History
Statens Bibliotekstilsyn (State Inspectorate of Public Libraries) was created on March 5, 1920, following the first Danish library act, law no. 160 of the same date. The object of the inspectorate was to implement the law. In practice this meant administrating annual government grants to the public libraries and to advise on collections, premises and staff and to keep a watch on whether the local authorities complied with the regulations in the library act. In 1964, it changed name to Bibliotekstilsynet.
In 1986, the Rigsbibliotekarembedet (Office of the National Librarian), which had been created in 1943 under the Danish Royal Library, became an independent institution. It was merged with Bibliotekstilsynet in 1990 to form Statens Bibliotekstjeneste (State Library Service), when the public libraries changed status as purely municipal institutions and state inspection of the public libraries ceased. It in turn changed name in 1997 to the current Biblioteksstyrelse (Danish National Library Authority).
From 1920 - 1961, the agency was under the Ministry of Education.
Read more about this topic: Danish National Library Authority
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