The aim of this essay is to examine different discourses concerning adolescents and library youth services that can be identified in the material. 73 articles from the Swedish library journal, Biblioteksbladet, were analysed trough a model. The different articles were all published between 1916 and 2005. The analysis revealed a result that consists of four discourses about adolescents and youth services at different libraries between 1916 and 2005: the library as fostering discourse, a new era discourse, the visiting activities discourse and the young adult discourse. The library as fostering discourse is based on the idea that the library itself doesnt need to change the service to adolescents, instead the adolescents are supposed to change into good library users.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the public libraries work towards SFI (Swedish For Immigrants) based on the views of the overseeing librarians. To study this we have asked the following research questions:What distinguishes the public libraries? work towards SFI according to the responsible librarians? What distinguishes the communication between SFI teachers and the librarians according to the responsible librarians? What opinions are held by the librarians in regards to their work with SFI?We have used a semi structured interview method with seven librarians in charge of the activities with SFI at small and medium sized public libraries in a rural area of Sweden. The theoretical framework is composed of Marianne Andersson and Dorte Skot-Hansen?s model for analysis of the local public library profile and the authors? definition of collaboration.

The purpose of this study is to find out how libraries can be user-friendly to people with dyslexia by focusing on how adult dyslectics experience the library. Data were collected through literature and interviews with adult dyslectic students. Two different types of user studies served as a theoretical framework; one was an individual-related study by professor Wilson and the other was a system-related one from professor Buckland. The findings in this study shows that dyslectic library users often experience difficulties when seeking for materials in the library, due to the libraries organisation of material according to the written language. Through technical aid and a more user-friendly organisation of materials it may be easier to find relevant material for dyslectics.

The purpose of this thesis is to attain a deepened understanding concerning views on videogames at four Swedish public libraries, especially in relation to library practice and how videogames fit within this context. It also aims to provide insight as to why these libraries have included videogames in their collections and what thoughts were behind it. To fulfill this aim we conducted a qualitative hermeneutic study, using interviews as the main source of research material, but also written materials and a lecture on the city library of Malmö and how they work with videogames. The theoretical framework of the study is founded on Dorte Skot-Hansen?s and Douglas Raber?s theories on the values, roles and functions of public libraries.

As the way of communicating and accessing information has changed radically over thepast decade so has the way the public libraries operate to reach the citizens. In thesetimes the demands of what a public library should be and offer the visitors havechanged. One should have the option to access the digital public library at any givenhour of the day, from anywhere in the world and at least have the same possibilities ofinformation as the visitors at the non-digital, "real" library.In this Master's thesis we will analyze and discuss the condition of the Swedish digitalpublic library of today, 2006, and the forward thinking work with the issues ofdevelopment in this matter. In order to do this we set out to examine the attitudetowards the public digital library among the staff at a small number of Swedish publiclibraries and their supporting institution, the county library. Moreover, the attitudesdefined have been compared to the actual status of the services and medias at the publiclibrary websites.In conclusion, we have detected a certain standardization of what the digital publiclibrary consists of today.

This Master?s Thesis examines the subject indexing of all Swedish gay fiction published from year 2000 until 2007. This is done from a queer theoretical- and domain analytical perspective. The study is conducted in the catalogue BURKsök created by BTJ which is the largest library media company in Sweden. The purpose of the study is to examine the heterosexual norm in fiction indexing and to study to what extent gay fiction is to be found by subject.

This Master thesis aims to study the relation between Swedish governmental cultural policy and cultural events at two Swedish public libraries. The Masters thesis demonstrates how national cultural policy regulates every part of the public library. This demonstration is a result based upon national cultural policy documents and interviews with employees at two public libraries in Sweden. The conclusion that national cultural policy regulates this part of the public library is drawn with help of the circle of culture as applied in Culture Studies and Michel Foucault theories of power. The thesis contains the answer of four questions, two involving cultural policy and the other two events at the library.

