Abstract: In this Master?s thesis our aim is to study the situation and process regarding the decision to use outsourcing of the media acquisition function in a Swedish public library. By using New institutional theory, focusing on ways of organising and values in the organisation we are able to analyse this phenomenon. Skot-Hansens theory about three different culture political argumentation schemes, humanistic, sociological and instrumental (or market oriented), gives us the opportunity to place statements and facts into a functional theoretical context. The market oriented scheme is further clarified with the concept of New Public Management. The role of values in the institution, regarding aims and goals is stressed. The method we use is that of a case study on Norrköping city libraries. Interviews with key persons in the organisation are in main focus and are supplemented by document studies. The material collected are presented and analysed in detail.
The picture that emerges is a complex and differentiated one and elements from all of Skot-Hansens schemes are, in different amounts, present. The library chief?s aims are found to be the main reason that the idea of outsourcing has come to Norrköping city libraries through, what New Institutional theory calls, mimetic isomorphism. The idea
has been introduced in the organisation through argumentation and a special translation of the idea, based on the logic of appropriateness of the organization. For example, the uncertainty regarding the public library?s role in society has created a situation were the library through constant change wants to be accepted and acknowledged as an active and important part in the society. Some elements of tension have been found in the process of introducing the outsourcing of the media acquisition function in Norrköpings city libraries, but there has not been any in depth discussions about outsourcing as an example of a market orientation trend in the public sector. This conclusion is connected
to a tendency towards a less ideology based public library sector, which has been pointed out by previous library and information researchers and corresponds with our study?s results. For a prosperous development of the public library we find it necessary for the organization not...
