Born-digital: Information technology discourse and the transformation of Czech public library roles

This study examines how the adoption of information technology has been understood within the Czech public library system, and how its adoption has, in turn, influenced the creation of new public library roles. The study employs discourse analysis for its ability to show how, within a particular institutional setting, discourse creates conditions for possible courses of action, and for particular exercises of power.; Throughout the 1990s, the Czech Republic has faced two transitions: one from communism toward an open society, and another toward what is commonly called the “information society,” that is, a society increasingly influenced by digital media and the flows of networked information. The transformation of the public library system during these two transitions forced the public library system to justify its role as an important social institution. To do this, the public library system had to face questions about what the information era meant for libraries, and to address the gap between the expectations of an open society and an institutional culture that was the product of a paternalistic, socialist society.; Statements from the early 1990s give an impression that the public library and the state were speaking at cross-purposes, that they lacked a common vocabulary with which to formulate and implement their goals. Statements which were rooted in the “pre-transformation” institutional culture—cries of neglect, the “loss of 642 libraries,” “state disinterest,” the lack of leadership, and lack of library prestige—proved ineffective in galvanizing support for a new library mission. In time, public library discourse shifted from negative, reactive statements to more active support of public libraries as “information institutions” and as part of a larger information society. Within these discourses, which include a European, “information society,” discourse of democracy, the library and the state have found a common language of transformation that has allowed them to cooperate on policies. Information technology discourse has provided an arena for the state and the library system to work out new institutional forms and roles.