The purpose of this thesis is to bring knowledge on how digitalization is produced in Swedish public libraries, by reading library plans of 21 municipalities between 2010 – 2018. Digitalization and information technology have been present in debates concerning different roles of the libraries since the 1980s and has put the role of the library in an uneven balance between information and culture. In the study, digitalization is perceived as something revolutionary that has come to permeate the organization from outside – engaged or not – in its evolutionary process. Issues relating to what aspects of digitalization are being produced –  how they intervene in traditional activities – what social groups they are targeting –  and finally, how digital aspects affect public library assignments – are studied through a discourse analytical approach, inspired by Laclau & Mouffe’s conceptual terminology and Carol Bacchi’s approach "what’s the problem represented to be?". The main findings show that the library plans use digital aspects in different ways, but above all by legitimize their role in society based on user needs, where guidance in information technology is due to individuals ´ participation in the E-society, primarily. In connections to this, future challenges are expressed. To a lesser extent, digital aspects are used for cultural approaches highlighting the mediation of literature, cultural expressions and debates. Although, anchoring digital aspects to these elements, increasingly express opportunities for the future organization.

The aim of this thesis is to examine how different perceptions of the public library’s democratic role are expressed in the library journal Biblioteksbladet during the years 1996–2019. The concept of democracy is understood as an ideological concept, used to legitimize an ideological stand. Thus, the study also aims to investigate what values the concept contains, as well as if these values are in conflict with each other. The theoretical and methodological framework are based on theories of discourse and democracy. The analysis identifies four discourses during the studied period – the participation discourse, the deliberative discourse, the including discourse and the democracy discourse. The first three discourses appear partly during the same time period, from the 1990s’ until the early 2010’s, when all discourses collide and give rise to a new discourse – the democracy discourse. The main finding is a discursive change in the debate where the concept of democracy previously aimed to legitimize a specific practice now aims to legitimize the whole library. Furthermore, the concept of demoracy has over time come to include more conflicting values that jointly aim to legitimize the library’s role in the democratic society regardless of context. The public library’s democratic mission can thus be understood as a discursive strategy.