It was in March last year that the blue-green board in Stockholm decided to merge the International Library, which was previously located in the City Library's premises, with Kungsholmen's library. The reason was reduced visitor numbers.
Annika Malmborg is Head of Unit at Stockholm City Library. She looks positively at the move, which she believes enriches the book at Kungsholmen's library. For example, the children's section has been added to more multilingual literature.
- It means a fantastic opportunity for us to work with these unified languages, 122 languages. Now that we have an integration mission, we see that we need to change our program operations, ”she says.
At the same time, she believes that there are challenges.
- Those who have worked at the International Library have not worked with the Swedish population before and those who have worked with Swedish have not worked with multilingual in this way, says Annika Malmborg.
The criticism persists
The decision to relocate the international library received massive criticism in the form of loan actions and protests during the autumn. The critics felt that the library's overall competence was at risk of being lost and that its unique mission was threatened. The International Library has the task of making multilingual literature available and supplementing the book libraries of the Swedish libraries.
And the criticism still persists.
- The fears we had during the protests have come true. There are two libraries that have been merged into one, which has caused the stocks both at Kungsholmen's library and the international library to be cut down properly, says Sofia Iaffa, PhD student in literature.
Fewer books on the shelves
The move means that more than 40,000 of the 60,000 books and other media that were on the International Library may accompany Kungsholmen's library. The remaining books, which were previously in the library's magazine in the City Library, are now at a loan center in Liljeholmen. The books can also be borrowed remotely.
Kungsholmen's library has in turn moved out approximately 25,000 books to accommodate the new books. These will move to other libraries and institutions and some books may be thinned out.
The critics see the move as part of a larger trend.- Of course, it has a more overall impact on multilingual literature in Sweden. It is an example of how to cut down on culture, says Sofia Iaffa.
However, Annika Malmborg believes that the international library's mission should be accomplished as usual.
- After all, we are working on a political mission and then we have got to work on this change and the move. I feel confident that we will succeed in working on this assignment in the same way as before, says Annika Malmborg.