"Plötsligt var världen här" : Bibliotek och integration i tre Stockholmsförorter

Sammanfattning: The aim of this two years master thesis in Library and Information Science is to examine how librarians and library managers in the three Stockholm suburbs of Alby, Fisksätra and Rinkeby think and reason about the role of public libraries in the integration process. The aim is also to examine whether their perception differ from that of local politicians at the municipal level. The theoretical framework is Marianne Andersson and Dorte Skot-Hanses model for analysis of the local library profile, and Jose Alberto Diaz theory on the integration process. The method used is qualitative interviews. The interviews were recorded and the content was analyzed using qualitative content analysis.  The results of this study show that the library services in the three suburbs, rather than being stipulated by the legal demand for special services towards immigrants, are based on the needs of the local population. Since a majority of the populations in the three suburbs are of foreign origin, no specific conceptual apparatus (such as immigrant) is required. Furthermore, the study shows no significant differences between library personnel and local politicians in their perception of the public librarys role in the integration process. There were, however, in the case of Fisksätra, different views expressed concerning the primary purposes of the local library.  According to Diaz model of the integration process, the library primarily plays a role in the social, communicative and personal integration dimension. All of the library's four roles (identified by Andersson and Skot-Hansen  as a cultural centre, a knowledge centre, an information centre and a social centre) are of importance for the integration, but the roles sometimes compete, indicating a lack of sufficient economic and human resources.