Policy documents in the public library field, such as the library legislation, local political goals and intra-library plan documents, often include ambitious but ambiguous formulations. This two years master’s thesis examines the relationship between four policy documents and library practice in a local context. The theoretical framework is inspired by a sociocultural theory developed by the Swedish professor of pedagogical psychology Roger Säljö. The theory emphasizes the importance of context to learning and development. The thesis’ method is a case study. The study compares how § 8 of the Swedish library legislation is interpreted in three local policy documents and how the clause is implemented in local library practice. The local library practice studied is the work of one working group which has the special assignment to implement the statutory commission for public libraries to provide special attention to immigrants and other minorities. The main empirical material is hence derived from analysis of four policy documents and from qualitative interviews with the five members of the working group. The method of analysis can be described as a questioning in three stages. What is stated by the documents and the informants? What do the statements mean in relation to other statements? And finally: how can the statements be understood in relation to the theoretical framework and to results from previous research? The main result of the analysis is that the policy documents do not function as a determinant context of library practice. Instead the policy documents play roles as tools used by the library staff to fulfill situational needs in the local library practice. In the conclusion I argue for further research on the content of policy documents and the function of policy documents in library practice. One possible aim of such research could be to enhance librarians’ abilities to use policy documents to serve their professional purposes.

When applying for a library card you normally need to show a valid ID and register your contact information. Some people cannot meet these requirements, e.g. undocumented immigrants, and this thesis examines how pub- lic libraries in Sweden act towards this group. The purpose of the study has been to examine which arguments have been used in the discussion regarding undocumented immigrants’ right to become library patrons, and to examine how the public libraries interpret the Swedish Library Act, which states that public libraries should be accessible to everyone. To examine how Swedish public libraries presently handles this question, a survey was sent out to public libraries in all of Sweden’s municipalities, and in three of them interviews were conducted and the public debate analysed. The thesis’ theoretical framework consists of recent year’s discussion in citizenship theory that challenges the notion of citizenship and suggests that presence and acts of citizenship grant even non- citizens certain civic rights in the modern welfare state. The results of the study show that some public libraries in Sweden have discussed how to act towards un- documented immigrants and have adapted their policies to meet the needs of this user group. The argument ana- lysis shows that the discussion regarding the undocumented immigrants’ right to become library patrons consists of a practical as well as an ideological discussion. The libraries want to be able to identify their users, but it is not a question of principle. In the political discussion, however, the opinion is expressed that individuals without permission to be in the country should not be granted access to public institutions such as public libraries. For the libraries, presence is more important than citizenship, and the Swedish Library Act, if somewhat vague when it comes to the rights of undocumented immigrants, supports these policy changes. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

Enligt IFLA:s mångkulturella biblioteksmanifest och Unescos folkbiblioteks- och skolbiblioteksmanifest har folkbibliotek ett ansvar att främja kulturell mångfald. Samtidigt påvisar forskning att folkbibliotek kan fungera som en förlängd arm i den så kallade integrationsprocessen. Med detta som bakgrund har uppsatsen som syfte att studera bibliotekarier vid ett stadsdelsbibliotek i Uppsala och analysera de villkor som präglar deras verksamhet riktad mot invandrare. Uppsatsens teoretiska ramverk är inspirerat av ett sociokulturellt perspektiv så som det beskrivs av pedagogikprofessorn Roger Säljö i Lärande i praktiken – Ett sociokulturellt perspektiv och Lärande och kulturella redskap: om lärprocesser och det kollektiva minnet. Teorin betonar kulturella och sociala aspekter i läroprocessen. I den vardagliga mellanmänskliga interaktionen kommunicerar man via kulturella redskap och dessa kulturella redskap är uppsatsens huvudsakliga studieobjekt. Studiens empiri består av fem kvalitativa intervjuer med bibliotekarier anställda vid ett stadsdelsbibliotek i Uppsala och studien arbetar utifrån frågeställningarna hur bibliotekarierna menar att de förhåller sig till Stadsdelsbibliotekets mångkulturella arbete, hur bibliotekarierna beskriver bibliotekets mångkulturella verksamhet och hur bibliotekarierna ser på bibliotekets uppdrag och roll gentemot invandrare. Informanternas utsagor har tolkats utifrån sociokulturella analytiska begrepp. Vilken kontext arbetar bibliotekarierna i, hur handlar bibliotekarierna i förhållande till kontexten, hur kommunicerar de med den invandrade lokalbefolkningen och genom vilka kulturella redskap kommunicerar de. Studiens resultat visar att bibliotekets verksamhet för invandrare baseras på de lokala behoven och att bibliotekarierna använder sig av språkliga-, kulturella-, sociala- och digitala kompetenser i sitt dagliga arbete. Dessa kompetenser fungerar som kulturella redskap som bibliotekarierna kommunicerar genom. Jag påvisar ytterligare att det inte finns någon motsättning mellan kulturell mångfald och ett integrationsarbete, tvärtom visar dessa istället tjäna varandra. I min slutdiskussion argumenterar jag för att bibliotekarier som verkar i en mångkulturell kontext bör få kontinuerlig fortbildning för att stärka dessa kompetenser som har visat sig verka underlättande i arbetet med mångkultur och integration.

While almost 23 percent of the students in the Swedish upper secondary school are foreigners, only a fraction of the school libraries’ collections consists of literature written in other languages than Swedish or English. This study examines how five school librarians experience the task of working with literature composed in foreign languages in the multicultural and multilingual school of today. The results of the qualitative interviews are analyzed in relation to the legislation and policy documents that the school libraries are working by, and also in relation to the theoretical framework of sociocultural theory and the theories on second language acquisition developed by linguist Jim Cummins. The study shows that while multilingualism is discussed as an important matter in the legislation and policy documents that the school libraries work by, the librarians in this study largely view the question of foreign literature as peripheral. Most part of the librarians connects first language reading to leisure-time activities rather than curricular activities, and stresses that the Swedish language should be prioritized in Swedish schools. The paper is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.