By examining newspaper articles from two different timeperiods in a public library’s life, specifically the main citylibrary of Gothenburg 1964-68 and 2004-2015, thismaster’s thesis studies the discourse of library practice aswell as its societal role during the building and re-buildingof the library. The empirical material is examined byapplying the discourse theory and method of ErnestoLaclau and Chantal Mouffe. With this methodology wealso aim to analyze how the power is distributed betweenthe different roles that emerge depending on in what waythey speak about or is being spoken of in the material.In the analysis of the material, we have identified severalmore or less dominant discourses that construct certain,and often contradictory, views on the city library’s practiceand role in society. The major discourses that emergedin the material during the 1960’s were the book discourseand the cultural centre discourse. The book discoursepromotes traditional and authoritarian views of themediation and conservation of printed, quality books aswell as being associated with strong ideals of enlightenmentand education. The culture centre discoursepromotes a wide library practice, entailing many differentcultural and political activities as well as a wide range ofpeople. The book discourse can be seen all the waythrough the 2000’s, but the later period is dominated bythe information mediation discourse that places the userand its needs at the core of the library’s mission.

The aim of this thesis is to examine how public library work is described in Swedish newspaper debates concerning the public library, Swedish Parliament motions and Swedish public library policies during the period 2015–2017. In Swedish newspapers the two main questions debated were the question of a noisy public library which includes the question of the public library user and the question of weeding.  In the motions as well as in the library policies one of the main subjects are reading and literacy. These documents are also highly concerned with the mission of providing knowledge. Furthermore, a view of the public library as an institution associated with change emerges.  In the source material there are two different ways of defining library work, one is the traditional view of the work that mainly involves reading and handling of the physical books and the other one is more concerned with information and change or evolving of the library and the task assignments.

The aim of this thesis is to examine how perceptions of the public library are expressed in Swedish debates about the public library during the period of 2016-2018. The debates centered around questions regarding what the public library is, what it should be and to whom it should be for. Two main concerns were formulated within the two greater debates. One was that there is an increasing problem with noisy, threatening and violent groups at the public libraries and the other was that librarians are ideology controlled when making decisions on the media in the library. The main questions posed in this study are: which images of the public library can be found in the debates and who are given the possibility to express these images? The analysis shows that perceptions of the public library as an important institution in a democratic society is consistent through all debates and the discourses within them. But there are different ideas about things that threaten the public library, depending on the view of what the ideal public library should be and what their main concern should involve. Our study also shows that the library has become a place for debates about questions that doesn’t directly relate to the institution as such, but about immigration and the extreme right and that the articles that relate more about that have had far bigger response than the articles about the library as a place and how it should meet new challenges with changes in the media climate and a descending circulation numbers.

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 study aims to examine how censorship and comics have been discussed in three debates. The aim is also to identify discourses and the orders and relations of power constructed in the debates, and to examine how librarians should handle debates about censorship and comics. Selected sources are articles from Swedish newspapers and tabloids about the debates on the Pox-trial, the manga case and the debate about Tintin in Kulturhuset. The results from the analysis indicates that the debates have been dominated by two main discourses: a discourse on freedom of speech and a discourse on social responsibility. Within the discourse of freedom of speech there is a range of perspectives that emphasize: artistic freedom, the need for open and free conversations, a discussion about how the comics are assessed in comparison with other media formats as well as a discussion about moral and moralism. The discourse of social responsibility results in a feminist and anti-porn discourse, a post-colonial and anti-racist discourse and a discourse on the protection of children and young people. Based on these results, the discourses can be analysed in relation to the laws, values and ethical guidelines for libraries. The analysis indicates that libraries and librarians should keep a balance between freeedom of speech and social responsibility. They could keep up to date with research about censorship, comics and various genres in order to make informed decisions about how to handle comics in the libraries. The librarian should also assess the comics on the same bases as literature, music, film and other cultural expressions.

The thesis deals with the role and development of Public libraries with a focus on the political debate between 1899 and 1912. Public libraries today have a role as a socially important institution and are thus an important part of our society. In order to understand and gain clarity about today's Public library debate and the Public libraries' institutional role and legitimacy, the debate that prompted the development of Public libraries around the turn of the century in 1900 needs to be examined and elucidated. The thesis will deal with the background to the political library debate that took place between 1899 and 1912, how the arguments put forward for the library's development and role in society were and what parallels can be drawn to a contemporary context. The empiric consists mainly of political documents from the Parliament debate and these are analyzed on the basis of an institutional theoretical approach through a qualitative content analysis. Valfrid Palmgren's investigation and report, which was presented in 1911-1912, became important for the development of the Public library and may thus conclude the historical context. The result of the thesis shows a Public library development that follows the prevailing social development in a society where the people's voices through popular movement work, popular education and commitment worked towards democratic goals. The Public libraries came to be important for both the development of that time and have so also today through their today institutional role in society.

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 study is to examine the discourses that occur about the role of the public library in four journals. Two from the daily newspapers and two from trade magazines during the period between 2007 and 2022. By identifying the discourses that try to define the role of the public library over the past 15 years, we aim to get a clearer picture of the similarities and differences that exist between the expectations of the public library, and how this affects its legitimacy.  We have identified four discourses that in different ways try to define what role the public library should have in society. It is the book discourse, the meeting place discourse, the silence discourse, and the information-mediating discourse. During the period we studied, these are struggling to achieve hegemony and they are all more or less prominent in the debates that appear in the daily newspapers and in the magazines. The most prominent discourses in the daily newspapers are the meeting place discourse and the silence discourse. In the magazines, it is the meeting place discourse and the information-mediating discourse that are the most prominent. The discourses are struggling to define the role of the library and what kind of users the library should direct its activities to. The fact that the meeting place discourse is prominent in both daily newspapers and in magazines indicates that libraries have an important role as a social meeting place.

This bachelor thesis explores the discussions and discourse in the media concerning the law proposal that makes Swedish public libraries able to temporarily ban patrons from entering the premises, if the patron causes disturbance or harasses library staff or other patrons. To examine this, discourse analysis is used both as a theoretical and methodological framework. Theories from both Michael Foucault’s thoughts on discourse and power and Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s discourse theory is applied to study the empirical material, consisting of 36 articles both debate and editorial. The analysis reveals three discourses, the conclusion drawn from the analysis is that there is no coherent view on the law proposal on banning patrons. And that the issue is complex when it comes to applying the ban in reality.

The aim of this study is to analyse which themes, discourses and positions can be identified in the public e- and audiobook debate in the Swedish library journal Biblioteksbladet between the years 2012-2020. Using discourse analysis as methodological framework, various conflict areas have been sorted into economic, juridical, technical and accessibility related themes. Within these themes, several discourses have been identified. By examining which concepts appear in the material and which positions (positive, neutral, negative) the subjects have, an opportunity has been given to better understand how language is used by various represented groups in the debate.