Rolf Hapel

Director of Citizens Services and Libraries City of Aarhus, Denmark

Distinguished Professor of Practice, University of Washington, Seattle

Since 2006, Hapel has served as director of Citizens’ Services and Libraries in Aarhus, a city of approximately 340,000 people in central Denmark. Previously, he worked in four Danish cities as a librarian, deputy manager and director of public services, and became director of Aarhus Public Libraries in 1994.

Hapel was instrumental in the development of Dokk1, a 300,000-square-foot structure inaugurated in 2015 that is the largest public library in Scandinavia. The innovative library and cultural center brought in citizens and organizations to participate in the design process, and is paired with municipal public services, theaters and businesses. The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions named Dokk1 its public library of the year in 2016.

In the fall 2018, he joined the University of Washington Information School as Distinguished Practitioner in Residence, focusing on the future of libraries.

Source: University of Washington