The aim of this thesis is to examine the term balanced collection in relation to Swedish laws and the democratic assignment. The Unesco Public Library Manifesto states that libraries are to formulate a policy defining objectives, priorities and services in relation to local community needs. The Swedish Libraries Act, paragraph 7, states that municipalities and counties shall adopt plans for library services. To fulfil our aim we will answer the following questions. By which terms is the democratic assignment visible in Swedish public libraries collection development policies? Is the term balanced collection used in Swedish public libraries collection development policies? If not, are there categories describing balanced collection? Do the terms in Swedish collection development policies differ to the six categories found by Farooq M. Ali in English-speaking literature? And if so, what does this difference suggest? The method used is a qualitative content analysis and we solely examine Swedish public libraries and their written collection development policies – we have not conducted any follow-up interviews. The six different categories found by Farooq M. Ali are analysed in correlation to our coding of the terms stated in the collection development policies of Swedish public libraries. Our survey shows that Ali’s six categories are not that common in Swedish public libraries collection development policies but that there are other categories and terms with the same significance. The most common categories are books, media, representation and the category not violence, pornography or racism. The two least common categories are weeding and demand. / Uppsatsnivå: D