Sustainable Development in Danish Public Libraries

Abstract In 2015, the United Nations adopted a program of principles, Agenda 2030, to create a more sustainable world and better the living conditions for people. In this ambition, culture plays a crucial role. As such, the world goals seem to be an obvious topic for Danish public libraries, but this has not been the case until recently. This study is based on a mixed-method approach including document studies, semi-structured interviews, and participation in a practitioners’ conference. It finds that Danish librarians strive to make the world goals comprehensible and articulate the parent institution as local communicators. Libraries are shown to be correctives to current commercial structures, but apart from this display great variation in how far the various libraries are advanced in their sustainable transformation. The study concludes that public libraries inform citizens about the ambition of the world goals as a starting point for adjustments in the citizens’ actions. Public libraries have ventured into unknown territory, where previous practices do not hold much status. Many library professionals lack this awareness, which is necessary for our understanding of the United Nations world goals as a library policy task.