Public libraries and video games : A qualitative study of how the introduction of video games in Swedish public libraries relates to the introduction of other new medias.

The aim of this thesis is to study how the recent introduction of video games in Swedish public libraries compares to past introductions of other medias, namely music records, sequential art, manga (Japanese comics), and films on video. In what ways does the introduction of video games differ from the other examples of introductions and in what ways are they alike? In what manner have the medias been introduced? How does the librarians views on video games differ from their views on other medias? The purpose of doing this is that by investigating how new medias have been evaluated in the past, we might gain an understanding of how the introduction of video games links into that tradition. Theoretically, this thesis is grounded in Sanna Talja’s theory of the interpretative repertoires of the music library. Qualitative interviews have been used as the basic method alongside content analysis. The results show that some of the historical “new” medias were debated for some time at the time of their introduction, whilst others gained more immediate acceptance. The difference seems to lie in whether there previously existed a similar media in the public library. We call the first category “debated introduction” and the second “introduction of similarity”.Video games can be considered as belonging to the second category.Uppsatsnivå: