The Development of the Swedish Library Catalogue from the Middle Ages until Today : Studied from the Perspective of an Institutional Theory

This master’s thesis deals with the development of the Swedish library catalogue. The thesis primarily has two purposes. Firstly, it describes how the Swedish library catalogue has developed from its first appearance until today. As the Swedish library sector is very extensive the authors have chosen a few catalogues which they have studied more thoroughly. To find information about the chosen catalogues different literature sources have been used, for example historical texts describing the actual catalogues, biographical and scholarly texts and official reports. Secondly, it examines the changes of the catalogue from an institutional perspective. The new institutional theory is used. This theory is explained and its background and development within different subject fields is described. Especially three different aspects of the theory have been studied and analysed in the text. These are the importance within institutions of operating procedures and rules (for example actors and routines), isomorphic changes and institutions’ importance for social and political control and legitimacy. The authors find that catalogues have appeared in different shapes and have had different aims throughout the centuries. The first catalogues were administered by organizations lead by strong leaders. Isomorphic processes were important to the development and their influences have had different geographic origin during the period. As the development of the library catalogue progresses it appears to be a strong factor in the institutionalization of libraries.Uppsatsnivå: