Rhetoric and realism: young user reactions on the Linköping fire and its consequences for education and democracy

Studies young user reactions to the 1996 Linköping library fire which destroyed buildings and 150,000 books, and its consequences for education and democracy. Young people from the neighbourhood put up a “billboard for the freedom of speech” outside the library park and children, youths and grown ups attached their notes during the first weeks after the fire. Those notes have been analysed and interpreted as part of a research project studying the effects of the fire and the restoring work. This study aims to understand how young people reacted and expressed their feelings and thoughts regarding the library fire and the temporary break in access to library and information resources. Aims to understand and reveal the meaning the informants express regarding experiences, feelings, reflections and ideas in the situation in which they are acting, by looking for the informants’ own perspectives.