Norway sees rising library interest amid literacy concerns

The Norwegian political party Venstre has proposed a national book voucher program to combat declining reading literacy rates among students. Inspired by Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, the initiative aims to provide 127,000 students in the 5th and 8th grades with a 450 NOK voucher to purchase books of their choice from physical or online retailers. The proposal, estimated to cost 57 million NOK annually, follows recent PISA results showing a decline in Norwegian students' performance in reading, mathematics, and science.

Simultaneously, public libraries in Norway are reporting a significant resurgence in activity. Data from the 2025 Urban Library Survey indicates that visitor numbers and loan rates have returned to pre-pandemic levels. This increased interest is evidenced by massive waiting lists for popular contemporary Norwegian authors; for instance, Tore Renberg’s new book has nearly 1,000 people on the waiting list at the Deichman library in Oslo, while Lars Saabye Christensen’s ‘Kjøkken’ has over 1,100 people waiting in the same location.