Digital libraries, you say? : The capacity within a library website

The purpose with this study is to examine whether the library mission can be performed on the library’s website. Since in Sweden only a million people above the age of twelve lack a daily use of the internet, it is highly relevant to see what kind of services the physical library’s digital counterpart is carrying out. The method used is a case study where the functions of Stockholm’s city library’s website was examined. These functions were then organized after an adaption of a model created by Mierzeck and Suminas, made with the goal of analysing library websites. The purpose of this was to see what types of functions the website offers. The library mission was in turn formed into an analytical tool. This was done so that a comparison could be made between the offerings of the library website and with what the library mission entails. The theory The four spaces was included for its insights and analytical capacity. The results of the study shows that a library website is capable to perform the library mission, but with some difficulties. The services are more informational than interactive, which effects the user’s capacity to participate and in turn the library’s ability to assess the user’s needs. It is the recommendation of this paper to make the library websites more interactive and equal in terms of service with the physical library. By changing our views and seeing the digital and physical library with the same status, where activities and services are provided equally, the digital library can become a richer and stronger place for the users’ gain