If this freedom doesn´t exist, we lack the real basic functions for libraries and National libraries: they can not fulfil their missions.

For almost 20 years I have now closely followed the struggle in Latvia to build a new National Library which should underline the importance of the nation´s printed and published heritage. I am so fascinated by the fact that you: the staff of the library and the National Librarian, never have hesitated or questioned the whole project, despite the fact that when you have won one battle there is always another around the corner. But you never show any mistrust, at least not for a long time, and you always make a magnificent come-back.

The reason is of course that you all are convinced of the importance of the library, the role it will play in the future society and believe in freedom of information.

What is the role of a National library? This question has no absolute answer. Except, of course, that it should collect, preserve and give access to the nation´s published heritage. Latvia is a relatively small country in the European Union. The population is approximately ¼ of that in Sweden and I am mentioning that, because the National library in Latvia in it´s new face will play quite another role in your country, compared with the Royal Library in Sweden. If you look at the National Libraries in Europe and the rest of the world their tasks are in fact very much varied. Often depending on which ground and during which period of time they were founded. One can say that the older they are, the more comprehensive tasks they have. The new-born National libraries tasks are often just limited to collect the nation´s own printed heritage. One can also see that smaller countries also often demands more of their National Libraries than larger countries. There is no absolute rule for this, but it is a conclusion one can draw after studying some of them. Another situation worth mentioning is that NL of larger countries often give priority to researchers and pay lesser interest to other users. Let us see how it looks like!

If I turn to my old institution, The Royal Library, or the National Library of Sweden, it is really a very old institution, founded in the 17th Century. Today it has a lot of different issues. But its main task is however to provide researchers at a post-gradual level with information: particularly Swedish material. Of course the library at the same time is open to the ordinary user who are looking for books, ephemera etc, they can´t find in their municipal public library. They are allowed to sit in the reading rooms and order books to their tables or look for digitised material in the library catalogue. No one is excluded. But it is clearly stated in the statues that the main purpose is to serve the more advanced users. No doubt of that! If we study the regulations concerning acquisition we can see the same limits. The main purpose is to collect and preserve and give access to Swedish printed and born-digital material. The latter however not yet finally decided by the Government. The users are not allowed to borrow books (or whatever they are interested in) and bring them out of the building, they have to study the objects inside. Children are of no priority and the ordinary man and woman are of little interest.

What then exceeds the tasks of an ordinary NL? First is the duty to maintain and develop the national library computerised system called LIBRIS, a task which dates back to the end of the 19th century, a huge business, and second, since 1988, to co-ordinate the scientific libraries in the country. This mission is easier said than done. The NL is also a scientific library for humanities which is an old task going back to the very beginning of the library´s history.

For Scandinavia I can just short mention that in Denmark the NL also administers the University Library (UL) of Copenhagen and therefore they also has a very vast acquisition of foreign literature, but it has no other real commitments, in Iceland the situation is the same: the UL and the NL belongs to the same organisation, while in Norway and Finland they have gone the other way around and the NL are nowadays mainly are occupied with their nation´s printed material.

In smaller countries the NL often has much broader duties. In some places the NL is almost the only library of some importance. The public libraries are badly funded and the University Libraries relies heavily upon the NL. This means that they really plays an important role in society both as a provider of information for professionals and for the ordinary citizen. They also specially turn to the coming generation and have childrens´ corners, rooms for reading of tales, cinemas where they show movies and as a whole functions as “cultural houses” including art gallery and displaying, and sometimes selling, local handicraft. The definitions of a NL that we do in Scandinavia does not at all match the reality of young and relatively small country.

In the last two – three meetings of the International Commission of Experts (ICE), which I have had the honour of chairing, we have discussed the task of the new NL, and we have been aware of the great expectations the society of Latvia. The NL in Riga will play another role in Latvia compared with its counterparts in Scandinavia. And that is how it should be. The programme for the new library, The Castle of Light, is indeed very comprehensive and includes almost everything one can wish. That is also, I´m sure, one of the reasons why you so far successfully have defended the size of the building and the place where it will be built.

Two years ago I visited the Libraries and Archives of Canada. They were working very hard with strategies and plans to successfully merge the NL with the National Archive, a decision which had been taken by the Government in 2004. The strategy for the future in Canada very much reminds of the work done by the staff of the NL of Latvia in preparations for the new building. If I read through the documents we have been provided with in the ICE, you can see that almost nothing is forgotten. They contains everything from the usage of the new facilities to a Human resource management strategic plan. Often in detail and you can easy find that the text has gone through several proofs.

How can you bring this to a success end? My first and most important advice is: Never give up! When I first met my colleague Andris Vilks in Riga a wet winter-day in 1990, he already had advanced plans and spoke about a new building for the NL. It is now more than 18 years ago. To build such a monument for mankind takes time. I will give you a few examples. The reorganised Royal Library in Sweden took 21 years to plan. We started in 1976 and the inauguration took place in 1997. In Iceland the new national library had to wait several years as a ruin before sufficient funding were found to get it ready. Great Britain is a good example that sometimes good things are worth waiting for. The new St. Pancras building was really an institution the whole country was waiting for, and still it took about 20 years of preparations before it stood there. In Stockholm we have for the moment a very harsh discussion about a new Public Library. This discussion first saw the light about 15 years ago – and I am sure that it will take at least 5-7 more years before we can see any result.

Be optimistic! Years of never-ending efforts to give the politicians the right tools, to decide in favour of such an important project will at last be successful, believe me!

Address: Tērbatas iela 75, 4th floor, Riga, LV-1001.

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E-mail: gaisma@gaisma.lv