This thesis is a contribution to the discussion on the public library’s institutional identity in late modernity. The aim is to shed light on the public library’s identity as expressed through its public events. The thesis seeks to answer the following questions: What kind of public events are offered at public libraries? What themes distinguish the content of these events? What characterizes the institutional identity expressed through these events? In addition to the concept of institutional identity, a model of four library spaces, developed by Skot-Hansen, Hvenegaard Rasmussen, and Jochumsen, constitutes the theoretical framework of this thesis. Qualitative content analysis is applied to entries gathered from the joint events calendar of the public libraries in Stockholm. The entries pertain to events taking place during the first four months of 2013. Common events at the libraries studied include: homework help; instruction in e-book, smartphone, and internet use; legal advice; book clubs; language cafés; story times; sing-alongs; interactive children’s plays; author visits; lectures; musical and theatrical performances; film screenings; exhibitions; arts and crafts; and creative writing workshops. The analysis results in five themes that encapsulate the content of the public events: help center, café, playground, stage, and workshop. The themes are metaphors for the public library’s implied relation to the events in question. The public library’s institutional identity can be characterized as a composite of these themes. Furthermore, it is concluded that the public library is an institution with a relatively stable identity grounded in the ordinary rather than the spectacular. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The purpose of this master thesis is to examine services for digital audiobooks’ role at public libraries in Sweden. The focus of the thesis is on public librarians’ views on services for digital audiobooks within the public library activities. The study is formulated against the rising demand for digital audiobooks and the impact these developments have had on the literary field, which public libraries are regarded a part of. The thesis is based on a theoretical framework which consists of two perspectives: 1) deterministic versus constructionist views on technology and 2) institutional identity and legitimacy. Semistructured interviews have been held with seven public librarians in the municipality of Gothenburg in order to examine how the librarians perceived the implementation and development of the public library services for digital audiobooks, if the services have imposed any changes for the individual librarian and how the librarians perceive the service as a part of the public library’s activities. The empirical data has been analyzed through qualitative content analysis. The empirical data shows that the librarians experience a limited capacity to effect change in regard to the service for digital audiobooks’ implementation, functionality, interface and supply of literature. The informants describe how shortcomings in regards to these aspects hinders the service from being used to meet perceived expectations and needs from users, as well as to live up to the public library’s institutional identity, which threatens the legitimacy of the public library.

As the title of this thesis suggests, presenting one’s self in modern-day society can sometimes resemble a trial-and-error process. In this bachelor’s thesis, the aim is to examine nine Swedish public libraries’ self-presentation through their social media expressions, thus to provide a contemporary overview of what content is being published in relation to the public library organization’s identity formation within the social media platform Instagram. In order to achieve this, following research questions are asked: What kind of content do libraries convey via their Instagram accounts, and what different types of library-specific genres emerge from the empirical material?; Which diverse representations of the public library, library activities and the librarian are conveyed in the empirical material, and how do they relate to more general understandings of the librarian and the library?; How can the selves that emerge in the library's self-presentation on Instagram be seen as an expression of an institutional, professional or media-specific identity, and what impact does technology and the library's social media genres have on how these are shaped?  Using a categorization scheme, consisting of six content categories, this is conducted through a content analysis of 607 library-generated Instagram posts. Based on the empirical evidence the result indicates that four themes in particular emerge as especially present and recurring in public libraries’ Instagram publications. These themes can be summarized as Tributes, hashtags and societal trends; The public library, building and place; The librarian; and The book. Through the libraries’ social media channel, their Instagram posts and mentioned themes, library-specific genres related to the library’s and librarian’s self-presentation seem to occur, which appears to go beyond professional and institutional identities. Therefore, it seems possible to talk about a specific social media identity, ergo Instagram as a new arena for the public library’s mediated self-presentation.