En välkomnande, påverkningsbar, inspirerande och opretentiös mötesplats som är öppen för alla : En analys av hur ett modernt folkbibliotek formulerar sig kring sin verksamhet

Sammanfattning: The public library´s overall purpose and legitimacy is analways relevant subject for discussion in Library andInformation Science and in public debate on libraries.Libraries are a part of a bigger societal context and are thusinevitably influenced by societal changes. In this thesis wehave studied different roles and functions of the publiclibrary, as seen from documents published by one specificpublic library in Malmö - Garaget. As basis we have usedan analysis model of the library in the knowledge andexperience society made by Jochumsen, HvenegaaardRasmussen och Skot-Hansen (2010). Our purpose has beento examine which ideas and notions on the functions of thepublic library that can be found in Garaget’s documents andin the model – and to discuss them from a discoursive pointof view. In our understanding of discourse and powerstructures within the discourse we were influenced byFoucault. We found that what is said in Garaget’sdocuments, in many ways, can be considered coherent withthe ideas expressed in Jochumsen et al:s model. Among themore central themes we found examples of how the publiclibrary’s functions are becoming broader, and also thatlibrary users are allowed (and expected) to play anincreasingly central part in defining the actitivites of thelibrary.