The mission of public libraries : an analysis of ideas in the referral statements to Ds 2012:13.

The new Library Act came in force in January 2014, external changes such as globalization and information technologies had changes the way libraries work and the new law aimed to reflect this. The aim of this study is to examine ideas surrounding the mission of the public library as it appears in the referral statements that three state agencies and three interest organizations gave to the ministry publications series Ds 2012:13. The questions this thesis examines are: what ideas can be discerned in the respond-ents' opinion regarding public library's mission? How is the con-sultation bodies’ way of looking at public library's mission to-wards the government's approach? In this thesis the empirical ma-terial has been analyzed using a theoretical model called The four spaces – a new model for the public library designed by Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen, Henrik Jochumsen and Dorte Skot-Hansen. The model consists of four different goals and four differ-ent spaces and can be used as a basis for discussions about the public libraries role in society. The findings show that the state agencies and the interest organizations view of the mission of the public library is that of a knowledge intermediaries and a conveyer of information, of promoting reading and democratic views and having children and adolescents as a focus group. In regards to the comparison between the government’s ways of looking at the mis-sion, I found only a few differences. The respondent’s wanted to widen the mission compared to the governments view.Program: Bibliotekari