The aim of this master’s study is to examine the function of the public library in the local community at present. I have searched for the answers to the following questions: Which position has the public library in the local cultural policy? What characterizes each library and which are the priorities? What is the local profile of the public library? What cooperation partners does the public library have and what do they mean to the library? Does the public library intensify the local community in any way? To answer this, I have made three qualitative case studies. Interviews and collection of documents were carried out in three different communities. The people interviewed are library chiefs and local politicians. As a theoretic base I have used an analysis model, originally developed by Marianne Andersson and Dorte Skot-Hansen. The analysis model is designed to categorize the functions of the public library in the local community as: a cultural centre, a knowledge centre, an information centre, and a social centre. The analytical findings illustrate that all three libraries examined are clearly visible in the local cultural policy. The findings also reveal that all three libraries possess all of the functions of the analysis model, although some differences were found. One of the libraries is more distinct in the function as a knowledge centre, another is more distinct in the function as a cultural centre, and a third is more distinct in the function as a social centre. The libraries examined have several cooperation partners in the local community. The reasons why cooperation is important is partly economical and partly that it makes the library more visible in the local community. / Uppsatsnivå: D