The roles of Västerås public library : A research of the city of Västerås policy documents from the year 2010 with a discourse analytic approach.

The aim of this Master’s thesis is to identify and describe thedifferent roles that are expressed in a public library by researchingthem in the four policy documents concerning Västerås public libraryin 2010 and by interviews with three specially chosen key persons.Further studied are the discourses that can be perceived in thematerial and whether or not the roles could come in conflict witheach other. Laclau and Mouffes discursive theory constitutes themethodical frame for this thesis and by using terms from discursivetheory the analysis was made in four steps.Seven roles were identified from the policy documents concerningVästerås public library and the interviews with the key persons. Thefirst role of the public library was the intermediary of knowledge andinformation, the second was viewed as a democratic role, the third asa marketing role, the fourth as a role that handled the collaboration,the fifth role was to improve literacy, and the sixth and seventh roleswere as a culture centre and a meeting place. With the help fromkeywords five major discourses were found within the material. Ademocratic, a pedagogic, a cultural, a giver of information and a userdiscourse.The conclusion of this thesis is that the public library in Västeråsseems to be a complex operation. The most prominent role is thedemocratic one. Further research could be to study the different rolesmore closely, though this thesis is about identifying them.Program: Bibliotekari