Det digitala arbetet hos folkbibliotek på landsbygden : En innehållsanalys av biblioteksplaner

Sammanfattning

Public libraries play an important role in today’s digital society, especially in rural municipalities where the digital divide is larger due to the fact that government and community services being less available and internet access is lower. This study aims to expand the knowledge about how the digital work of public libraries in rural municipalities in Sweden is described in their library plans. The method chosen was to collect and examine library plans from fifty-three rural municipalities through quantitative content analysis. We also gathered demographic information about the different municipalities, including statistics about their broadband expansion in rural areas. The findings show there is a difference in how and to what extent the library plans describe their digital work. We noticed that hardly any of the library plans mentioned demographic or broadband access in their municipality. It was however more common to describe the need for digital services due to the lack of local physical government presence.