The aim of this thesis is to examine the construction of Nordic and organizational identities performed by the libraries of two Nordic cultural institutions: the Nordic Culture Point in Helsinki, Finland, and the Nordic House in Reykjavik, Iceland. To do this, three main methods were used: (a) Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis was employed to interpret the institutions’ self-representations, (b) the topics of debates and talks organized by the institutions were analysed and (c) interviews were performed with librarians currently working at these libraries.

The results show that the institutions are (re)presented as two separate units rather than two parts of the same organization. The Nordic Culture Point is more explicitly connected to the Nordic Council of Ministers while the Nordic House presents itself as an iconic building in a marketing manner.

The institutions are affected by politically defined themes and values, which permeate their events. The most common themes for talks and debates were literature, environmental issues or sustainable development, and politics. Even though there is a clear influence from political strategy documents, many topics with little or no connection to these documents were found. In addition, the literature selection processes at these libraries do not seem to be largely affected by politically defined priorities, based on the librarians’ views.

According to the librarians who were interviewed, the aim of the Nordic libraries is to offer literature in the Nordic languages that would otherwise be difficult to access, gather this literature in one location, and promote interest in the Nordic region. While they agree that the main point of reference for the Nordic libraries is public libraries, the librarians differ on the role digital technology should play in the library.

This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.