Greta Linder

Greta Linder (15 May 1888 – 19 October 1963) was a Swedish librarian. She became the first woman to work as a library manager, and the first librarian to advocate the importance of library publicity. She was an activist for librarians' union rights.

Early life and education Born as Ingrid Gurli Margareta Linder on 15 May 1888 in Hedvig Eleonora Parish, Stockholm County, Sweden, Greta Linder was the daughter of the Norwegian philologist Nils Linder (1835–1904) and his wife, the Swedish writer Gurli Linder (1865–1947). Her parent had a 30 year age difference which eventually led to the marriage break up in the early 1900s. Her mother left the family home and lost custody of her daughters through the legal process of divorce, only regaining custody on the death of her former husband. With an aim of starting a professional career in teaching, she studied literary history and Nordic languages as well as English and German. She also travelled to Denmark where she studied the Danish libraries system and made several return visits.

From 1925 to 1929 she served as second librarian at the Stockholm City Library. Between 1929 and 1954 she worked as a library consultant at the state library agency.

She was also involved in women’s associations.

She died in Engelbrekt Parish, Stockholm, on 19 October 1963.