Bókasafnið - 01.07.1984, Blaðsíða 34

Abstracts in English
Bókasafnið, vol. 8,
no. 1, July 1984
A semi-annual journal published by the
lcelandic Library Association, the Associ-
ation of Professional Librarians, and the
Director of Public and School libraries.
Address: Bókasafnid
c/o Thjónustumidstöd bókasafna
Borgartúni 17
105 Reykjavík
lceland
• 5-13
Publishing and libraries in lceland
On the 22nd of February this year a
group of 5 persons met on the initiative of
this journal to discuss the status of the
book and the relations between publish-
ing and libraries in lceland. The group
consisted of two publishers, two public
librarians, and a grammar school teacher
as the representative of the general
public.
The first section deals with book clubs
and the book market. In lceland books are
predominantly bought in bookshops for
presents, especially for Christmas, which
is reflected in the fact that 80-90% of the
total selling is in Nov and Dec. It seems,
on the other hand, that people buy books
for themselves through the book clubs.
Books are in competition with other com-
modies. Consumption in lceland has
been changing during the last 20 years. A
large increase has been in the selling of
electric equipment of all kinds, e.g. tele-
vision sets, stereo units, and, during the
last 4-5 years, video and microcomput-
ers, which occupy a lot of people’s leisure
time. Reading as a recreation is threat-
ened by this new technology. This threat
ana ine competmon with other commoait-
ies have resulted in a large decrease in
bookselling in lceland. No reliable figures
exist, but one of the two publishers re-
ferred to a survey made by the Associat-
ion of lcelandic Publishers, showing that
the number of copies sold last year had
dropped ca. 30% from the previous year.
The figures for the two previous years are
20-25% for each year.
Next the participants discussed the
need to persuade the government to abol-
ish sales tax on books, which is 23.5%
added to the price to bookshops. The
introduction of value added tax in lceland
has been suggested. If that happens, the
last stage of the V.A.T. will not be col-
lected on those commodities which are
free from the sales tax today.
The next two sections are concerned
with publication cost. The flood of book
advertisements in newspapers and on
T.V. is great in Nov. and Dec. During the
recent years this cost factor has incre-
ased more than otners. Another cost
factor is connected with the publication of
translations. Two funds provide success-
ful applicants with money for translating
into lcelandic foreign works, especially
belles-lettres.
There seems to be a shift of attitude
towards libraries among publishers. The
older ones think that the borrowing of new
books from libraries decreases their
selling, but the younger publishers regard
libraries as an active media which intro-
duces their products. The number of
books borrowed from public libraries has
increased considerably during the recent
years, while the number of books sold has
decreased. One of the publishers
stressed his opinion that the decline in
booksales is so drastical, that it can by no
means by traced to increased borrowing.
The topics of the next two sections are
the relations between publishers and
libraries concerning the selection of
books for publication and the book aquis-
ition policies of libraries. The publishers
state that the libraries have so small book
budgets that their purchases cannot sec-
ure the publication of certain types of
books, e.g. for teenagers. The librarians,
on the contrary, state that public libraries
and school libraries would be a market
large enough for various handbooks. Both
sides agree that a better flow of informat-
ion would improve their relations.
In a contract between the associations
of publishers and booksellers there is a
clause stating, that the discount off books
to libraries should not exceed 15%. This
contract is under revision which possibly
could lead to a larger discount, at least in
the case of mass purchases.
The participants agreed on the need to
make surveys into book consumption in
lceland in order to collect information on
booksales, purchases of libraries, library
users, etc.
• 14-15
EiríkurTh. Einarsson:
The 2nd Annual Meeting of the lce-
landic Library Association
The 2nd Annual Meeting of the lcelandic
Library Association was held in The
Public Library in Akureyri (Northern lce-
land) on May 5th, 1984. 25 representat-
ives from the member associations att-
ended the meeting and also two obser-
vers from the Public and School Library
Director.
The member associations are as
follows: The Association of Public Librari-
ans, The Association of Librarians in Re-
search Libraries and Skólavarðan - An
Association Pursuing the Interests of
School Libraries.
The lcelandic Library Association has
295 members. It publishes a newsletter:
Fregnir, 4 issues a year and a library
journal: Bókasafnið, two issues a year.
In 1985 the Library Association’s 25th
anniversary will be commemorated.
The Library Association had repre-
sentatives on a committee which was to
make proposals for the development and
location of public libraries in lceland. A
report has been published by the Ministry
of Education and Cultural Affairs.
For the last three years a committee
has been working on the preparation of
the 15th Nordic Library Conference, held
in Reykjavík June 24th till June 27th of
this year.
One general meeting was held during
the year. The topic of the meeting was the
library of the future.
The Library Association has a repres-
entative on a committee on the member-
ship of lceland in an international associa-
tion on children’s literature (IBBY). The
Association has now entered the division
forthe blind and handicapped of the IFLA.
The cashier presented the bills of the
Library Association to the meeting and the
budget for next year. The main estimated
expenditures will be the printing of the
library journal; courses and a salary for a
part time employee. The annual fee was
decided to be Ikr. 400.- (ca. U.S.$ 13.-)
per member.
The most important committees of the
Library Association are as follows: The
Conclusions Committee, The Educational
Committee, The Public Relations Com-
mittee, The Committee on Changes of
Laws, and The Editorial Board.
• 15-16
Conclusions passed at the 2nd Annual
Meeting of the lcelandic Library As-
sociation
Because of ever growing competition
for people’s spare time, especially young
people’s, it is necessary to improve the
competition share of sound and cultural
hobbies.
Librarians realize that new technology
and new media, for example video tapes
and computers, offer a wide range of pot-
entialities, which still are for the most part
not utilized in libraries. This comes a.o.
from low budgets for cultural institutions,
which cannot afford to use these new
media for promoting education and cult-
ural activities.
Libraries are an objective scene for
people of all ages and there is no generat-
ion gap. In 1985, the International Yearof
the Youth, it would be appropriate to
strengthen libraries and make it possible
for them to perform their role as institut-
ions for culture, information and leisure
activities for the public.
Preventive measures are always the
most fortunate ones and librarians share
the opinion that modern libraries are pow-
erful apparatuses to assuage the alienat-
ion, which characterizes modern society.
The 2nd Annual Meeting of the lce-
34
BÓKASAFNIÐ