The purpose of this Bachelor’s thesis is to examine how much and what was written in Sweden about foreign libraries and their design between 1916 and 1930. This is done by analysing articles published in the Swedish library journal Biblioteksbladet, using a combination of both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Firstly, the results of the quantitative approach show that a total of 55 articles were published on the subject, within the selected period. They also show who wrote each article, and that they mostly reported on details of statistics, finances, interior design and the everyday practical work of Public, Central and Children’s libraries. Secondly, the findings from the qualitative approach, an interpretative reading of five of the 55 articles, reveal four recurring themes that illuminate the messages behind the factual details in the texts. These themes are, that the library should be for everyone; that Sweden, in some ways, had fallen behind in the development of libraries; that the details are shared to help build new and better libraries; and that libraries should adapt to suit its users. Finally, the combined results of these studies illustrate not only what the authors of the articles found to be the most interesting aspects of various foreign library systems, but also lend insight to the state of the Swedish library organisation and system of the time.

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The aim of this thesis is to examine how different perceptions of the public library’s democratic role are expressed in the library journal Biblioteksbladet during the years 1996–2019. The concept of democracy is understood as an ideological concept, used to legitimize an ideological stand. Thus, the study also aims to investigate what values the concept contains, as well as if these values are in conflict with each other. The theoretical and methodological framework are based on theories of discourse and democracy. The analysis identifies four discourses during the studied period – the participation discourse, the deliberative discourse, the including discourse and the democracy discourse. The first three discourses appear partly during the same time period, from the 1990s’ until the early 2010’s, when all discourses collide and give rise to a new discourse – the democracy discourse. The main finding is a discursive change in the debate where the concept of democracy previously aimed to legitimize a specific practice now aims to legitimize the whole library. Furthermore, the concept of demoracy has over time come to include more conflicting values that jointly aim to legitimize the library’s role in the democratic society regardless of context. The public library’s democratic mission can thus be understood as a discursive strategy.

The aim of this master’s thesis is to investigate a possible connection between the development of mobile library services in Sweden and the development of cultural policy during 1945-2006. Our main question is: is there a connection between the development of the mobile library services in Sweden, as described in Biblioteksbladet, and the development of cultural policy as portrayed by Anders Frenander and Dorte Skot-Hansen? In order to answer this question, we formulated two secondary questions: - How are the mobile library services described in Biblioteksbladet between 1945 and 2006? - Are there any similarities or dissimilarities between the development of the mobile library services and the development cultural policy as described in our theoretical models? If so, in what way? Our study covers the entire time period since the start of the mobile library services in Sweden in the late 1940s. The final year for our investigation is 2006. Our theoretical framework contains Dorte Skot-Hansen’s model of the development of western European cultural policy in the post-war period, and Anders Frenander’s discourse analysis of the Swedish cultural policy during the 20th century. The methodological approach in this study is a descriptive analysis of ideas based on a number of questions, partly based on Skot-Hansen’s model. The result of our investigation shows that there is a tangible relation between the development of the mobile library services and the development of cultural policy. This connection diminishes during the 1980’s, by the time that the cultural practices become more instrumental. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The subject of this master thesis is to identify discourses regarding children’s literature in one of Sweden’s largest library magazines, Biblioteksbladet. The subject is furthermore to look at how the child is portrayed within these discourses and if the discourses change over time. The theoretical and methodological background is Norman Fairclough´s critical discourse analysis (CDA). A selection of 62 texts, published in Biblioteksbladet between the years of 1945-2009, was analyzed. Three discourses were identified: a pedagogic discourse, a literary discourse and a psychological discourse. The pedagogic discourse looks upon the literature as a means of teaching children valuable knowledge and good values. The literary discourse emphasize the literary qualities of the children’s books and The psychological discourse emphasize the children’s emotional needs and own opinion of the literature. The pedagogic and literary discourses share a similar view of the child, as someone in need of help and guidance, as opposed to The psychological discourse where the power relationship is more equal. The pedagogic discourse and psychological discourse contain distinct changes that can be linked to the surrounding social practices. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of the thesis is to examine the Swedish publiclibrary-debate between 1965 and 1975, with a focus on theinfluence of the New Left movement. The empirical materialconsists of articles from two library journals, and is studiedwith the intent to achieve knowledge of the library ideologyexpressed in context of the socialist movements of the 1960sand 70s. The method used is ideology analysis. Threedifferent areas of debate have been included in the study:issues pertaining to library holdings, problems concerning theworkplace and social and outreach activities.Some of the salient and key ideas that often recurs in thematerial touch upon the dangers of mass market literature, thenecessity for an expanded workplace democracy, theimportance of social work and the need for a more politicallyactive library. The bureaucracy, centralism and authoritariantendencies in the library world are criticized, as well as thenotion that the library should remain a politically neutralinstitution. The need to create a library that can serve as asanctuary from commercial forces is also underlined, as wellas the problem with bourgeois high culture alienating users.Overall the left-leaning debate tends to be formulatedpolemically, and reflect an ongoing generational conflict witha strong criticism of the library world’s upper hierarchy. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this thesis is to examine the librarian's role as an official at a public library. Hysing and Olsson describe the role of a public servant by portraying six different official types; the Bureaucrat, the Politicized official, the Street-level bureaucrat, the Entrepreneur, the Director and the Activist. By applying this theory and using qualitative document analysis when reading Biblioteksbladet from 2020, 27 articles were selected. It is important to keep in mind that the Corona pandemic has had a great influence on the result because of the chosen time period. A majority of the articles reflect the librarian as a Street-level bureaucrat who wants to be there for library visitors by keeping the libraries open during the pandemic. This period has also given the Entrepreneur opportunities to be new thinking and reach visitors in new ways by being creative. The visibility of the Bureaucrat comes mostly from the statements when answers are demanded from higher up in the hierarchy. Least visibility has the Activist and its commitment to societal issues. Articles not concerning the covid-19 virus show a Street-level bureaucrat whose greatest strength is the closeness to the citizens. With its central role in society and through direct contact, the librarian becomes a representative for the democratic system, but also a great starting point for effective policy.

