Från Svinaböke kommun till Dieselverkstaden
En ideologianalys av debatten i svensk bibliotekspress
The aim of this thesis is to examine the debate in Swedish library press concerning privatization of public libraries. The aim of the thesis stems from a desire to know whether Swedish librarians, as has been alleged in contemporary right wing debate, are politically biased and adherents of socialism. The debate is analysed using the method of idea and ideology analysis, using the tool of ideal types of the ideologies socialism and neo- liberalism. As material I have chosen articles from the magazines Biblioteksbladet and DIK Forum, from the years 1989 to 2010. The reason for choosing the topic of privatization is that it is a controversial question and a topic one could expect to generate a heated debate.Four positions can be discerned in the debate. One group of participants propose the privatization of public libraries. Amongst the reasons for this are arguments about raised effectivity, lower costs and greater adaption to customers demands. All of theses arguments fit well into neo-liberal ideology. Another category of articles is opposed to privatization due to ideological reasons. Among the arguments offered is that private libraries will lead to ?commersialization? of the libraries stock of books. A third category is against privatization but due to reasons that are hard to describe as ideological. Instead the articles focus on more pragmatic questions, for example the difficulties for private libraries cooperation with other libraries The last category of articles is neutral to the question of privatization.The thesis has not been able to answer satisfactory the question whether swedish librarians are biased and adherents of socialist ideologi. The reason for this is that few of the participants in the debate are librarians.This is a two years master's thesis in library and information science.