Folkbibliotek, frihet och förvaltning : En idéanalys av debatten om bibliotek på entreprenad

• Main Author: Nilsson, Ylva
• Format: Others
• Language: Swedish
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Folkbibliotek; entreprenad; förvaltning; idéanalys; privatisering; kulturpolitik; demokrativärden; ekonomism; Information Studies; Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-24424

Studying the debate on privatization of public library management in Swedish newspapers from 2005 and forward, this thesis aims to examine what values underpin the arguments used by proponents of different management forms. By constructing two ideational types – democratism and economism - this thesis analyzes how the proponent’s views and ideas on different management forms, namely private and public, would impact the public library organization. Even as this thesis finds that the difference between public and private values have reduced during the last decades due to the influence of New Public Management over the public sector, this is however not widely discussed by either side in the debate on management form. Even though the debate seems stuck in the polarization between public and private sector, this thesis finds that proponents of different management forms use the vocabulary of economistic and democratic values, suggesting another underlying conflict. The proponents for public management tends to use a more value based argumentation, while the proponents for privatization tends to depict their reasoning more like rational facts than ideological statements. Due to the difference in argumentation it appears as though the proponents debate on different levels. The thesis concludes that this is a debate concerned with democratic and economic values and that the proponents attach them with each management form. The black and white view of private and public sector tends to stand in the way of this deeper debate about values. Both sides agrees however that the form of management will impact the public library organization.