Ett folkbibliotek för alla, eller? : En diskursanalytisk studie om tre skånska folkbiblioteks arbete mot nyanlända 2015

Sammanfattning: This master thesis is a study of how three public libraries in Scania approach refugees in 2015: Helsingborg, Lund and Malmö’s public library. The Swedish Library Act states that public libraries should be available to and usable by all people. The purpose of this research is to find out to which degree public libraries have the possibilities to fulfill this Act, in terms of their organizational structures and resources. The method for this study was critical discourse analysis, which was performed on different sources of interest. We have examined manifests that are considered guiding documents worldwide and local development plans for the individual libraries that included general development strategies, but also gave an overview on which user groups the individual library focuses on and the future challenges that the library has identified. In addition we have performed semi-structured interviews with library employees. We have used neo-institutional theory to investigate which powers are affecting the public library as an organization. We discuss how the Swedish library act applies in 2015, as the rate of people immigrating to Sweden has increased remarkably, and how the Library Act applies in relation to this change. In conclusion of our research we have seen that communal politics and library managements encourage libraries to approach refugees, however initiatives are up to the individual employee. There is both a lack of resources, as well as the cultural and linguistic competences needed to approach refugees. The public library’s role in approaching refugees is defined by learning, democracy, and being a gateway into society. One of the libraries’ most important functions is therefore that of being a free and open meeting place. By including a hegemonic perspective in our analysis we investigated if the organizations were willing to change or if norms and practices prevented changes. According to our informants the Library Act cannot be fulfilled the way it is phrased and thus public libraries cannot be equally usable by all people in the current state.