Netherlands

Country Profile

The Country profile is a sort of Library Manifesto on sustainable development at national or local level, it illustrates the nature and the level of effort deployed by library associations and their partners in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in libraries.

Download the Country profile - PDF version with link references and contact information.
(Excerpt from the 2nd European Report on Sustainable Development and Libraries, prepared by EBLIDA and National Library of Latvia.)

Main organisations

Dutch libraries have created Stichting Bibliotheekwerk (SBW),  an independent library foundation dedicated to employment, work and training issues in libraries and governed by representatives of the labour unions on behalf of the employees and the libraries as employers.

The Alignment House/Bredebieb has set up a plan for public libraries with a view to searching additional funding opportunities for Dutch libraries and prepare library projects meeting SDGs.

Activities

With a Dutch European Social Fund focused on social inclusion and offering to socially disadvantaged people the chance to acquire skills and to improve their employability, some Dutch libraries have set up projects aiming to reduce the number of workless households and to give people opportunities to work for longer. The Netherlands is also providing extra ESF help in its four largest cities – Rotterdam, Amsterdam, The Hague and Utrecht – to help improve job opportunities for young people and non-European immigrants through coaching and training programmes.

In the four biggest cities of the Netherlands, an ambitious project focussed on vulnerable elderly citizens is funded by the Fund for  European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD, included in ESF+ 2021-2027) which supports EU countries' actions in providing food and/or basic material assistance to the most deprived.Material assistance needs to go hand in hand with social inclusion measures, such as guidance and support to lift people out of poverty; therefore, national authorities may also support non-material assistance to the most deprived people in order to help them integrate better into society.

The  Expeditie project was organised in the Netherlands in collaboration with Bredebieb on 2nd November 2020. Some fifteen library directors attended this kick off meeting whose aim was to list additional funding opportunities for Dutch libraries and prepare library projects to be discussed in the national workshop. 

On 25 January 2021, Dutch libraries held their national (Dutch language) workshop about sustainable development goals and European funds.

Recording - Part 1: https://youtu.be/KFbv8dbQDh8

Recording - Part 2: https://youtu.be/mdEJN7RCUcc

Presentations:

• Mariken van Meer (De Bibliotheek Utrecht)
• Hanneke Bruggeman (DNK)
• Giuseppe Vitiello (EBLIDA)

Useful links

https://www.bibliotheekwerk.nl/

https://www.alignmenthouse.nl/

https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1089

>>>> Back to the Main page

 

 

---