While libraries are an actively supported institution in Sweden there is no distinct notion on of what their purpose should be. The purpose of this thesis is to clarify the discourse expressed in the referral responses to the memo-randum of the new library law, regarding the purpose and task of the public libraries in Sweden. The source material for my thesis was the memorandum sent out by the government during the process of introducing the new library law. I chose to use this memorandum and the municipal libraries’ referral responses on this memorandum as my source material. The thesis is based on discourse analytical theory focusing on discursive formations. In this theory, the discourse on a theme of discussion consists of various discourse formations that together form a common discoue. In order to distinguish these discursive formations, it is necessary to study the texts and examine their empirical foundations. In terms of methodology, this means that I related the municipal responses to four different concepts. These concepts were: "activities", "media", "users" and "librarians". Then I analysed these results in connection with previous research in order to define the different discursive formations I could discern. The seven discursive formations identified are: the educational discursive formation, the discursive formation of the library as the meeting place, the discursive formation of the physical activities of the libraries, the inclusive discursive formation, the cultural and information-mediated discursive formation, the democratic discursive for-mation, the discursive formation around the library's organization. These discursive formations are based on the specific themes they focus on. At the same time, two ongoing themes were identified for the discourse as a whole. The first theme is based on an emphasis on user accessibility and inclusion, as well as on equal communication between users and libraries. The second theme is based on an emphasis on equal treatment between different types of media and a negative attitude to the fact that printed literature was being given a special position in the libraries' activities in the memorandum.

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.

Dass moderne Bibliotheken mehr als bloße Bücherverwahranstalten sind, ist heute nicht nur in der bibliothekarischen Fachwelt common sense. Als Medienkompetenzzentren sind Bibliotheken längst zum integralen Bestandteil der Wissens- und Informationsgesellschaft geworden. Bibliotheken sichern den freien Informationsaustausch und machen Bildung ohne Hürden für jedermann zugänglich.

Die polnische Bibliotheksgesetzgebung hat eine gefestigte Tradition. Seit der Wiedererrichtung des polnischen Staates im Jahr 1918 streben polnische Bibliothekare eine rechtliche Grundlage für das Bibliothekswesen im Land an. Ihre Bestrebungen münden letztlich im Dekret über Bibliotheken und die Betreuung von Bibliotheksbeständen vom 17. April 1946, das später durch das Gesetz über Bibliotheken von 1968 ersetzt wird. Im Zuge der Transformation nach 1989 tritt am 27. Juni 1997 ein neues Bibliotheksgesetz in Kraft. Die vorliegende Arbeit setzt sich mit der polnischen Bibliotheksgesetzgebung auseinander. Sie macht den deutschen Leser mit dem polnischen Verständnis der Begriffe „Bibliotheksrecht“ und „Bibliotheksgesetz“ vertraut, gibt einen Überblick über den Verlauf der Entstehungsgeschichte der polnischen Bibliotheksgesetze, beschreibt ihren Inhalt und beleuchtet ihre Realisierung. Auf der Basis der theoretischen Erkenntnisse setzt der anschließende empirische Teil der Studie auf, in dem die Bedeutung der polnischen Gesetze für das polnische Bibliothekswesen ermittelt wird. Dabei wird die Eignung dieser rechtlichen Grundlage als ein Instrument zur Gestaltung des polnischen Bibliothekswesens fokussiert. Die Bedeutung der polnischen Bibliotheksgesetze für das polnische Bibliothekswesen wird mithilfe von Experteninterviews untersucht. Als Akteure wurden fünf Bibliothekare, welche die polnische Bibliotheksgesetzgebung in besonderem Maße kennen, in polnischer Sprache befragt. Ihre Aussagen dienen der Bewertung der polnischen Bibliotheksgesetze in Bezug auf ihre Bedeutsamkeit. / Polish library legislation has a strong tradition. Ever since the re-establishment of the Polish state in 1918, Polish librarians have been striving towards a legal basis for the library system in the country. Their efforts ultimately led to the Decree of April 17, 1946 on libraries and on the protection of library collections, which was then replaced by the law on libraries in 1968. As part of the transformation after 1989, a new library law came into effect on 27 June 1997. This thesis will deal with the law-making for libraries in Poland. It will introduce the German reader to the Polish understanding of the terms 'library law' and 'library legislation', provide an overview of how the history of Polish library laws unfolded, describe their content and shed some light on how they are implemented. Based on the theoretical findings, the subsequent empirical part of the study will demonstrate the significance of the Polish laws for the Polish library system. In doing so, it will focus on the suitability of this legal basis as an instrument for shaping and re-shaping the Polish library system. The significance of the Polish library laws for the Polish library system is examined with the help of expert interviews. Surveys were held in Polish with five librarians who know the ins and outs of library legislation in Poland. Their comments serve to the evaluation of Polish library laws in regard to their significance.

