Libros para todos Folkbibliotek och demokrati i Nicaragua
Libraries all over the world struggle against the threat of decreased funding and a lack of governmental interest. In countries with an under-developed library sector the interest from the government is often minimal or non-existent. Since the 80´s Sida, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency has contributed to the library development in Central America through the Royal Library of Sweden. Nicaragua was the first country to be counterpart in the project. For a period of eight weeks I have completed a field study in Nicaragua and visited the National Library Rubén Darío and public libraries in the country. There are three major parts in this thesis. The first is to consider how public libraries can contribute to the process of democratization in Nicaragua. The vision for the support project is to increase public participation in the process of democratization. I have studied how successfully this vision has been implemented. There are two different views on how public libraries can contribute to democratization: actively and passively. The second part of this thesis is a discussion about how public libraries in Nicaragua can and should contribute actively to democratization. The final part is a study of five kinds of hindrances to library development: economical, administrative, cultural, professional and political. The public libraries in Nicaragua, seen from a deliberative theory of democracy, can contribute to the process of democratization by providing information and knowledge to the people. The hindrances are many but mainly of economic character and a lack of political interest. A reestablishment of an education within Library and Information Science, a political interest and active libraries providing mobile service and lending systems are necessary for the development of Nicaraguan libraries. Public libraries are of great importance in the democratic process, especially in societies with a lack of the written word.