Sweden is today often defined as a multicultural society. The implications on organizing and providing information in public libraries are many, since the systems presently used in the western hemisphere are not adapted to multi-cultural information. This thesis aims to outline ethical and practical problems that arise when organising and providing information concerning cultures other than western, and not least, when dealing with material in other scripts. With this theoretical framework the thesis examines the website of the International Library in Stockholm, a website built to serve users of different languages and scripts than Swedish. The research questions in this thesis are: 1, what specific problems can be distinguished within library work in a multicultural and multilingual environment? 2, what problems and needs were considered in the creation and design of the International Library’s website? And 3, can examples of problems and possible solutions of these be seen in the information and it’s organisation on the International Library’s website? The empiric material consists of the International Library’s website, and interviews with three informants involved in developing it. The study of the website has been conducted in two parts; in the first I have examined what kind of information has been made available on the website and how this connects to the library’s mission. The second part is a study of the material that has become searchable on the website, on how it is searchable, how it is classified and catalogued, and what kind of information is included in the records of the catalogue. The result of the thesis is that both practical and ideological problems arise in information organization and -provision in other languages and scripts. These problems can result in difficulties for users to find the information they need, an effect that in turn counters the thought of everybody’s equal right to public libraries and the information they provide. The study of the website shows the possibilities and limitations of providing multicultural and multilingual library services on the web.

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to investigate how librarians approach to the multicultural collection development and which methods they use in providing library materials in minority languages. The questions to be answered are: which methods the libraries use when purchasing library materials in minority languages, how the respondents experience that the minority user groups needs are met in the library and how the multicultural competence of the staff is used in the libraries. For this purpose the qualitative interviews with 6 librarians in Gothenburg are conducted, mainly from the libraries in the immigrant-dense parts of the city, while the study being concentrated on 6 language groups of library users. The study’s theoretical framework is based on theories of multiculturalism, culture, identity and bilingualism. The results of the study reveal the major problems with purchasing library materials in minority languages: the lack of language proficiency, meagre bookmarkets and publishing in some languages along with copyright problems with sound and video recordings. The lack of language proficiency causes cataloguing problems which is why the respondents hope that in the future the purchasing and the cataloguing are going to be provided centrally. The study also reveals insufficient and sporadic consulting of the user communities for the purpose of collection development and the lack of active measures for employing more multilingual staff. The results indicate the need of more substantial involving the ethnic communities into the library services in order to avoid their cultural alienation and segregation.