This master?s thesis aims to study the practice of separating popular genres of fiction from the rest of the fiction stock, often seen at public libraries. The method being used is critical discourse analysis according to Norman Fairclough?s three-dimensional conception of discourse. The textual dimension of this analysis is the book shelf itself and the sociocultural practice is the everyday practice at a public library of supplying and mediating books to the visitors.

The aim of this master thesis is to examine the attitudes among library staff regarding a music downloading service called Musikwebb, which is available in many Swedish public libraries. It focuses on the impact of Musikwebb on the process of music selection, the relationship between Musikwebb and the digital development in public libraries and what service Musikwebb offers its users. The gathering of material was executed through focus group interviews with library staff in four libraries. This empirical material we divided in three categories: Music selection, The Library and its digital services, and Library services. We use the results of Sanna Talja?s discourse analysis regarding the relationship between Music, Culture and the Library to analyze our material.

This study is an attempt to shed light on problems and possibilities of the school library of the Swedish comprehensive school concerning library law and goals of the school and the school library. Many investigations about the role of the school library of the comprehensive school have been carried through. They have all more or less come to the same conclusions. In spite of Swedish library law and goal documents of the school library, the school libraries are often neglected, if not will and commitment are to be found among teachers. Using a model of the school organisation by Gunnar Berg, three cases of school libraries are presented and analysed in a larger organisational and political perspective.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the public libraries work towards SFI (Swedish For Immigrants) based on the views of the overseeing librarians. To study this we have asked the following research questions:What distinguishes the public libraries? work towards SFI according to the responsible librarians? What distinguishes the communication between SFI teachers and the librarians according to the responsible librarians? What opinions are held by the librarians in regards to their work with SFI?We have used a semi structured interview method with seven librarians in charge of the activities with SFI at small and medium sized public libraries in a rural area of Sweden. The theoretical framework is composed of Marianne Andersson and Dorte Skot-Hansen?s model for analysis of the local public library profile and the authors? definition of collaboration.

The technical evolution has a great influence on the public libraries. Electronic media becomes more and more common. This Master´s thesis is based upon the Swedish Library law 9§ (SFS 1996:1596) which says: Public- and school libraries should pay special attention to children and teenagers by offering books, information technology and other media, adapted to their needs, to encourage development of language and stimulate reading. From this point of view we have examined why the children´s departments in public libraries offer CD-ROM games which are based upon characters from the literature, how they are used in the daily activity and how they can contribute to the development of the children´s department.We have made literary studies and empirical investigations including interviews, observation studies etc. The results from this studies shows that both young and adults appreciate the CD-ROM games.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine three library weblogs to evaluate how they are used and what type of information the libraries publish in these specific weblogs.The following three questions are the basis of this study:? What is the content of the weblogs?? How is the weblog used as a tool by the libraries?? How is the interaction between the library and the readers of the weblogs presented regarding the comment function?The method that has been used in this study is content analysis and the code units have been created during the process. It is mainly a qualitative analysis but it does also contain quantitative elements. With the content analysis, 21 different themes where cut from the three weblogs. These themes where then put into the model of the local library profiles worked out by Marianne Andersson and Dorte Skot-Hansen.

The general view of learning has dramatically changed during the last two decades. Today we talk about learning for life and educate to meet the demands of the information society. This new view forces us to constantly relearn and develop new knowledge ? something which has resulted in large restructuring within the upper secondary school. New forms of teaching, where the pupils are given the opportunity to a more active search for knowledge, is developing.

The aim of this master?s study is to examine the function of the public library in the local community at present. I have searched for the answers to the following questions: Which position has the public library in the local cultural policy? What characterizes each library and which are the priorities? What is the local profile of the public library? What cooperation partners does the public library have and what do they mean to the library? Does the public library intensify the local community in any way? To answer this, I have made three qualitative case studies. Interviews and collection of documents were carried out in three different communities.