Skarpt läge : värderingar och vägval vid hantering av kontroversiella föredrag på bibliotek

Sammanfattning: The aim of this master thesis is to examine how library managers have handled situations involving controversial lectures at their libraries. Lately, controversial lectures have upset public opinion and caused critical writing in local newspapers. Questions posed are: How do library managers handle controversial lectures, concerning freedom of speech, library directives and respect for human rights? The theoretical starting-point is Joacim Hansson’s definition of two ideological views on libraries, one educational and one liberal, and also an article about thoughts in post-modernism and modernism by Emily Knox. I have used the theoretical framework to define two ideological standpoints; the perspective of freedom and the perspective of responsibility, to illustrate the views of the informants. Semistructured interviews with library managers were conducted, and the results show that the informants more often expressed views close the perspective of freedom, than views close to the perspective of responsibility. The conclusion is that there is no complete consensus on how to interpret and follow the many directives being applicable to Swedish libraries. Public opinion and the risk of receiving criticism seem to have an important influence on decisions concerning controversial lectures. However, the study shows that both the perspective of freedom and the perspective of responsibility, in dealing with controversial speech, can be motivated by library managers in terms of acting in line with democratic values and library directives.