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 institutional identity of libraries have been the subject of discussion for quite some time in the library community. With the renovation of several city libraries comes the opportunity to investigate the impact of this discussion on the practices of real public libraries. This Bachelor thesis investigates the program guide of Göteborg city library since its reopening in 2014 with the goal of extracting some sort of library identity. The thesis uses a discourse analytical approach to investigate the various types of discourse present in the material to extract an identity. The most prominent discourses present in the material are the educational discourse and the discourse of cultivation where the discourse of cultivation is the most dominant one. The discourse of cultivation motivates its activities through recreational aspects while the discourse of education motivates its activities by highlighting the use-value of attending its activities. The study finds that Göteborg city library presents itself as a cultural institution that ―sells‖ the service of cultivation, this is, however, not without problems and occasionally clashes with either the missions given to the library or the perceptions of the public.

The aim of this paper is to investigate who the visitors are at a children's department at amain library in a larger municipality, and for what purpose they use it. We discuss: Is therea difference between various user groups, and if so, how do they differ'? Which library rolesdoes the children's department have? Does the children's department serve as a local libraryfor those who live in the immediate surroundings or as a main library for the whole municipality?The paper is based on a user survey performed in the spring of 1996 at the City Library ofGothenburg. 417 visitors and five staff members were interviewed.The children's department is used by various groups of people, from young children to seniorcitizens. The library roles are, among other things, an independent learning center and formaleducation support center. The children's department functions both as a local library anda main library.

This paper describes the development of direct and indirect service at the former Gothen­burg city library. This was during this period of time not the public library of the town, but a scientific library mostly serving the college, although also open to the public. Furthermore the services offered in Gothenburg are compared with those of the two old Swedish university libraries in Uppsala and Lund. The investigated direct serviceforms are "making material available", "guidance", and "localities". The indirect service areas are "the catalogue" and "the personnel and their competence".The conclusion is that the differences weren't that big and that Gothenburg city library was a modern library providing about the same services as you could find in Uppsala and Lund. In some instances Gothenburg city library also seems to have provided better service. This is especially true concerning user education where they offered courses already in 1939 which perhaps made them first out in Sweden.