The purpose of this study is to see how societal changes have affected the role of public libraries and how public library staff have depicted and experienced these societal changes. To assess this, two theoretical frameworks have been applied, social infrastructure and the public sphere. To examine this, we have conducted qualitative interviews with experienced public library staff.

The study has found that, societal changes have had an impact on the social infrastructures of the libraries. The downsizing of personal services at other societalinstitutions has induced changes in what kind of assistance users need and expect from the libraries and their staff. One change is that users now need more support regarding contacts with other institutions, for example, digital assistance. For the library staff more work is oriented towards caring and building relationships, but they are also put in positions where they feel inclined to set up boundaries towards the users.

The study has focused on three criteria within the public sphere, the first being openness.The library staff are aware of and supportive of this criterium. They are also actively working to make the library available for all users. The study furthermore looks at two more criteria of the public sphere, discussion and debate, and common concern. Here the study has found that the library staff are well informed about the libraries function regarding these two areas and that they are generally supportive of working with these two concepts, however there is work to be done in order to promote these two concepts.

The library staff has ideas concerning these concepts, but they are seldom realized. The study has found that both the social infrastructure and the public sphere have changed due to the societal changes, consequently the libraries have strengthened their role within the social infrastructure and to some extent in the public sphere. However, this has come at a cost, where some other areas, for example, literature promotion work, have become less prioritized.