This master's thesis asks two main questions concerning the history of the City and University Library of Gothenburg: what was the prevailing view of the library and its role? What economic support did the library receive and from whom? By critically examining extensive source material mainly from the library archives and city and state records, these conclusions are drawn: the City and University Library was regarded as a purely scientific library by all involved except the state as early as the 1920s. The state did not express this view until 1946. The support came almost exclusively from the city of Gothenburg, the state not extending support on a larger scale until 1946 and then only sporadically. The widely-held view of the library as a scientific one was ignored by the state in its repeated refusals to grant the library support both before and after 1946. ·