Bibliotekernes

Bibliotekernes is the Danish genitive plural form of the noun bibliotek, meaning libraries. It denotes possession or association by more than one library, as in bibliotekernes tilbud (the libraries’ offerings). The form is a grammatical construction rather than a separate concept.

In Danish, the indefinite plural is biblioteker, the definite plural is bibliotekerne (the libraries). To express something that belongs to all the libraries, the genitive plural is formed by adding the suffix -s to the definite plural, yielding bibliotekernes. This suffix is written as part of the word, with no apostrophe.

The term appears in formal writing and public discourse to describe assets, responsibilities, or activities shared by multiple libraries. Examples include bibliotekernes tilbud, bibliotekernes rolle i samfundet, and bibliotekernes digitaliseringstiltag. It follows the common pattern in Danish where possession by multiple entities is indicated with the genitive plural suffix.

The singular counterpart is bibliotekets, indicating ownership by a single library (the library’s). The root bibliotek originates from the French bibliothèque and Latin bibliotheca, reflecting its historical development into Danish. As a grammatical form, bibliotekernes is widely understood and regularly used in official documents, policy texts, and media discussing cooperative or regional library networks.