Library Services to Institutions for the Elderly in Sweden.

In Sweden, most "pensioners" over 65 are healthy and living by themselves, and they can come to the library and take part in programs, borrow books, use the computers, read newspapers and magazines. For those elderly persons who are ill or handicapped and homebound, the library can send books and arrange other services. In Sweden there are different kinds of care centers for the elderly that are too ill to be able to stay in their own homes. In the beginning of the 1990s the municipalities took over the responsibility for the elderly. Libraries cooperate with the social authorities in the municipalities in creating services for the elderly in institutions. This paper discusses library services to the elderly in Sweden, including different ways to organize library service at institutions for the elderly; the example of Handen hospital; reading circles; memory training groups; cultural "ombudsmen"; and help from relatives or friends. (Contains 3 references.) (AEF)