Digital Library Platforms’ Democracy Building Between Instrumental Education and Web 2.0 Sharing: A Swedish Case Study

Digital platforms are a primary means of communication in society. Public libraries play an empowering role these processes, strengthening citizens’ digital competences. This raises questions about what democratic processes the technology is made to enable. The study investigates how Swedish Library (DL) envisioned and organised within national digitalisation strategy. Qualitative methods used, theoretical democracy framework developed used together with concepts education Bildung analysis. Four empirical themes identified. analysis centres on tensions related horizontality hierarchy, sociality. DL vision dominated by hierarchical instrumental educational that connects representative democracy. A subordinated social pedagogical inner motivational drives partial forms sharing, connected deliberative semi-participatory forms, exists, mostly form some cherry-picked Web 2.0 discourses.