Folkbiblioteken och digital kompetens : en komparativ studie av folkbibliotekens arbete med digital kompetens i Sverige och Danmark ur ett kulturpolitiskt perspektiv

Sammanfattning: The aim of this master’s thesis is to investigate the role and assignment of public libraries in Sweden and Denmark, with a focus on digital competence and digital participation. This is a comparative study, where a more general intention is to analyze how cultural initiatives on digital competence are motivated and described, and how they are able to contribute to higher digital competence of the public in each country. The research questions are: Which cultural policy arguments can be distinguished and identified in each countries investment to promote people’s digital abilities? What are the differences and similarities in the arguments based on the countries’ description of the democratic assignment of public libraries and how does it relate to digital competence? Which role are attributed to the public libraries in Sweden and Denmark in their work with digital competence and digital participation? To answer the questions a qualitative text analysis has been used on six official documents, three from Sweden and three from Denmark. The theoretical framework of this study is based on the theory “All cultural policy is instrumental” by Geir Vestheim. The results show that working with digital competence and digital participation is seen as a core assignment in both Sweden and Denmark. A democratic assignment has been identified in both countries. The role that are assigned to the libraries are an educational role, which has its background in the strong tradition of learning in both countries. There's a difference in regard to how the countries describe and in Denmark’s case, require that the public work towards a more digital world, whereas in Sweden there are more alternatives for people that are not able to use digital technology.