Biblioteksrum i förändring: Folkbibliotekariers upplevelser av ny-, om- och tillbyggnation

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study is to examine how librarians experience implementations of changes in the physical space of the public library. The study seeks to answer the following questions from the librarians’ perspective: What are the underlying reasons for changes in the physical space of the library? What are the important functions of the public library to the community residents? What reactions do librarians get from community residents after changes in the physical space of the public library? The study is based on semi-structured interviews with librarians working at seven small public libraries in Sweden. A model of four library spaces, which was developed by Andersson and Skot-Hansen in 1994 and refined in 2012, is used as a theoretical framework to help analyzing the results. The majority of the libraries are structured according to the older version of the model. The results give evidence to the public’s understanding of the library as a physical space, a place where you can find books in shelves and qualified staff ready to help you with your questions. The findings also show that changes of the physical space are for example due to the need for bigger rooms, technical development or meeting place for the public. Finally, the results demonstrate that nearly all of the visitors to the libraries react positively to changes in the physical space and that more than half of the seven libraries have statistics giving evidence to an increasing number of physical visits and borrowed material.