The main focal point of this study is about public libraries and its possible roles in today's society. Going from having had a clear educational orientation, public libraries has with time amassed several other roles, which all need to relate to the swedish law regarding libraries and other governing documents, as well as business plans. This thesis focus on a qualitative investigation, which was conducted through in-depth interviews with librarians and other staff at a public library in Stockholm, named bibliotek Plattan, to ascertain the prevailing opinions within this facility about the role of libraries and librarians. The choice of examine this particular library was based on the fact that bibliotek Plattan differs from the public library in general and only offers material for adults. Their collection of litterature is primarily based on fiction novels. As theoretical framework and analytical tool for this study a model of Jochumsen, Hvenegaard Rasmussen and Skot-Hansen is used to analyse what the library can be. The model consists of four spaces: the inspiration space, the learning space, the meeting space, and the performative space. The results show that bibliotek Plattan has characteristics of all four space, though the characterisation library as inspiration space is the strongest influence. Other discoveries which were made showed that the informants wanted to a certain degree to return to a traditional role for libraries with reading and silence as the main elements, and the general view was that in the context of libraries, using the term meeting place was generally seen as negative, as well as that it can be problematic to be a specialised library as there are manyvying ideas and concepts of what a library is and should be. This is a two year's master thesis.

This two-year master thesis aims to examine how the Swedish Library Act affects the youth library PUNKTmedis and its librarians. Through a case study and by using a socio-cultural and a norm critical perspective, the study discusses three main questions: 1. How do the librarians view the new law and how do they apply its new directives at PUNKTmedis? 2. Have they made any changes to the planning and execution of reading promotion activities since the law came into force? What activities are there currently in the library and how are they considered to promote reading? How does the library work with a broader literary concept and a broader view of what reading is? 3. How do the librarians at PUNKTmedis work with the assignment to give special attention to children and young people to promote their reading, with their specific focus on girls who already read, especially since research and reports all too often lifts boys' reading as waning? How deeply rooted is the librarians’ commitment? The study finds that the effect the Library Act has on PUNKTmedis is that it inspires the work of the librarians, due to formulations such as a “broader literacy concept” and the ability to work with different formats regarding the media in the library. The library offers many different reading promotional activities due to this. But the library has not really changed their way work since the new law was enforced, which might be because they are a youth library and don’t need to be as traditional as a regular public library. In addition to that, the librarians feel that the law is rather weak. Regarding to how the librarians at PUNKTmedis work with the assignment to promote reading, the study finds that the librarians try to work towards the individual, but by having a profile towards girls who already like to read, they make them visible in contrast to the boy norm.

Policy documents in the public library field, such as the library legislation, local political goals and intra-library plan documents, often include ambitious but ambiguous formulations. This two years master’s thesis examines the relationship between four policy documents and library practice in a local context. The theoretical framework is inspired by a sociocultural theory developed by the Swedish professor of pedagogical psychology Roger Säljö. The theory emphasizes the importance of context to learning and development. The thesis’ method is a case study. The study compares how § 8 of the Swedish library legislation is interpreted in three local policy documents and how the clause is implemented in local library practice. The local library practice studied is the work of one working group which has the special assignment to implement the statutory commission for public libraries to provide special attention to immigrants and other minorities. The main empirical material is hence derived from analysis of four policy documents and from qualitative interviews with the five members of the working group. The method of analysis can be described as a questioning in three stages. What is stated by the documents and the informants? What do the statements mean in relation to other statements? And finally: how can the statements be understood in relation to the theoretical framework and to results from previous research? The main result of the analysis is that the policy documents do not function as a determinant context of library practice. Instead the policy documents play roles as tools used by the library staff to fulfill situational needs in the local library practice. In the conclusion I argue for further research on the content of policy documents and the function of policy documents in library practice. One possible aim of such research could be to enhance librarians’ abilities to use policy documents to serve their professional purposes.

While almost 23 percent of the students in the Swedish upper secondary school are foreigners, only a fraction of the school libraries’ collections consists of literature written in other languages than Swedish or English. This study examines how five school librarians experience the task of working with literature composed in foreign languages in the multicultural and multilingual school of today. The results of the qualitative interviews are analyzed in relation to the legislation and policy documents that the school libraries are working by, and also in relation to the theoretical framework of sociocultural theory and the theories on second language acquisition developed by linguist Jim Cummins. The study shows that while multilingualism is discussed as an important matter in the legislation and policy documents that the school libraries work by, the librarians in this study largely view the question of foreign literature as peripheral. Most part of the librarians connects first language reading to leisure-time activities rather than curricular activities, and stresses that the Swedish language should be prioritized in Swedish schools. The paper is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.

The purpose of this Master thesis is to examine whether the term elasticity is relevant and functional to apply to public library organisations. Another aim of the thesis is to relate the term elasticity to public library organisations in a network society. Sociologist Manuel Castells provide the theoretical framework on the network society. Three investigations (meant to complement each other) in two Swedish public libraries seek to give answers to these questions.To be able to examine which areas of public library activity are elastic, I make a rough definition of what public library organisations consist of – nine activity fields are identified using IFLA’s guidelines in combination with Swedish law of public libraries. I also define elasticity. Three qualities make the term interesting to apply to public libraries: 1) elastic objects (libraries) have an ideal shape, 2) they (libraries) are moulded when pressure is applied from outside, and 3) when pressure applied from outside becomes too intense, elastic objects (libraries) break (or become dysfunctional).The essay undertakes three investigations in Alby public library and Dieselverkstaden public library in Nacka (both in Stockholm). In the first investigation two aspects of elasticity (in relation to public libraries) are examined: One aspect regards how elasticity is expressed in two texts that govern public libraries in Sweden – Swedish law and IFLA’s guidelines for public library activity. Is elasticity intrinsic in these norms and in what way? Secondly a comparison is made between how elasticity is expressed in these normative texts and the actual situations in two public libraries, in which way they are elastic, and what discrepancies there are between texts and scenarios from practice. I study the library – its collections, public activities, documents and rules and regulations regarding loans.In the second investigation I aim to find out how the visitors of public libraries shape the library, how they perform pressure on it. Short survey-like interviews are completed with twenty visitors at the two libraries.The third investigation consists of interviews with two members of the staff at each library. These interviews assist me in the process of developing thoughts regarding elastic libraries in a network society.Results show that the term elasticity is relevant but evasive. It becomes clear that studying IFLA’s guidelines and Swedish library law will not answer the question where the elasticity of the activity fields end. That limit seems to become evident only when examining libraries in practice. I find that five activity fields can be called elastic (in practice): the collections, the librarians, to give access to information and ICT, the library room and environment and management.Results also show that qualities that signify the network society combined with political changes, affect the way public libraries are perceived and opinions of how they ought to be managed. This is what I consider to be pressure on a global level. I also find that this pressure is difficult to measure.