This study concerns how policy documents (the national Library Act, the regional Cultural policy, and the local Library plan) travel from statements to practices in Swedish public libraries. We aim to gain knowledge about potential tensions between political levels at a time when values inscribed in the Nordic model are challenged by political populism. What meanings are assigned to cultural policy documents concerning public libraries by different stakeholders in public library practice? How are the policy documents enacted in everyday library performance? Do the policy documents support or hinder librarians' performances?
A practice theoretical approach is adopted. Methods include interviews and observations.
Findings show that policy documents are important in various ways depending on the stakeholders' position, knowledge about, attitude, and expectations on libraries.
The diversity of policies offers rich possibilities for negotiations and the seemingly fixed policy documents come forth as plastic and ductile.