Constructions of a Networked Library : A Document Analysis of the Proposal for a National Strategy of Libraries and its Reception across the Swedish Library Sector

This thesis concerns itself with the notion of a networked or cooperating library and the discursive means by which it is constructed in documents related to the formation of a national strategy of libraries in Sweden. I study the draft as presented by the national library, Kungliga Biblioteket (KB), in early 2018, the comments and advice submitted by different parts of the library sector during the fall of 2018 as well as the final proposition handed over to the Minister of Culture in March 2019. The study focuses on what defines or constitutes a networked library, on the significance of a networked library for the perceived identity of libraries and library professionals and finally, on what grounds a networked library is ascribed legitimacy or is subject to criticism. This is worth investigating because of the calls for increased collaboration and coordination of different parts of the library sector and its implications for the professional identity as well as the wider understanding of what a library is and what a library does. The method of approach is a thematic document analysis informed by discourse studies. Discursive strategies are used as the main analytic tool. Strategies are adopted from the critical vein of discourse analysis (CDA) but are applied here in a way consistent with poststructuralist discourse theory and its ontological assumptions. The results show that the library sector is going through a dilemma of redefining, adjusting, modernizing, and broadening the meaning of libraries or keeping with a long-standing tradition that not always corresponds with the library practices of today. This tradition is subject to changing conditions – not least due to the digital transformation – as much as it remains a firm ground for legitimizing the professional field. A networked library requires a stale image to be left behind in favor of a collaborative library infrastructure, extending its meaning towards a library identity which adheres to the conditions of a networked world. In conclusion, a networked library is found in the middle-ground between a traditional identity and creating a new story about libraries