Guest Blogger: Tineke van Ham, Manager Rijnbrink

The system of public libraries in the Netherlands consists of three layers. A national, provincial and municipal layer. The provincial layer is formed by the Provincial Support Organizations (PSOs). They play a part in the coordination between the national and municipal levels, in stimulating and facilitating the provincial network, in encouraging local innovations and in the organization of activities transcending local level that benefit from a larger scale. Their scale ensures that the PSOs for libraries are a gathering point of knowledge and a platform for expertise and knowledge sharing.

Provincial Support Organizations in the system
PSOs are non-profit social institutions . They are publicly commissioned and are partly funded by one or more provinces and partly by the libraries they support. PSOs align their range of assignments with the provincial policy and the demand of the libraries in their region. Furthermore, in CPN context (see text box) they align their activities between themselves and look for alignment with national associations. The Dutch System of Public Library Facilities Act (WSOB) appoints the provincial support organizations a number of general and specific tasks that need to be performed. Apart from that, the PSOs undertake several activities that to a certain extent have to be paid for entirely by its users.

The PSO activities on behalf of the system of public libraries comprise:

1. Network partnership (art. 6,7,8 WSOB)
PSOs are part of the network of public libraries and fulfil a role within the national system. This role is determined in the WSOB. PSOs, at the layer of the provincial network, are responsible for stimulating, facilitating and coordinating the network at the provincial level. They do so in alignment with the National Library of the Netherlands, which is responsible for the national network. In this way, the PSOs in consultation with the local libraries and the National Library accomplish the regulations on participation with the network, as mentioned in article 8 of the WSOB:
– together with the other participants it uses a collective catalogue of available volumes;
– is part of the inter-library loan system, indicated in article 15;
– performs its collection policy in accordance with the joint collection plan, indicated in article 10;
– makes use of a digital infrastructure that is aligned with the other participants;
– aligns its member administration and its general conditions with the other participants;
– supports education.

Furthermore, PSOs stimulate network cooperation by offering libraries services in the area of business management that support the business process. This concerns ICT, financial administration, employee and salary administration, and HRM. These services in all provinces constitute services that have to be paid for in part or entirely by the libraries. In its position as provincial manager of the library automation systems, the PSOs play a part in the implementation and demand settlement for the national digital infrastructure. These latter services are outside of the tasks as determined by the WSOB and have to be performed while at least covering costs. In this, the PSOs usually work together in CPN context to make arrangements with national associations.

2.  Support of the inter-library loan system (art. 16 WSOB)
– PSOs provide the transport of volumes between libraries in the provinces that subsidise them;
– the PSOs collectively provide the transport between provinces.

3.   Support of the collection policy (art. 10 WSOB)
PSOs contribute to the national collection policy which is formulated under the direction of the National Library, translate the policy in consultation with the libraries to provincial collection plans and facilitate the provincial collection formation.

4.   Developing innovations (art. 16 WSOB)
PSOs collectively and individually develop innovative service concepts for purposes of the local libraries. They align their innovation plans with each other and with national associations such as the VOB, BNL and the National Library. In this regard, they participate with the implementation of the strategic agenda of the branch of industry (The Library provides value – 2012). With this, the PSOs perform their legal innovative task. The objective is to support local libraries in the necessary transition to a crossroads of knowledge, contact and culture (report committee Cohen: Library of the future – 2014).
The innovations mainly focus on the development and implementation of service of the functions of the library: reading, learning, informing, meeting and debating, and getting acquainted with art and culture.

In the association Cooperating PSOs in the Netherlands (CPN), all PSOs are cooperating. CPN is a network cooperation par excellence: provincially where it needs, nationally where it can. All PSO managers hold a substantive portfolio, employees of the different PSOs function based on suitable abilities in collective implementation programmes. This contributes to the efficiency. CPN looks after the collective national lobby of the PSOs and after the collective implementation of programmes such as the Library in school (see blog by Adriaan Langendonk), basic skills, the digital library and the sharing of knowledge.