| dc.description.abstract | The aim of this thesis is to investigate the way in which a dominating ideological discourse in society is reflected and transformed in a bibliographic classification system within the realm of a politicallydefined public library. The analysis takes its departure in a discussion within the Library and Information Studies (LIS) classification research that assumes that such relation is reflective. There is,however, still a lack of more extensive studies on problems concerning this relation. The thesis also responds to a pronounced need within the LIS research community of studies based on humanisticmethodologies.The analysis focuses on the first edition of "Klassifikationssystem för svenska bibliotek" (the SAB-system) from 1921, which has been the dominating classification system used in Swedish publiclibraries ever since. In order to reveal ideological patterns within the hierarchies of the system, it is worked with as an autonomous text, meaning that its practical side as a tool in the library work is notconsidered. The theoretical framework is taken from three different spheres. Most important is the mimetic theory which conceptualises the analysis of the relation between a given social reality and a given text.Furthermore theories on ideological reproduction and institutional development are used. Methodologically the analysis is based on the hermeneutics of Paul Ricoeur whose theories on mimesis is the pointof departure in this thesis. The analysis is carried out in three phases. 1. Prefiguration: the context of the SAB-system is defined. This is done by describing idological discourses in Swedish society in thefirst two decades of the 20th century and by defining an ideological identity of the early Swedish public libraries. 2. Configuration: a close reading of the SAB-system is performed in order to revealideologically interesting structures within its hierachies and the positions of various subjects. Comparisons are made to older Swedish classification systems as well as to the Dewey Decimal Classification.3. Refiguration: a summarising analysis is made whcich discusses the the relation between the ideological discourses in society and the ideologically interesting structures in the SAB-system. The results suggests that there indeed is a connection between the dominating ideological discourses in society and the way in which the classification system is structured, but it is not only a reflectiveone. The structure of the system itself transforms the ideology in a way which helps the public libraries to define their own unique ideological identity. This suggests that the classification system is notonly an active tool with which to organise the stocks of a library, but also an active statement of the institutional identity of the public library as a whole. | en |
