Public libraries in Sweden, according to library law, are required to submit library plans, which local politicians are tasked with reading and approving. Since public libraries rely on local politicians for funding, this thesis hypothesizes that public libraries, in their efforts to legitimize their operations in the eyes of local politicians, to some extent adhere to a form of governance inherent in public administration known as New Public Management (NPM). NPM is a governance rationality that many LIS researchers argue is no good fit for public libraries. This thesis investigates how three themes central to NPM, namely measurable value, user focus, and the diminishing role of the librarian profession, manifest in two public library plans. Public libraries and public administration, primarily due to differing perspectives on the concept of ‘value,’ are viewed as having separate interests in how social reality should be constructed in the library plans. Through discourse analysis, the findings reveal that NPM rationalities can appear in public library plans. However, as the purpose of such plans, as defined by library law, is to implement the law in municipal practice, the influence of NPM rationalities is limited by the library law itself. Furthermore, the interplay between users and public libraries is shown to construct social, immeasurable values that align with the core mission of public libraries, namely to promote democracy.