Else Granheim (16 March 1926 – 7 March 1999) was a Norwegian librarian and civil servant. A librarian and eventually director of Statens bibliotektilsyn, she was also involved in legislative work and public commissions, edited library magazines, and served as president of the

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international body representing the interests of people who rely on libraries and information professionals. An independent, non-governmental, not-for-pro ...

Early and personal life

Granheim was born on 16 March 1926 in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

to farmer Torstein Brevig and Ingeborg Hauge. After first living with her family in

Enebakk Enebakk is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Follo traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kirkebygda. The parish of ''Enebak'' was established as a municipalit ...

, when her parents divorced, she moved with her mother to

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

when she was four years old. She married Harald Granheim in 1952.

Career

After graduating in artium in 1944 and a one-year student course at the business high school in Trondheim, she started as an intern at Trondheim Public Library and then studied at the State Library School in Oslo. Granheim graduated as librarian in 1949, and was assigned as librarian at from 1950. Having held various positions at the institution, she was appointed as director from 1973 to 1991. She was widely engaged as board member and commission member within the library sector. This included legislative work, first as secreatary for the commission preparing the Library Act of 1971. She was also involved in preparing the

Public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...

Act of 1985 (). From 1979 she served as president for the

, and she was the first female president for this federation. She was co-editor of ''Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly'' from 1968 to 1973, and edited the library magazine ' from 1970 to 1985. In 1989 she was decorated Knight, First Class of the

Order of St. Olav The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav ( no, Den Kongelige Norske Sankt Olavs Orden; or ''Sanct Olafs Orden'', the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry instituted by King Oscar I on 21 August 1847. It is named after King Olav II ...

. Granheim died in

Asker Asker ( no, Asker), properly called Askerbygda in Norwegian, is a district and former Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus, Norway. From 2020 it is part of the larger administrative municipality Asker, Viken (also known as Greate ...

on 7 March 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Granheim, Else 1926 births 1999 deaths Librarians from Oslo Norwegian civil servants Norwegian women civil servants Norwegian women librarians Presidents of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions