The study explores challenges related to achieving fair and equal user access to digital services within Swedish public libraries, in relation to the Swedish Library Act and its democratic and accessibility principles. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten immigrants learning a new language who had participated in the national linguistic programs “SFI” & “SVA” (Swedish for immigrants and Swedish as second language) and/or participated in the volunteer-driven activity "Träna Svenska" (‘Practice Swedish’) activity, conducted by the Swedish Red Cross. The study employs at heoretical framework combining social constructionism and information foraging theory. Social constructionism, with its focus on how societal beliefs shape perceptions of digitalization and digital exclusion, provides an overarching meta-theory. Information foraging theory offers insights into how users navigate and utilize information resources. This framework is used to analyze participant interviews and understand the dynamics of digital service use and the information behaviors of study of participants utilizing these digital services.

The results show that several participants face challenges with public library digital services, primarily due to limited multilingual support and complex interfaces. While some results indicate overall satisfaction with public library digital services for some participants, difficulties are identified from non-intuitive designs and inadequate translation options hindering effective use and accessibility for others. The findings underscore the need for improved public library digital services and enhanced multilingual support to better accommodate all users. Additionally, targeted digital literacy training and personalized assistance are essential for overcoming these barriers and ensuring effective use of public digital library services, which is crucial for advancing digital inclusion.