E-books and public libraries - About management of e-books at three Swedish public libraries

The subject of this Master’s thesis is the management of electronic books at three Swedish public libraries. Current statistics about lending e-books have been gathered and supplemented by interviews with librarians and head librarians from the libraries in the study. Statistics and interviews are then analysed together with the library’s policy documents by using an institutional theory. The thesis is based on two research questions: ”How the supply / lending of e-books has changed over the past decade at the three selected public libraries?”; ”How does e-books affect the development of library services in relation to the physical and digital library?”. Empirical material studied from an institution-oriented perspective where; Zetterlund rules and standards, DiMaggio and Powels three forms of isomorphism: compelling, mimetic and normative. The result of the thesis shows that management of e-books at the three public libraries does not differ significantly, because they have the same conditions for work and same e-book supplier Elib, which means similar agreements. E-book lending has increased dramatically from 2009 and at the same time all libraries have experienced rising expenses, which are considered to be highly problematic. Furthermore, the study shows that the current Elibs model is not sustainable and if Swedish public libraries are to continue to offer e-books to their users, a change must occur within the foreseeable future