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Bilder av biblioteket : en ideologianalys av debatten omkring privatisering av folkbibliotek.

Rennemark, Anna-Karin LU (2011) ABMM43 20111
Division of ALM and Digital Cultures
Abstract
On the 8Th of December 2010 the decision was made in Nacka cultural committee, to outsource all six public libraries of the municipality. The decision is unique in Swedish library history and resulted in an intense debate that took place on several forums.

This master’s thesis concerns the contemporary debate on privatization of public libraries. The aim is to analyse the debate in the light of theoretic-ideological interpretive frames, in order to investigate which images or representations of the public library that emerges in the material. The thesis will also attend the question of how debaters on the basis of different ideologies relates to the statutory mandate of the public library. The fundamental idea the thesis rests on is... (More)
On the 8Th of December 2010 the decision was made in Nacka cultural committee, to outsource all six public libraries of the municipality. The decision is unique in Swedish library history and resulted in an intense debate that took place on several forums.

This master’s thesis concerns the contemporary debate on privatization of public libraries. The aim is to analyse the debate in the light of theoretic-ideological interpretive frames, in order to investigate which images or representations of the public library that emerges in the material. The thesis will also attend the question of how debaters on the basis of different ideologies relates to the statutory mandate of the public library. The fundamental idea the thesis rests on is the social constructivist assumption that linguistic representations contributes to create the social reality. Thus, the representations of the public library that emerges in debates and other texts contributes to create and recreate the social construction of the public library. This is further assumed to get real consequences for the future of the public library.

To achieve the aims of thesis, I have conducted an ideology analysis of the debate concerning privatization of public libraries that took place in nationwide newspapers such as Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet, as well as in Nacka local newspaper Nacka Värmdö Posten, from December 2010 to April 2011. Initially I identified two main ideologies regarding typical features of the debate. These I have called The traditional or modern ideology and The neo-liberal or postmodern ideology. These two ideologies are to be regarded as theoretical constructions and they are used as tools for further analysis of the material.

The analysis results shows that the images of the public library are manifold and at several points even conflicting. The debaters that on various levels joins the traditional and modern ideology assumes a collectivist view of society and put emphasis to the historical roots of the public library as an institution of popular education, a normative quality concept and traditional values as democracy, freedom of expression, development and equality. It is argued that these traditional values are threatened whether the public libraries are released for private operation. Debaters sympathizing with the neo-liberal and postmodern ideology advocates on the other hand innovation and institutional change, based on the users individual needs and preferences. The view of society is in this ideology individualistic and market-oriented and the view of culture includes a broader range of cultural expressions.

The conclusions include the finding that democracy and political targeting is promoted as overarching goals in both ideologies, but linked to different content. We can also observe that market influences nowadays affect the entire society, even activities in public facilities. Furthermore I argue that the differences in perceptions of what a public library is and should be, antagonism an unwillingness to broaden perspectives leads to difficulty concerning future development of the public library. (Less)
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@misc{1973688,
  abstract     = {{On the 8Th of December 2010 the decision was made in Nacka cultural committee, to outsource all six public libraries of the municipality. The decision is unique in Swedish library history and resulted in an intense debate that took place on several forums. 

This master’s thesis concerns the contemporary debate on privatization of public libraries. The aim is to analyse the debate in the light of theoretic-ideological interpretive frames, in order to investigate which images or representations of the public library that emerges in the material. The thesis will also attend the question of how debaters on the basis of different ideologies relates to the statutory mandate of the public library. The fundamental idea the thesis rests on is the social constructivist assumption that linguistic representations contributes to create the social reality. Thus, the representations of the public library that emerges in debates and other texts contributes to create and recreate the social construction of the public library. This is further assumed to get real consequences for the future of the public library.   

To achieve the aims of thesis, I have conducted an ideology analysis of the debate concerning privatization of public libraries that took place in nationwide newspapers such as Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet, as well as in Nacka local newspaper Nacka Värmdö Posten, from December 2010 to April 2011. Initially I identified two main ideologies regarding typical features of the debate. These I have called The traditional or modern ideology and The neo-liberal or postmodern ideology. These two ideologies are to be regarded as theoretical constructions and they are used as tools for further analysis of the material. 

The analysis results shows that the images of the public library are manifold and at several points even conflicting. The debaters that on various levels joins the traditional and modern ideology assumes a collectivist view of society and put emphasis to the historical roots of the public library as an institution of popular education, a normative quality concept and traditional values as democracy, freedom of expression, development and equality. It is argued that these traditional values are threatened whether the public libraries are released for private operation. Debaters sympathizing with the neo-liberal and postmodern ideology advocates on the other hand innovation and institutional change, based on the users individual needs and preferences. The view of society is in this ideology individualistic and market-oriented and the view of culture includes a broader range of cultural expressions. 

The conclusions include the finding that democracy and political targeting is promoted as overarching goals in both ideologies, but linked to different content. We can also observe that market influences nowadays affect the entire society, even activities in public facilities. Furthermore I argue that the differences in perceptions of what a public library is and should be, antagonism an unwillingness to broaden perspectives leads to difficulty concerning future development of the public library.}},
  author       = {{Rennemark, Anna-Karin}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Bilder av biblioteket : en ideologianalys av debatten omkring privatisering av folkbibliotek.}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}