Library Coverage

Tracing the location of town directories in Norway is a difficult task. The relatively short history of publication coupled with other well developed data sources for urban historical research make town directories a source often overlooked in library collections. Consultation with the directory collection of the Universitetsbibliotek i Oslo was central to the compilation of this bibliography. This library has the most developed holdings of town directories in Norway, stemming primarily from its de facto role as a deposit library early in this century. Its directory series for the major settlements in Norway are largely complete and contain few gaps. Other large university libraries, with the exception of the Universitetsbiblioteket i Bergen, do not appear to hold directories even for the local town. For smaller towns, as discussed above, individual town directories do not appear to have been published. Instead directory-type information for these settlements comes in the form of Fylke (county) directories, of which the Universitetsbibliotek i Oslo has an equally comprehensive collection. As a result of the restricted publication of individual directories for provincial towns and the associated integral position played by Fylke directories in urban historical data provision, a complete listing of all such volumes held in the Universitetsbibliotek i Oslo is to be found at the end of this chapter.

Universitetsbiblioteket og Norges Nasjonalbiblioteket

Drammensveien 42

N–0255 Oslo 2

Code: NO

Universitetsbiblioteket i Bergen

Haakon Shetligs Plass 1

N–5007 Bergen

Code: BG

The British Library

Great Russell Street

London

WC1B 3DG

The United Kingdom

Code: BL