Project: Public libraries in a changed political landscape – a democratic mission for a new era?
The aim of the project is to investigate political influence on local public libraries in six south-Swedish regions. The study focuses the perspective of librarians and other local information workers.
Project information
Project manager
Joacim Hansson
Other project members
Fredrik Hanell, Linnaeus University
Hanna Carlsson, Linnaeus University
Lisa Engström, Lund University
Participating organizations
Linnaeus University, Lund University
Financier
The Crafoord foundation (Crafoordska stiftelsen)
Timetable
1 July 2021–31 December 2023
Subject
Library and Information Science (Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Department of Cultural Sciences).
More about the project
How are public libraries affected when established democratic foundations and procedures are questioned? When the established forms of democratic governance in a society are renegotiated, the democratic role of local public libraries change. The focus of this project is the perceived political changes in Sweden, seen from the perspective of librarians. Cultural policy shaping the norms for librarianship is currently, after decades of political consensus, subject to ideological struggle.
Methodologically, the project draws on institutional ethnography which, as part of a critical sociological tradition, considers individual thought and action as institutional. Through this frame, the views and practices of librarians also become the views and pratices of the library.
The project combines surveys, individual interviews, focus-group interviews, and document studies to capture various dimensions of the problem at hand.
Staff
Publications
- Hanell, F., Carlsson, H., Engström, L., & Hansson, J. (2024). Canaries of Democracy: The Role of Public Libraries in Times of Political Turmoil. Public Library Quarterly. Epub ahead of print.
- Engström, L., Carlsson, H., & Hanell, F. (2024). Drag story hour at public libraries: the reading child and the construction of fear and othering in Swedish cultural policy debate. Journal of Documentation, 80 (7). 226-245.
- Engström, L., Skøtt, B., Carlsson, H., Hanell, F., & Hansson, J. (2024). An Act of Balance: Exploring the Boundaries of Librarianship in Times of Political Turmoil in Sweden and Denmark. Nordisk kulturpolitisk tidsskrift, 27(1). 8-25.
- Hanell, F., Carlsson, H., & Engström, L. (2023). The public library as a political symbol: a post-political reading of the demise of the consensus-model in Swedish cultural policy. International Journal of Cultural Policy. Epub ahead of print.
- Carlsson, H., Hanell, F., Engström, L. (2023) . Revisiting the notion of the public library as a meeting place: challenges to the mission of promoting democracy in times of political turmoil. Journal of Documentation, 79 (7). 178-195.
- Carlsson, H., Hanell, F., Hansson, J. (2022) . ”Det känns som att jag bara sitter och väntar på att det ska explodera”: politisk påverkan på de kommunala folkbibliotekens verksamhet i sex sydsvenska regioner. Nordic Journal of Library and Information Studies. 3 (1). 26-43.
- Hanell, F., Hansson J., Carlsson, H. (2022). "Public libraries in a changing political landscape: results from a survey on political influence and pressure on public libraries in Southern Sweden". Information research, Vol. 27.