The aim of this thesis is to examine how disturbing behaviours in Swedish public libraries have been looked upon in the library journal Biblioteksbladet during the years 1968 and 1999. The empirical material consists of 37 articles published in Biblioteksbladet. The main questions posed in this study are: how have disturbing behaviours been discussed in the journal, what have been seen as disturbing, and what causes to the behaviour has been emphasised? Which discourses can be traced, and who have had the possibility to express their views? The theoretical and methodological framework is based on both Michel Foucault’s and Ernesto Laclau’s and Chantal Mouffe’s discourse theories. In addition to this Foucault’s theories of power as a form of social control is used. The analysis shows that three discourses have occurred during the period. During the 70’s a material discourse, focusing on materiel variables such as architecture and physicalform, had a hegemonic position. Contemporary with this, there also was a social discourse, focusing on social problems primarily among suburban adolescents as the origin of the problems. During the 80’s the discussion declined, and simultaneously a liberal discourse was formed. In the liberal discourse, disturbing behaviours were not seen as a problem, and during the 90’s the question of disturbing behaviours almost disappeared completely from the agenda.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the language used in Svenska biblioteksförbundet’s membership journal in regardto, first and foremost, the debate and controversy with the presence of right-wing journal Nya Tider at the Book-and Library Fair in Gothenburg 2016 and 2017. The examination shows that there is discord among librarians of how to interpret the mission of furthering democracy. To prioritise freedom of speech or equal value for all.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the usage of metaphors and language features used in the debate about the digitalization of Swedish society in a library context. The empiric material consists of 22 articles published in Biblioteksbladet from January 2020 – March 2021. The method of analyzing the material was based on Fairclough’s critical discourse analyze and Jenny Lindberg´s logics of a Catch-the-train-technological deterministic discourse (Tåget-Går-diskurs). The thesis findings showes that digitalization as phenomenon is used in a technical deterministic way in which six aspects were found valid: infrastructural, national competition oriented, user oriented, availability as access, availability as supply and a post-pandemic-oriented aspect.