On Thursday and Friday this week, Princess Ingrid Alexandra will celebrate a delayed 18th birthday. The celebration had to be put on hold due to the pandemic, but this week the princess will be celebrated both at Deichman in Bjørvika, while there is a gala dinner at the castle on Friday. The government has spent NOK 3.7 million on the celebration, reports VG.
The celebration at Deichman means that the entire library must be closed on Thursday. It has created strong reactions, also from the library’s own union.
– Embarrassing
In a debate post in Dagbladet on Thursday, the main shop steward for Fagforbundet Deichman Club, Jenny Dellegård, and the main shop steward for Bibliotekarforbundet Deichman, Goro Aarseth, very critical that the library must be closed this day.
– It is embarrassing that the most beautiful building in the city, whose most important function is to be accessible to everyone, is turned into a closed party room for the fiff, they write in the post.
They further write that commercial rental means that the premises are not as accessible to the public. The background is that Oslo Municipality has decided that Deichman must have an own earnings of more than NOK 12 million annually.
– As we wish all jubilees in Oslo good luck with the day, we also welcome a debate on the earnings requirement on Deichman. We believe that the library should be for the people of Oslo – all the time – not be closed to the few who can wave the pile of money, blue blood or not, they conclude the post.
Simply embarrassed
sea view
–
– Defended a rare exception
Deichman and the Prime Minister’s Office (SMK) have been presented with the criticism that emerges in the case.
Dagbladet has also sent several questions about, among other things, why the celebration was added to Deichman, and why it could not have taken place in a place where it was not necessary to close down an entire building for the party.
Deichman’s head of communications, Jørn Johansen, writes in an e-mail to Dagbladet that the library considered the occasion to be of a “very special nature”.
– We considered that Deichman managed to maintain a library offer through 18 other local libraries this day, and that it defended a rare exception to the main rule of being as open as possible. We also considered that it was important to get the message out of the closed library in time, directly and indirectly to our borrowers, Johansen tells Dagbladet.
He further says that some of the employees have expressed strong dissatisfaction and disagreement with the decision, while others have supported it.
When asked what commercial interests Deichman has, Johansen answers:
– We rent out permanently in Bjørvika to an externally run shop, restaurant and offices, we rent out rooms for meetings and events, and we have a small shop with library products. Oslo City Council imposed a revenue requirement on Deichman in 2015, as part of a package to secure funding for the new main library.
– Nice frame
Head of Communications at SMK, Anne Kristin Hjukse, writes the following in an e-mail to Dagbladet:
– The government wanted a modern framework around the celebration of Princess Ingrid Alexandra’s 18th birthday. Deichman’s main library in Bjørvika is located in a modern signal building in the newest of Oslo’s districts, but Bjørvika is also the place where the medieval city of Oslo grew up over a thousand years ago, Hjukse writes to Dagbladet.
She adds:
– The library itself is a carrier of culture, knowledge and tradition, a place for diversity and inclusion. That is why we believe Deichman Bjørvika is a good setting for the celebration, says Hjukse.
She further says that the entire library will be taken into use, including several cultural elements over several floors, and that there is also a need for access control and technical tests. This means that the library must be closed all day on Thursday.
– Therefore, it is unfortunately necessary to close the library for a whole day. But I want to emphasize that there are 18 other libraries in Oslo that are open, so no one is banned from library services this day, says Hjukse.
CELEBRATION: On Thursday, Princess Ingrid Alexandra will be celebrated with dinner at Deichman in Bjørvika. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB
sea view
The young, royal guests
– Understand the disappointment
Guri Varpe, head of communications at the Palace, writes in an e-mail to Dagbladet that the government invited to the dinner at Deichman, and therefore refers further to them.
However, she understands that the decision creates disappointment.
– We understand that those who wanted to visit the new Deichman today are disappointed that it is closed, writes Varpe.
–
