Public libraries and digital service development: Bridging the gaps in company collaborations

Public libraries act as service providers for citizens, offering a wide range of services that are often procured or developed together with private and third-sector actors. This article presents a series of scenarios exploring how libraries can act together with private actors to develop new digital services. The scenarios are based on a series of interviews and workshops with libraries and private service providers in the Nordic region and show how different actors perceive the challenges of developing and maintaining digital projects in a library context. We then utilize these scenarios to discuss how to better support libraries in developing new digital services when collaborating with companies by presenting four different strategies: Strengthening the Middle-Out Position of Public Libraries, Increasing Procurement Expertise, Re-assessing Collaboration Infrastructures, and Negotiating Boundaries with Private Service Providers.