Under de senaste åren har frågor kring biblioteken och den fria åsiktsbildningen varit aktuella, både som dilemman som diskuterats inom biblioteksväsendet och som debatter som rasat i media. Det har handlat om hur biblioteken förhåller sig, eller bör förhålla sig, till åsiktsfrihetens gränser. Samtidigt har en nationell biblioteksstrategi tagits fram under ledning av Kungliga biblioteket, där biblioteken beskrivs som ett viktigt försvar för demokratin, och samtidigt som ”neutrala”. ”Neutralitet” har också varit föremål för ett antal artiklar av forskare som argumenterar för eller emot att biblioteken ska förhålla sig ”neutrala”. Denna uppsats undersöker vilka idéer kring ”neutralitet” som finns i bibliotekslagen (SFS 2013:801) och dess förarbeten, och hur dessa kan förstås i relation till ”fri åsiktsbildning” och ”det demokratiska uppdraget”. För att undersöka detta görs en kvalitativ idéanalys av källmaterialet. Detta har gjorts genom Lindbergs metod för kvalitativ analys av idéer samt beskrivande idéanalys. I materialet har tre typer av utsagor studerats: grundläggande värderingar, beskrivningar av verkligheten samt föreskrivande utsagor. Tillsammans bildar dessa tre typer av utsagor ”triader” där en viss värdering och en viss beskrivning av verkligheten tillsammans motiverar en viss handling. Centralt i analysen är också att lyfta fram budskap, motsägelser och oklarheter i det analyserade materialet. Analysen sätts i relation till tidigare forskning, vilket leder till en slutdiskussion om vilka konsekvenser idéerna kring ”neutralitet” kan få för bibliotekens möjlighet att utföra sitt uppdrag. Slutsatserna är att ”neutralitet” är ett ”tomt” begrepp som kan fyllas med olika innehåll, beroende på vilka intressen som finns hos den som använder begreppet. Motsägelserna i bibliotekslagen och dess förarbeten kring hur biblioteken samtidigt ska verka för ”demokratiska värden” och vara ”neutrala” inför alla typer av åsikter gör det komplicerat att följa uppdraget. I och med det långtgående och motsägelsefulla kravet på ”neutralitet” kan det finnas en risk att biblioteken inte har någon tydlig värdegrund att stå fast vid under politiska svängningar.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the underlying meaning of the concept of freedom of speech in Swedish media debate in context of Swedish public libraries. The analysis was done by discourse analysis based on Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory. The analyzed material consisted of newspaper articles, chronicles and leaders from four different newspapers:Göteborgs Posten, Svenska Dagbladet, Dagens Nyheter and Biblioteksbladet. In total, the material consisted of 9 articles. During the analysis, we noted two discourses, a cultivating discourse and a selection discourse. Thru out the debate, there is a common assessment that the citizens of society should have access to the information they desire. The librarians also have a desire to maintain a good quality of material and the best solution is to decide together with the users how to develop the collections. The skills of librarians are needed and trusted, but the user’s need should have more influence when it comes to purchasing.

The following study deals with Tino Sanandaji's book Mass Challenge. There are differing views on whether or not the book should be welcomed at the library. Articles, chronicles and blogs are used as a basis in the study to show different perspectives on the issue. Some writers give their personal views on the matter, while others report more generally. Important in the study are concepts that appear in the analysis material. As a theory, discourse analysis is used primarily based on Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe's theory formation.

The aim of this bachelor thesis was to investigate how librarians at Swedish public libraries handle purchase proposals from patrons. The thoughts and reflections on intellectual freedom in relation to selection, quality and the issues the librarians face in this process was studied through semi-structured interviews with six librarians responsible for acquiring purchase proposals. The theoretical framework was based on Emily Knox’s practical philosophy for librarianship, consisting of codification, institutionalization, and investigation. The method of qualitative content analysis was used and four themes have been identified: user influence, regulatory documents, problematic purchase proposals, and selection methods.  The results show that librarians value intellectual freedom and democracy higher than literary or research quality. Censorship is something that they work against, as controversial subjects with which the librarians or the community do not agree are still acquired granted the content is not illegal in any way. Two reports investigated by the judicial authority (Justitieombudsmannen) have changed the way librarians handle problematic purchase proposals. These reports precipitated the need for local media policies and plans that guide librarians in the selection process. No public library can or should stock everything, but the mission is to ensure that the public library is for everyone. Most purchase proposals are acquired and by selecting media that is uncomfortable for some patrons, or even for a democracy, librarians uphold intellectual freedom.

This bachelor thesis explores the discussions and discourse in the media concerning the law proposal that makes Swedish public libraries able to temporarily ban patrons from entering the premises, if the patron causes disturbance or harasses library staff or other patrons. To examine this, discourse analysis is used both as a theoretical and methodological framework. Theories from both Michael Foucault’s thoughts on discourse and power and Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s discourse theory is applied to study the empirical material, consisting of 36 articles both debate and editorial. The analysis reveals three discourses, the conclusion drawn from the analysis is that there is no coherent view on the law proposal on banning patrons. And that the issue is complex when it comes to applying the ban in reality.

The aim of this master's thesis is to find out if there is a potential conflict between the mission of swedish publiclibraries to provide knowledge and the principle of objectivity, as well as what this might mean for the libraries'democratic mission. This is done by interviewing librarians working in various public libraries and analysingtheir thoughts on keeping pseudo-scientific or otherwise misleading non-fiction in the libraries' collections andhow this relates to the democratic mission. The analysis is founded on a theoretical discussion about therelationship between knowledge and trust and how to interpret the democratic mission of public libraries. The thesis finds that the interviewed librarians work to ensure both the reliability of non-fiction books in thelibraries' collections and free formation of opinion, but tend to favour the latter if a choice has to be made.Nevertheless, all the interviewed librarians take some measures to prevent the users from being misinformed,although where the line is drawn varies. Lack of subject specific knowledge among the librarians, limitedresouces, the need to be impratial and the question of what qualifies as correct knowledge, are listed as factorsthat make it difficult to keep pseudoscific and misleadning non-fiction out of the collections. The librarians alsosuggest working to increase information literacy among the users as an alternative to engaging in qualityassurance of the books. This is a two years master's thesis in library and informationa science.