Libraries and society – the macrostructural aspect of library and information studies

Raises the question of how education and research within the field of librarianship should be organized, which role should/could the study and research within the perspective of libraries in society play within LIS and how the societies in the American‐British‐Nordic context are developing in questions of democracy. Raises further questions concerning what the library associations and IFLA do to strengthen the work for democracy in the libraries, which interests govern the development of LIS, and whether there is there a risk that the engagement in professional status has made the educators and researchers within LIS less interested in the needs of the underprivileged in our societies for culture and information. These are discussed in the context of the experiences at the Swedish School of Library and Information Studies.