Public libraries present an interesting dilemma; they are considered agents of communication in society by the library profession, but they also function as formal institutions of the state. Wagner applies semiotics, the discipline whose central point is the study of meaning, to the examination of the possible communication dysfunction in public libraries. Examples of dysfunction include possible conflicts between public libraries' informational aims and their educational or recreational aims; physical location near local authority buildings inconvenient for patrons; external appearance; opening hours; sign systems; and response to ethnic minorities.