Home › Activities › National reports › Denmark

Denmark, report 1994

One committee member has been away since January after giving birth and was only able to work for us for a limited period. However, the remaining committee has been extra active. Together with the group of music librarians under the Librarians' Association, Libretto, the new joint magazine on music library topics was born, named and - we hope - read.

Baltic Relations

This autumn we were visited by two music librarians from each of the three Baltic countries for two weeks. Added to the pressure of preparing the congress in 1995, it was an extra task, however an extra pleasure, too, for DMBF - the Danish national branch - to be able to arrange these visits which proved enormously useful for the guests as well as for the hosts. Besides enjoying inspiration, information, and social gathering with their Danish colleagues, all three teams had an opportunity to pick out music materials from the Danish Deposit Library. There afr about eight cases to distribute in each country. We have been working on transportation possibilities; at the end of the year only the transport for Estonia has not been solved.

Further, we are trying to help the Latvians start computerized cataloguing of their materials. A foundation has donated two personal computers to them. What they lack now is a registration program and knowledge of how to work these things. We will attempt to provide further assistance. We hope that we will be able to continue good connections and relations to all three countries, thus, we have made a proposal eventually to donate a membership, or at any rate a Fontes subscription, to Latvia and Lithuania, until they are able to start their own national IAML organizations, as has Estonia already done.

Copyrights

In the spring Jytte Hilden, the Danish minister of culture, introduced a new bill for an act of copyright legislation. This will cause problems for libraries if it is passed without any changes. However, the parliament did not pass it before its summer holidays. DMBF as well as other library institutions are following its destiny with interest. The Library State Inspectorate, head librarians, and other persons have tried to focus on the problems, and we hope the final wording of the act will be rather different from the present bill.

In September our president took part in a Nordinfo conference on copyrights. She is also a representative in the IAML working group on copyrights. Because of fast technological development and growing international contacts, problems concerning copyrights have become a demanding topic for jurists and politicians as well as other users. It is essential for libraries to keep themselves informed as to the development.

International Work

The unifying theme of the '95 Congress in Helsingør is the IAML aid program far the development of music libraries in the developing as well as post-Communist countries. For this IAML has also set up a working group with Danish participants, at present the president. A year ago IAML also created a fund to support transportation of materials to those countries. We hope to be able to send library materials to Estonia without using this money.

But CONGRESS 95 is written with capital letters in the eyes of all Danish board members and the letters grow larger every day. The past autumn was the most demanding so far: the program had to be finished on November l, all contracts signed, and all agreements whatsoever had to appear on paper. Many fundraising efforts are being written.

Fortunately there is a large amount of goodwill far our congress. At present a generous and comprehensive program of Danish music and librarianship is being sketched. Economically, we are growing ever more optimistic, believing that it can be done. Subsidies have been granted so far from the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, the Augustinus Foundation, Danish Library Bureau, Radio Denmark, and the State Library in Aarhus. Our announcement was finished in December and will reach all members in January 1995. Members have performed an enormous voluntary task by translating the announcement into three foreign languages.

With the preliminary program, all IAML members wiI1 also receive a notification form. Please start now to apply far money far participation as well as considering how to find a colleague who could relieve you at work during congress time. We look forward to showing you the Danish summer from its best side.

Kirsten Voss (President) and Erling Dujardin