Aspekter på folkbibliotekens Internetsatsningar verksamheter, intentioner, regleringar
The aim of this thesis is to study different aspects of the public libraries' investment in public access computers connected to the Internet. What level of accessibility can be found at the surveyed libraries concerning the number of computers open to the public, as well as chat and email services? What activities have been taking place with the computers in focus, and what have the goals of these activities been? Is there any control of content, and what aspects of the Internet are, if that is the case, subject to censorship. And how do the governmental policies relate to the surveyed libraries' intentions and activities regarding the Internet? In order to answer these questions, each main library in the 42 largest towns of Sweden was surveyed response rate: 100 %. The study also contains a description of the Swedish national IT-policy, with the main focus on the public libraries' role in the IT-policy, and what measures are being taken in order to prevent information gaps. Furthermore, two surveys of computer habits in Sweden performed by Statistiska Centralbyrån are described, as well as the debate concerning the Internet that has been taking place in the Swedish library press.