Folkbibliotek och IT diskurser om folkbibliotek och informationsteknologi i fyra bibliotekstidskrifter

Abstract

The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine public library and information technology IT discourses to see which relationships are established between them in four library journals. This is done in two steps, where first discourses are defined followed by an analysis of the relationships established between the public library and IT in each discourse. The questions from which the analysis emanates are as follows: What discourses exist around the public library and IT in the library journals? What conceptions of the tasks of the public library are constructed in the discourses? What conceptions of the tasks of IT are constructed in the discourses? What conceptions of the relationships between the public library and IT are constructed in the discourses? The theoretical and methodological starting-points are found in Ernesto Laclaus and Chantal Mouffes discourse theory. 37 articles from four library journals Biblioteksbladet, Bibliotek i Samhälle, DIK-forum and Ikoner - are analysed through a model in five phases. Four discourses are identified: the Democracy discourse, the Control discourse, the Information mediation discourse and the Market economy discourse. In these four discourses two sets of relationships are defined, antagonistic relationships and promoting relationships. One common theme binds all relationships together; they are all used as evidence of the importance of public libraries future existence. My primary conclusion is that IT is used to legitimise the existence of public libraries.