The purpose of this master's thesis is to describe and analyse the origin and development of the libraries in the town of Värnamo, between the years 1908 and 1960, when a new modern public library was inaugurated. The method I have used is, to a great extent, examining and analysing source material from the archive of the municipality in Värnamo and the popular movement in Jönköping. As a background to my study I describe the development of the Swedish society, from the end of the nineteenth-, until the middle of the twentieth century. I also describe the local development of Värnamo, during the same period. Furthermore I also give a general description of the progress of the libraries in Sweden during the same time. In the analyse then, I compare the local and the national development of library activities. The municipal library in Värnamo was founded in 1920. At that time the working-class movement and the International Order of Good Templars both had their own libraries, since about a decade ago. The libraries co-existed for many years, before they were united into one in 1955. The municipal library gained a professional librarian in 1953. These two things were of great importance for the modernisation of the local library activity. As the library moved to modern, appropriate premises, in the recently built People's Palace, the town of Värnamo had obtained a real public library.