The library as a public sphere. An analysis in the light of Jürgen Habermas’ notion of the concept.

This bachelor thesis examines the library as a public sphere in the notion of Jürgen Habermas’ theory from 1962. The questions asked concerns how the public sphere is discussed in relation to Swedish public libraries today in our late modern society. The analyzed material consists of the Swedish Cultural Bill of 2009 and five qualitative interviews with librarians. The material is analyzed with two of the four social actions presented by the sociologist Maw Weber: value-rational and instrumental. The Cultural Bill handles the importance of public spheres in society, but does not recognize the possibility of public libraries as functioning as such. The interviewed librarians stress this function, but points out the problems in using it as an economic legitimizer of the institution. The difference between the perceived role of the public libraries in the statements from the librarians and the cultural bill probably explains the ambiguity in the librarians’ statements. There is a problem when the more abstract values of the libraries are not recognized in the cultural policy of today. The solution presented in the thesis accede the ongoing LIS research in the emphasis on the need of a more extensive definition of the library as a public sphere.Program: Bibliotekari