The Norwegian Archive, Library and Museum Authority (ABM-utvikling)

The Norwegian Archive, Library and Museum Authority (ABM-utvikling) was established on 1^st January, 2003 following the merger of the Norwegian Directorate for Public Libraries, the Norwegian Museum Authority, and the National Office for Research Documentation, Academic and Special Libraries. ABM-utvikling is an advisory and executive organisation for the Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs on the specialist fields of archives, libraries and museums.

It is the task of ABM-utvikling to carry out active strategic development work for the

• co-ordination
• rationalization, and
• strengthening

of the archive, library and museum sector.  The aim is to put the constituent sectors and individual institutions in a better position to solve the tasks that relate to their specialist subjects and to find ways of meeting the new challenges presented by society.  ABM-utvikling participates in all of the tasks that involve the archives, libraries and museums, but it also works across the boundaries of the specialist fields and handles cross-ministerial joint initiatives relating to the archive, library and museum sector.

The selected strategies are determined by the range of tasks and responsibilities given to the archives, libraries and museums in their function as core institutions in our society (for instance from various Reports to the Storting), and also by the values that the combined sector represents through its activities and the new demands placed on the sector by today’s information society.