The image of an institution: Politicians and the urban library project

Abstract

In terms of political perceptions, library building projects appear to be similar across different contexts. Qualitative interviews with local politicians were employed to examine attitudes towards public libraries and library development in three cities building new central libraries: Aarhus, Denmark; Birmingham, UK; and Oslo, Norway. Applying an institutional perspective, the analysis focuses on norms, legitimization, and organizational change. Findings show shared views on the role and mission of the library. The informants primarily pointed to citizens' democratic rights and their country's democratic tradition when legitimizing public funding for libraries in general. However, argumentation for local library building projects was connected to city development and the desire to portray a city as oriented towards knowledge and culture.