Libraries

Municipalities are responsible for public libraries and school libraries, while the counties are responsible for tasks related to supervision, coordination and development. The Ministry of Education is responsible for academic and research libraries affiliated with universities and colleges. The Ministry of Culture and Equality is responsible for overall national library responsibilities, primarily through allocation of funds appropriated by Parliament over the state budget.

The National Library is divided into two departments. The department in Mo i Rana manages legal depositing, and is responsible for the collection, recording, preservation and availability of material. NB Rana also covers the Repository Library, audiovisual collections and constructing the National Library's digital services.

The National Library department in Oslo is responsible for the National Library's activities aimed at the public, through facilitating use of the collections in reading rooms, as well as lending and remote use via online services. The department offers interlibrary loans from private collections and conveys materials from abroad for Norwegian libraries. NB Oslo develops the Norwegian National Bibliography and offers a wide range of bibliographic services and products.

As the state's development agency for the library sector, the National Library contributes to designing and implementing a national library policy for both public and academic libraries. The National Library has a particular responsibility in helping develop and strengthen libraries in Norway as active and relevant social institutions, and manages project and development funds for this purpose. The National Library also manages grants to a number of other library purposes, such as library services in prisons and health institutions.