Forbundet Kultur og Information (KI) – The Danish Union of Cultural and Information Academics – is an independent trade union working to secure wage and working conditions for its members and cultivate their profession. KI organizes approx. 4,300 Danish librarians; 90% of all educated librarians in Denmark. 2,000 of them work in public libraries, 800 in research and special libraries, 400 in the private sector, and the rest are members without permanent employment.
KI is represented in a broad range of committees and boards established by other organizations, institutions and authorities. On the international level, KI cooperates with and have tight connections to organizations in the other Nordic countries and are engaged in the work of IFLA and, naturally, EBLIDA.
KI organizes interest groups in various areas of library work, including children’s libraries, IT and data science, reference work, library management and administration, cataloging, services to immigrants and refugees and more. We also have groups concerned with the conditions for librarians working in special libraries and in the private sector.
KI has a double purpose – a union and guild in one. This entails that the union act both as an ordinary trade union, negotiating wage rates, employment and working conditions etc. as well as having a guild function.
We want to facilitate jobs and cultivate new fields of employment for academics within the field of data, information, knowledge and/or culture. What is more, the success of the libraries depends on the talent and competence of the librarians. Therefore, KI provides in-service training, conferences, and workshops to support the professional development of our members.
The Danish library system is one of the most up-to-date and well-developed systems in the world.
Essential to the Danish library system is cooperation. An example of this is the common Danish library data-network, DANBIB. The Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces coordinates the cooperation between all categories of libraries: research libraries, public libraries and school libraries at a national level.
The public libraries are municipal libraries, organized in each of the 97 local government areas – all in all around 500 branches. In each municipality, a library is appointed regional central library. The public libraries are governed by the Public Libraries Act and influenced in form and aims by the Anglo-American free public libraries, combined with the ideas of public education and enlightenment formulated by N.F.S. Grundtvig. The school libraries, present at every primary school, are equally defined by law and managed by the municipalities.
Besides KI, other Danish NGO’s who seek to strengthen the library profession and institutions – among other organizations – are the Danish Library Association, The Association of Danish Public Library Managers and The Danish Research Library Association.
Further information
Please contact:
The Danish Union of Cultural and Information Academics / Forbundet Kultur og Information
Peter Bangs Vej 30, DK-2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark
Phone: +45 38 88 22 33
E-mail: kontakt@kulturoginformation.dk
Website: www.kulturoginformation.dk
