The study of culture is specifically relevant to libraries confronting changes. A variety of conditions makes it beneficial for libraries to understand the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the underlying culture. Such an understanding can help libraries in adjusting to changes easier, without losing the cultural values that they hold important to their identity and strategic strengths.Taking this as a starting point the purpose of this essay is to examine and describe what aspects in prevailing library cultures are important to pay attention to when meeting changes. To accomplish this we will explore the concept of library culture, its substance, meaning and expression.Culture is reflected in the artifacts, values and underlying assumptions of formal and informal groups. Culture can be found at various levels.

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to study the organisational culture of two public libraries managed differently. One of the libraries in my study is run by the local bookstore and the other is run by a staff co-operative. My aim is to elucidate characteristic features in the culture of these two public library organisations. The questions I posed are which types of organisation culture can be identified in the two given examples and what the factors are that may be of importance for these cultures.