This study aims mainly to investigate what kind of role the public library plays in the regional and local development. The aim is also to investigate how the public library can strengthen the role as a factor of regional and local development. To explore the subject, the study is focused on the Swedish region of Västra Götaland. Three officials along with two policy documents, are included in the study as representatives of the region. Four public library managers are also interviewed but as representatives of the local perspective. To investigate the role of the public library in the regional and local development in more than one dimension, the theoretical framework consists of three different theories, which are used to answer the three research questions of the study. A qualitative analysis is performed to examine the relationships between the rhetorical statements and the theories. The study reveals that the major motives of the public library to work with regional and local development, are following the labels of the theory, the motive of enlightment and the motive of social issues. The study also shows that several functions of the public library, such as being a center of knowledge, a center of culture and a center of social issues, are particularly linked to the regional and local development. It is also clear that the public libraries of Västra Götaland, have the potentials to develop into more powerful factors in the regional and local development. / Program: Bibliotekarie

This thesis reports on a study of official political documents for Falköping and Fagersta public libraries, aiming for a deeper understanding of how they were affected by local culture policy. The period researched is 1991 – 2001. The comprehensive questions were: how did the strategic plans of the two municipalities follow the development of cultural policy in Sweden during the period, and what differences appeared in the development of the strategic plans of the two municipalities during this period? A document analysis was conducted with an empirical focus on historical policy documents. The analysis was guided by a model by Dorte Skot-Hansen. The model served as an analytical tool while comparing the strategic documents of the two libraries. Skot-Hansen illustrates three different rationalities in relation to cultural policy; the humanistic, the sociological and the market oriented. The analysis showed that both Fagersta and Falköping mainly followed the market-oriented line in the Dorte Skot-Hansen model. The study also points put that the local cultural policy was influenced by a humanistic and sociological line of reasoning.

The aim of this Master thesis is to describe why and how public librariesuse the social networks Facebook and Twitter. The focus is to study whatbrought about their use, how the work is carried out, ideas and objectivesbehind the use and what libraries actually convey on the networks. Themethodology is twofold: semi-structured interviews with responsiblepersonnel at four Swedish public libraries, and an ethnographic contentanalysis of four months of the libraries' status updates and tweets onFacebook and Twitter. The theoretical framework consists of a model forthe roles of the public library in society, and of discourses about thepublic library in media.Results indicate that social networks are used to market, make accessibleand inform of the library's resources and services. Furthermore, networksare used to communicate/interact with followers and to inspire people toread. We also detect a tutoring trait. Libraries also view social networksas a meeting place. What libraries do on the networks can be seen as anonline interpretation of traditional library goals. All four spaces from themodel for the new library – Inspiration, Learning, Meeting andPerformative – were represented in the objectives expressed in theinterviews. In what is conveyed on the networks focus lay on Inspirationand Meeting. Social networks also act as a place to market the physicallibrary. From a discourse perspective the study suggests that librariesexpress disidentification and demonstrate ability to remain open both todifferent media formats and different methods for library servicesdelivery. / Program: Bibliotekarie