The State and University Library ( da, Statsbiblioteket) in

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

, Denmark, is a

national library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public library, public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, o ...

and the university library of

Aarhus University Aarhus University ( da, Aarhus Universitet, abbreviated AU) is a public research university with its main campus located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Gr ...

. It is a

research library A research library is a library which contains an in-depth collection of material on one or several subjects.(Young, 1983; p. 188) A research library will generally include an in-depth selection of materials on a particular topic or set of to ...

and the central repository for all Danish public libraries holding millions of items both in print and digital formats including sound and music recordings, videos, journals, books, patents, maps, prints and drawings. The library is directly subordinated the

Danish Ministry of Culture The Minister for Culture of Denmark ( da, Kulturminister) is the Danish political minister office responsible for culture, head of the Ministry of Culture of Denmark. The political responsibility for culture, as well as church and education, was ...

and is a

legal deposit Legal deposit is a legal requirement that a person or group submit copies of their publications to a repository, usually a library. The number of copies required varies from country to country. Typically, the national library is the primary reposit ...

library, receiving copies of all audio, video and newspapers produced in Denmark. The library is located on the south side of ''Nordre Ringgade'' in Midtbyen, Aarhus on the

campus. The primary document storage facility is the 14 stories ''Bogtårnet'' building. In 2017 it merged with the Royal Library in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

to form a combined national library. The combined library organisation (the separate library locations in Copenhagen and Aarhus are maintained) is known as the

Royal Danish Library The Royal Library ( da, Det Kongelige Bibliotek) in Copenhagen is the national library of Denmark and the university library of the University of Copenhagen. It is among the largest libraries in the world and the largest in the Nordic countries ...

( da, Det Kgl. Bibliotek).

History

The state library was established by law in 1897 as one of the first attempts to decentralize the cultural monopoly of

. The library opened 5 years later in 1902 as a Research Library and administrative center for all Danish public libraries. In 1928 Aarhus University was established and the state library became the library for the new university. The responsibilities of the library have been expanded throughout the years and it today functions as a depot and center for loan-cooperation between Danish public libraries and as a center for literature in immigrant languages.

Collection

The collection includes 100.000 books donated by the

Danish Royal Library The Royal Library ( da, Det Kongelige Bibliotek) in Copenhagen is the national library of Denmark and the university library of the University of Copenhagen. It is among the largest libraries in the world and the largest in the Nordic countries ...

when the state library was first established. The Royal

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to Document, records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist c ...

Caspar Frederik Wegener had at the time of his death in 1893 the largest book collection Denmark. The collection was bought by the Danish state in 1897 and it became an important contribution to the new library. The state library also contains the State Newspaper Collection which was established in 1916 and the State Media Collection. The library's cultural heritage collections are: * Radio/TV collection: Danish radio and television from the mid-1980s onwards. * State Newspaper Collection: all the Danish newspapers from the mid-1600s onwards. * Danish Commercials: Danish cinema adverts from about 1955 to 1995, and all the adverts on TV2 television in the period 1988-2005. * Music and sound: all Danish music publications and unique sound recordings such as speeches by famous men and women, dialects, and Denmark’s oldest sound recordings on wax cylinders. * Netarchive: the Danish part of the internet from July 2005 onwards. * Special collections: a range of collections, for instance timetables, funeral sermons, handwriting, old political documents and much more. In 1999 the collection included 4 million items in print such as books, journals, newspapers, etc. and c. 400.000 sound, radio and television recordings.

Buildings

The state library started out in a building on Vester Allé 12 designed by

Hack Kampmann Hack Kampmann (6 September 1856 – 27 June 1920) was a Danish architect, Royal Inspector of Listed State Buildings in Jutland and professor at the architecture department of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Marselisborg Palace in Aarhus, ...

for the purpose. The building quickly proved too small, especially after the duties of being a university library was added in 1928. In 1963 the library moved to a new building, ''Bogtårnet'' (The Book Tower), designed by C.F. Møller on the university campus. In 1995 the architect firm

Kjær & Richter Kjær & Richter is a Danish architectural practice founded in 1967 by Werner Kjær (1924–1998) and Johan Richter (1925–1998). The company is an extension of the practice ''Richter & Gravers'' established by Johan Richter and Arne Gravers in ...

renovated the interior.

Fusion with The Royal Library

In September 2016, the Danish Ministry of Culture announced that The State and University Library would merge with the Royal Library in Copenhagen, with effect from the 1st January 2017. The new institution is called the

References

External links

* Wikimedia Commons has media related to Statsbiblioteket {{DEFAULTSORT:State and University Library, Denmark 1902 establishments in Denmark Libraries established in 1902 Library buildings completed in 1902 Deposit libraries Education in Aarhus

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

Functionalist architecture in Aarhus