The democracy assignment in public libraries : how does the library staff view their democracy assignment?

It is said that libraries are the cornerstones of democracy.What is then the democratic mandate, and how is itperceived by the library staff? That's what I examine in thismaster's thesis. I’ve made 14 phone interviews with librarystaff, from assistants to managers, and examined what theirdaily work routine looks like and what they think belongs tothe democratic mandate. I found that all agree that there is ademocratic mandate, but it is not clearly stated in anydocument.I found seven areas that my respondents saw as part of themandate; availability, diversity, children and young people,equality, public education, free of law and cultural history.These are not sharply defined, but can often move into oneanother. The everyday work of the library is more of a socialwork than you might think. The digital divide means that thelibrary staff will largely be helping with things like orderingstuff over the Internet, get email accounts, helping people tolearn social media, helping immigrants and refugees to learnhow Swedish society works and so on.The problems experienced with the democratic mandatewere mainly economic. Downsizing means that the staffdoes not have time and opportunity to help as much as theywant. The fact that the democratic mandate is not so clearlystated was also experienced as a problem. A clearly definedmandate would not only draw guidelines for labor, but alsoshow outward a little better what you actually do at thelibraries, more than lend books.Program: Bibliotekari