Norwegian Policy: Empowering School Libraries

Introduction

Over the years, Norwegian school libraries have played an important role as lending libraries, but a much lesser role as an integrated part of teaching in school. Policy has been drawn up to rectify this situation that focuses on empowering the libraries. This article begins by outlining the status of school libraries in Norway in 2005, with a focus on empowerment. We then present the national strategic plan Make Room for Reading! (Norwegian Ministry of Church, Education and Research, 2003b, 2005). This is an interesting example of a government effort to highlight the importance of school libraries in the context of reading.

The Oxford American Dictionary (1999) defines empowerment as "to give power to, to make able; to authorize, license." Using this definition as a starting point, we examine how current Norwegian policy is directed at enabling school libraries to participate in education through legislation, guidelines, standards, and strategies.

Rindom (2002), a Danish researche...

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