The trade union Dik organises professional groups in the cultural, communication and creative sectors. Now they have investigated how their library employees view the proposal, which the union believes violates the Library Act.
"Libraries should be for everyone, period. But it's not for everyone if some people can be notified if they come into the libraries," says Anna Troberg.
In the free text of the surveys, hundreds of library employees write that it would feel unethical to have to report undocumented immigrants. Several also say that they would resign or simply refuse to make a notification if the proposal becomes reality.
"You have become a librarian because you want to help people find literature and information in different ways. Under no circumstances do you want to devote yourself to identifying people who are already very vulnerable," says Anna Troberg.
Several trade unions have protested
An inquiry into how the duty to report can work in practice will be appointed in the near future, according to Migration Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard (M). Several other professional groups and trade unions, such as doctors, teachers and lawyers, have previously objected to being subject to a reporting obligation.
Migration Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard says that the purpose of the reporting obligation is for all parts of public society to help each other find people who are staying in Sweden without permission, and to ensure that decisions made by the judicial system are also complied with.
"Then I would object to the expression that it would be an accusatory society. After all, this is about civil servants in their service. It's not about private individuals doing this to fellow human beings," she told Kulturnyheterna.