Kulturhus – a Scandinavian concept on the move
A view from experiences in the Netherlands

Exchanges between the Nordic countries and the Netherlands have always been very fruitful for the development of public library services. The countries have much in common: social democracy, liberal societies, active citizenship with a view to the world. Seen from the south, the Netherlands are often considered as being Nordic, so why not regard it as ‘Nordic plus’?

From the early stages of public library
services, Dutch librarians have been
travelling to the North. In the fifties
and sixties, especially the development
of services in rural areas was the focus.
These trips were also used to discuss
national library matters off site and to
scout new library leaders in the group.
Very fruitful impulses to the setting up
of regional support services in the
Dutch provinces.

In the eighties, a new impulse was necessary
and found in a trip in 1986 to
Sweden and Finland, to study kulturhus
(cultural centre) and cultural library
services. The visit to the then recently
opened Kulturhus in Leksand,
the visits to Kulturhus Rättvik, to the
Uppsala city library new premises, and
the just opened city library in Tampere,
made profound impressions. Dutch
librarians had experiences, but not
very good ones, with multifunctional
buildings.

So, what is so special about Kulturhus?
Kulturhus is an attractive concept for
various reasons:

-a strong focus on the cultural dimension
- a clear role of the library strengthened
by combination with other
services
- a cultural and open setting, inviting
to participation
- all services in one building; quality
architecture, underlining cultural
participation
- overall management for all functions
and services.

One policy, one management, one building

Especially the last two features opened
the eyes for new types of library services
and buildings, with dreams about
more efficient local management. In
the Netherlands, public services are
often performed by associations or
foundations of citizens, who once took
the initiative to set up library services,
welfare, etc. The cultural field is therefore
made up of many different stakeholders,
who all receive more or less
municipal funding; not a favourable
situation to organise cultural services
under one management. At the same
time, all these social and cultural institutions
have offices and – very often –
limited opening hours.

In later years, the concept of community
information as developed in the
United Kingdom and the Unites States
were studied, and implemented in
Dutch libraries as public information
services. Distribution of government,
legal, financial, social and e.g. consumer
information was set up making
use of the public library network.
But the dream of the Kulturhus was
still there, and the situation for rural
library services was worsening; budget
cuts and fewer facilities in the countryside.
In 1990, Director Henk Middelveld
of the regional library services
in Overijssel presented his concept of
Kulturhus Dutch-style: A combination
of the Nordic Kulturhus and the Anglo-
Saxon community information:
one policy, one management, one building.

It took another ten years to get the first
purpose-built Dutch Kulturhus in
Zwartsluis opened: Sluziger Kulturhus
includes the library, local radio, daycare
centre, homes for the elderly,
adapted housing. Through the perseverance
of librarian Corrie Folkersma,
citizens and organisations cooperated
in a new way of organising cultural
programmes and structuring services.
Combining various functions under
one roof, in a cultural setting was
convincing.

Middelveld: “A library as a stand-alone
service can hardly be maintained in
small villages, but it is possible by
combining services: Cultural services,
non-profit services and facilities and
even commercial partners such as an
assurance company or a housing service.
Create one management and one
policy and programme, and if possible,
create a nice building. Scandinavia is
still an example: They build twice as
expensive but five times better in
quality and sustainability. This focus
on quality building has now even had
another effect in the Netherlands:
Kulturhuse are used as the drive to city
and village development. They help to
upscale and facelift the public space in
the centre.”

30 Kulturhuse

The opening of the first Dutch Kulturhus
in 2000 was a start for the province
of Overijssel to provide subsidies for
the development of more Kulturhuse.
In a first round 16 plans for Kulturhuse
were approved, in a second round
another nine. The province of Gelderland
followed in 2004 with its first
opened Kulturhus in Beek, and with a
similar stimulation budget regulation
of 9.2 million Euro for four years,
wishing to support 30 Kulturhuse.

A project bureau has been set up with
consultants who help active municipalities
to get their plans set up and
realised. This bureau is anno 2007 called
VariYa and now aiming at spreading
the concept to other provinces. (For an
overview, see: www.kulturhus.nl) Both
provinces are proud that already colleagues
from Scandinavian countries
are visiting their Kulturhus!

In Utrecht, another province, the
newest Dutch-style Kulturhus has been
realised in Doorn. The Dutch library
journal Bibliotheek devoted a special
edition to the concept and realisation
of Kulturhus. For this special I was able
to make a trip to Sweden, interview
colleagues and compare with the first
impressions when I organised the tour
in 1986. The visits to Kungsbacka,
Kungälv, Luleå, Katrineholm and
Hallonbergen/Sundbyberg were completed
with interviews and presentations
from Skövde, Härryda and Västra
Frölunda.

All these Kulturhuse, wonderful examples,
keep their promises of combined
cultural service to the broad community.
Compared with the Dutch Kulturhus,
the Scandinavian ones have a
stronger cultural atmosphere, very
often through the widely present galleries
with sculptures, paintings etc. The
inclusion of Kulturskolan gives the
extra dimension of other types of users
entering the building, enabling the
library to go beyond mere literary
events.

In the Netherlands, the range of programmes
seems to be more also on
social issues. There is less specialised
staff available such as theatre- or culture-
pedagogical support which under
pins the high quality of Scandinavian
programmes. The restructuring of
administration in several municipalities
in Sweden has an effect on the
management and organisation of
cultural services.

In the Netherlands, efforts are made to
come closer to one management or at
least one board of managers for
Kulturhuse. It seemed in the interviews
I had, that the Scandinavian colleagues
have a more relaxed attitude towards
cooperation and joined programming.
One could imagine that the concept
has not yet reached it fullest potential,
especially when libraries go beyond
their focus on literature. It will be
interesting for Scandinavian and Dutch
colleagues to exchange views on the
needs for management and professional
specialists, and joined programming
in a Kulturhus setting in the 21st
century. A promising concept to keep
us on the move as well.

Marian Koren
Netherlands Public
Library Association

koren@nblc.nl