Dass moderne Bibliotheken mehr als bloße Bücherverwahranstalten sind, ist heute nicht nur in der bibliothekarischen Fachwelt common sense. Als Medienkompetenzzentren sind Bibliotheken längst zum integralen Bestandteil der Wissens- und Informationsgesellschaft geworden. Bibliotheken sichern den freien Informationsaustausch und machen Bildung ohne Hürden für jedermann zugänglich.

This paper explores the goals and functions of the public libraries in Sweden. This is regarding their materials, what groups they are focusing on and what their purpose is in the society. The paper focus on the four interviews that I have conducted which also are what this study is based upon. I have used the model of Andersson & Skot Hansen (1994) to analyze the material and the results that I have found. This in order to determine what functions the public library has that I have chosen as an example for this study. It displays what functions the chosen library has in its community and the goals of the public libraries. The result shows that the libraries strive to spread culture, literature and information to all groups in the society and to support all forms of education. The paper also reveals that the library that I have chosen has many functions in its community as public libraries often has.

In this master’s thesis we examine how the public libraries’ role and mission has been interpreted during the covid-19 pandemic and how the public libraries adapted to the situation. Public libraries are communal spaces meant for the public and according to the Swedish library law the public libraries should work especially towards a few specified prioritized target groups. Therefore, we also wanted to consider which groups needs that have been fulfilled or not, through the adjustments during the pandemic. The material of the study consists of interviews with 14 public library directors and 1 developer of public libraries services. We applied Fairclough’s framework for critical discourse analysis on our interview material. This framework was supplemented with Habermas term the public sphere and with the discourses about public libraries identified by Hedemark.  In the thesis we identified reasons and arguments for how the public libraries readjusted their library activities and prioritized services. We also identified which discourses about libraries were noticeable in the library directors’ descriptions of the libraries’ role during the pandemic. Several discourses about libraries identified by Hedemark were common in the material. We also found a discourse that had not been identified by previous research, which we named the social meeting place discourse. We interpreted the prevalence of this discourse about libraries, which focuses on the social aspect of the library as a meeting place, as an effect of the pandemic. Since the libraries have not been able to function as meeting places during the pandemic, this function has become more noticeable. The closing of the libraries as meeting places has affected all the library users but has affected the libraries work towards the prioritized groups the most. In some areas of Sweden the public libraries have replaced some of the meeting place functions with new digital services. These adaptions vary greatly between different counties, which has meant that people have had different access to library services depending on where they live.  This is a two years master's thesis in Library and information science.

(in English) Diploma thesis "Municipal library in Odolena Voda as an information a cultural centre : Project" suggests possibilities of changes and expansion of library services provided by the Municipal library in Odolena Voda and suggests other activities so that it becomes in the future a modern information and cultural centre of Odolena Voda . The author briefly describes the history and current status of Odolena Voda. Another part is focused on analysis of current conditions of the Municipal Library in Odolena Voda - describes its building, the library collections, users and specifies currenly offered library services and activities in which is currently the library involved. The author also summarizes the Czech legislation related to the services of public libraries, and international standards and recommendations for public library services. Furthermore, in work as a basis for designing new services and activities of the Municipal in Library Odolena Voda gives an examples and experiences from other municipal libraries in the country. In the next part of the work the author charts the subsidy opportunities for public libraries- grant programs of the Regional Office of the Central Region, subsidy programs of the Ministry of Culture (Library of the 21st century, the Czech library, VISK) and the...