”Föreningslänken mellan människorna och boken” : En diskursanalytisk studie av debatten kring utlåningssystem under början på 1900-talet

Sammanfattning: The aim of this thesis is to analyse the debate surrounding the implementation of specific library issue systems (the Browne issue system and the Gothenburg issue system) in early twentieth century Sweden. Utilising discourse analysis as a theoretical basis, several articles published in the trade magazine Folkbiblioteksbladet between 1903 and 1911 have been analysed. The articles contain argumentation in favour of either of the two issue systems, through which it is possible to analyse larger ideas regarding the nature of the emerging public libraries in Sweden. Through close reading of these articles, four main discourses as well as a fifth overarching discourse have been identified: efficiency, statistics, guiding, uniformity, and finally control. These discursive discussions both inform and reveal the shape that the debate takes, as well as reveal an understanding of the ideals existing surrounding the formation of the new public libraries in Sweden. The study shows that the influence of the Anglo-American library sphere, as well as a strong interest in technological development and a modernisation of society at large contributed to the issue system debate and subsequently to the formation of the modern Swedish public libraries. Regarding the issue system specifically it was the Browne issue system which became the more widely implemented one in Sweden.  This is a two-year master’s thesis in library and information science.