Based on the so called "Library Reform" of 1902, the Ministry of Churches and Education and the Publishing House of J.M. Stenersen agreed to establish "The General Office for Public Libraries" as a separate department at J.M. Stenersen's. After World War II, the office was placed under the Directorate for Economic Compensations. Then, in 1951, a parliamentary bill recommended the establishment of a co-operative society owned by the government, the "county" municipalities and the Norwegian Library Association. On February 4th 1952 the constitutional meeting of the Norwegian Library Bureau took place.

The Norwegian Library Bureau of today is a knowledge based organisation specialising in products and services to the norwegian libraries. The bureau is a non-profit organisation owned by the local and regional municipalities, the Norwegian Library Association and the Norwegian Association of local and regional authorities.

The Norwegian Library Bureau is the owner of "Edda Internbok", a bookstore specialising in textbooks for primary schools and other educational material.

The Norwegian Library Bureau shall be the primary supplier to the libraries and similar institutions. Through our professional competence we shall be the natural partner for our customers in their efforts to develop new and more efficient services.

Our customers' needs are the foundation of our product development. Therefore we regard an effective dialogue between our customers and ourselves as an absolute necessity. A major part of our staff has a professional background from the libraries and we encourage our employees to be members of various organisations and associations of the library sector. In order to improve our own professional competence, we frequently conduct marketing research analyses, and attend courses and seminars, and, of course, we constantly visit our customers to exchange ideas and opinions. We maintain an extensive network of cooperation partners in the library and publishing sectors in order to expand and update our product line, which also includes a range of courses and seminars.

Our Media Department is regularly updated concerning the events on the national and international market for books, videos and CD ROM products. With its broad knowledge and professional backgrounds, our staff offers assistance on a range of topics - from how to prepare orders and tenders to the evaluation of products.

Please contact us for assistance concerning the selection of books within different categories and authorships. We are pleased to offer tailor-made suggestions for your literature selections, including large scale purchases for the establishment of new libraries.

Our catalogues cover the complete Norwegian market for fiction and non-fiction literature. These catalogues are offered free of charge to our customers in the public and school libraries. Foreign literature is one of our specialities. In various languages we offer a broad range of fiction and non-fiction literature, both for children and adult readers. In addition we regularly offer suggestions on "easy-reader" books categorized as to the levels of reading skills required.

We have a wide assortment of Norwegian audio books, suited both to children and adults, and our selection of foreign language products in this field is expanding. Our co-operation with a number of video distributors also enables us to offer video films suited to the various age categories. Make your choice from our selection of library relevant CD ROM's. For your convenience we have divided our products into categories such as "adventures", "skills" and "knowledge".

Use our on-line services to select, and order books or other products directly from your desk. Both new and older titles are included, even titles that are not yet published. Visit our homepage and use the link to our on-line store - BS-Online - free of charge for our customers.

Not only are we the complete supplier of books and similar equipment to the libraries - we know the library sector!

This department is our organisation's professional library centre for the production and marketing of catalogue data and publications. The staff consists of librarians, teachers and literature scholars with in-depth knowledge of each product sector.

Due to their high quality and standards our catalogue data are widely used in school and public libraries. Our aim is to make a contribution that enables the libraries to develop the full potential of their collections.

We divide our publications into the following categories:

• Bibliographic inventories
• Author portrayals
• Professional library articles
• Other publications

The structure of our inventories highlights the themes and genres most frequently requested by our library customers. With the use of our inventories the libraries may exploit their non-fiction collections in new and exciting ways. In addition we offer publications that are specially designed for primary schools.

Not only are we the complete supplier of catalogue data and publications - we know the library sector!

At our main office, Malerhaugveien 20 in Oslo, we have equipped a customer library, which is worthwhile a visit for those who are interested in being updated about literature and equipment for libraries. Here you will find an extensive display of items: Fiction and non-fiction literature from the past three years, both by Norwegian and foreign authors Reference works Dictionaries Audio books CD ROM's Videos Bibliographic material

The library has a professionally trained staff that will advise and inform you on all the products on display. In our Customer Library you also will find a selection from our range of technical equipment, furniture and suggestions on how to design your library interiors. The display is continuoursly updated, giving you the opportunity to be informed on what is new in our product line. In addition we offer conference facilities and rooms to arrange courses, seminars and information to meet the needs of employees, at our main office.