The University Courses on Svalbard (UNIS) and the Norwegian Polar Institute in Longyearbyen have a tradition of sharing library resources. First
from 1993 to 1995 in co-operation with the University Library of Bergen.
Then the rather small collection of books and serials belonging to The Norwegian Polar Institute in Longyearbyen was run by a library assistant in a
25 % position and a librarian (working from the University library of Bergen)
in a 50 % position. From the autumn of 1995 a new library was established
in the UNIS building. During the autumn of 2005, the library was moved into the
new Svalbard Science Centre. The library has one librarian in a full time position.
Description of Polar Collection:
Subjects: The collection in the library covers books and periodicals within geology, biology, geophysics and technology. Books and
periodicals mainly date from the last decade. Polar literature is not shelved or catalogued in any particular way to guide patrons to these items. They
are, however, the majority of books and a rather large part of the periodicals.
Geographic areas:
Svalbard and Polar regions in general
Languages:
Mainly English and Norwegian. Some Danish, Swedish, German and Russian
publications.
