The aim of this Master's thesis is to study and highlight the perception that the library sector in Sweden has had of cultural policies since the70s. My research intends to point out the opinions and expectations –as discourses – that emerge from the major field-related journals, contrary to previous research in the field that has been mainly focused on politics' perception of library. The historical ambition implies that the developments of discourse through the years, and its relation to political phenomena, need to be taken in account. The method to achieve this goal is that of discourse analysis according to the work of Normal Fairclough, whose deep focus on the relations between discourses and social changes make the approach thoroughly adequate. The temporal line of the analysis is from the first public inquiry about culture in the 1972 to the most recent one in 2009. Since I intend to highlight the evolution of discourses during this time span I have also sighted to connect the discourses with the historical circumstances in which they have developed. The results of the analysis has showed how the events of Sweden’s modern history have deeply affected discourses, making the library sector express its expectations towards cultural policies according to the need that emerged from the historical circumstances. The identified discourses contained commercialism-critical ideological positions through the 80s and only partially in the 90s. In the following years the discourses' meaning switched to more liberal, market-friendly, individualistic and library-centered positions. Further results indicate that the content of discourses tends to, as a defense mechanism, focus on, the value and importance of library in society during periods of economic and political crisis, and it is also evident that the sector is very skeptical about and dissatisfied with the politician’s actual knowledge of libraries' work and functions.