| Summary: | Hush! – An analyses of the public debate regarding silence in libraries. This essay is based on the perception of a change in the library soundscape. Our purpose is to identify the prevailing discourses in the public debate regarding silence in libraries. To achieve this, we posed three questions. What part does silence play in the public debate about silence in the libraries? What are the discourses that can be identified in this debate? What is the debater’s opinion of the ambition of the library to become a third space? To answer these questions, we analysed seventeen articles from the Swedish news, by applying a discourse analytic model - based on a model created for this context by Åse Hedemark. The articles were written between 2006 and 2018 and we chose this timeframe due to the fact that the technological development of cellular phones etc, thrived in this period.The results show that there is a discord between the libraries and the participants in the public debate and that a number of discourses have been identified. We have identified the main issue of the debate as the transcendence of the library from a silent temple full of books, to an open space for informal encounters and conversations.
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