receive only partial data. This creates problems in the interpretation of available statistical data.
Expenditure on new acquisitions increased by 220% from 1988 to 2003; over the past 10 years, expenditure on acquisitions (reported by almost all the libraries) has risen by 71%. As a percentage of total costs, reported expenditure on acquisitions has been reduced from 35% in1995 to 26.5% in 2003. More than 60% of the libraries have reported on salaries and social benefit costs in the period from 1995. The figures indicate that there has been an increase in these costs of approximately 128%. As a percentage of total costs, expenditure on salaries in 1995 was 51.1%, whereas in 2003 it was 49.2%. There is great variation between the different types of library; while the public university colleges have the highest percentage of 60%, the university libraries use only 43% of their total costs on salaries.

Some performance indicators

A comparison between the increase in loans made and the increase in the full-time equivalents, calculated in percentage terms, gives an indication of how performance levels have evolved from 1988 to 2003.
To establish the degree to which the collections are being used, a comparison can be made of the increase of the total number of loans with the increase in the number of volumes, and the gross increases measured in percentage terms. The diagram clearly shows that the collections are being used more efficiently than previously.
The rise in the number of volumes is stimulating increased lending, but since the former is growing more slowly than the latter, this results in more wear and tear of the collections. The academic, special and research libraries are succeeding in increasing the use of their libraries without increasing the full-time equivalents at the same rate, with the latter appearing to be levelling off.

Museum statistics

In January 2003, The Norwegian Archive, Library and Museum Authority sent out statistical survey forms to all the museums registered with them, more than 800 museums and collections. A total of 515 completed forms have been returned, covering 629 museum divisions. Those that have not replied are mostly the smaller, unmanned museums. The information received has been processed by Statistics Norway, with the results contained in the following tables. This year there is also a new table with key data from the hundred largest museums.

Buildings and collections

In 2003, Norwegian museums acquired 186 buildings, of which 120 date from the period 1900-1945, while 43 buildings were of more recent origin. By the end of 2003, there was a total of 5,867 buildings under museum protection, due in large part to the considerable number administered by the rural district museums. Some of these museums are run on a voluntary basis. There were 139 communal museums and 285 museums organised as an association or a trust. At the end of 2003, Norwegian museums contained a total of 27,648,323 million artefacts and photographs. Table 3 shows the number of exhibits for every 1,000 inhabitant in the different counties. The largest collection is found in the University’s Natural history museum and Botanical gardens in Oslo, with 7.2 million different artefacts and exhibits. Diagram 1 shows the distribution in percentage terms of art history artefacts, cultural history artefacts, natural history exhibits and photography.
Photographs make up the largest increase of exhibits in Norwegian museums; during 2003, there was a growth of 354,480 photographs and 301,471 other exhibits. Several museums report backlogs in the work of record-keeping, with 10.7% of artefacts and 32.5% of photographs insufficiently recorded. To the question as to whether a museum has installed software for the electronic recording of the collections, 273 museums reported in the affirmative, and 172 in the negative.

Visits

Norwegian museums and collections received 8.7 million visitors in 2003, with just under half the visitors paying an entrance fee. 83% of visits are made to the hundred largest museums, and the number of visits to these has increased over the past three years, as shown in diagram 2.
1,661,785 visits by children and young people were recorded, which is 19% of the total number of visits. However, the figure may be too low since some museums do not report the proportion of visits by this group. 832,480 children and young people participated in educational programmes arranged by the museum, which is a clear increase against the previous year.

Exhibitions

There were 3,124 museum exhibitions in 2003. 906 temporary exhibitions were reported, demonstrating a high level of activity in the museums.

Full-time equivalents

During 2003, 3,410 full-time equivalents were employed in Norwegian museums, of which 2,211 were provided by full time employees. There is a high level of seasonal employment, largely because the museums require extra staff during the summer. The number of voluntary full-time equivalent staff was 245 in 2002 and 302 in 2003; although more museums returned their statistical survey forms in 2003, these figures still demonstrate that the voluntary and unpaid contributions in the museums have risen.

Finances

Income by museums in 2003 amounted to NOK 2,199 million, of which NOK 1,480 million came from funding granted at the government, county and commune levels. Diagram 4 shows that the museums’ own income represented 33% of total earnings, deriving from ticket sales, rental income, gifts, income from foundations, sponsorships, etc. Total museum expenditure totalled NOK 2,138 million, half of which was spent on salaries and social benefits. Museum running costs per head of population naturally vary from county to county; in the county of Østfold in 2003, the museums used NOK 112 per head of population, whilst the museums in Oslo, which include the two large university museums, spent NOK 1,248 per head of population.

Security and preservation initiatives

From the statistical survey on museums, The Norwegian Archive, Library and Museum Authority receive reports of fires, threatened fires and thefts in the museums. The table below provides an overview of cases reported since 1999.

The Norwegian Archive, Library and Museum Authority are working closely with Statistics Norway on the collection and processing of statistical data. In order to present as reliable a picture as possible, all the data is subjected to quality control both by Statistics Norway and The Norwegian Archive, Library and Museum Authority. While the statistical survey was being carried out, contact was made with several of the museums, producing as always a friendly and useful exchange. Although the statistical survey form can only deal with a small part of the work and procedures of the museums, it is hoped that the resulting data will provide valuable insight into the many-faceted landscape of museums in Norway. The publication of the statistics is also intended as a thank you to all those who contributed to them by their response.
The statistical figures for 2003 reveal the high level of activity in the Norwegian museum sector, and it is in order to reflect these, and the resources of the museums as accurately as possible that The Norwegian Archive, Library and Museum Authority and Statistics Norway work to quality assure the data. The statistical information obtained enables The Norwegian Archive, Library and Museum Authority to keep abreast of museum activity and to act as a source for such information. It is hoped that the following tables will be of interest to all those who work to further the cause of Norwegian museums and collections.