Z39.50 is a standard protocol designed to create an interface between diverse computer databases for diverse information needs. Since it has to be adjustable it is also complex and demands a certain degree of expertise when being set. However, the aim of this paper is not to make a theoretical description but to examine certain conditions in practice. From the perspective of Swedish research libraries two principal hypotheses are examined: 1) the implementation of a given technology (Z39.50) is primarily influenced by social circumstances, and 2) the way in which the technology is implemented will bias the results of information retrieval. For this examination we need a framework of theories concerning the relationship between technological development and society, organisational theories and database theories.

The main purpose of this master thesis is to investigate in what ways library and public preschool cooperate with families with immigrants background in developing and protecting children's languages and cultures in two districts, Hässleholmen and Norrby, in the community of Borås. I want to investigate the parent's meaning of view according to which roles the libraries and public preschools involvement play. The study is based on qualitative interviews. Nine interviews were undertaken with parents who live in these two districts and five interviews with the librarians and preschool teachers who work in the libraries or the public preschools. The study of relevant literature, which describes topics such as psychological aspects of immigration, facts about children with immigrant's background and their language development and multicultural librarianship, provides a basis for the discussion.

This thesis investigates the reception of middle literature novels among critics in Swedish newspapers and at Swedish libraries. Works by three authors were chosen as representatives for middle literature: Helen Fielding, Nick Hornby and Tony Parsons. The investigation is based on interviews with librarians at the Gothenburg City Library, the total purchased number of books at public libraries in Sweden and analysis of Swedish newspaper reviews. The result is compared with theories by literary sociologists as Jofrid Karner Smidt, Janice Radway, Erland Munch-Petersen and Staffan Bergsten among others. It was found out that literary scientists and critics had a different way of looking at middle literature.

Mediation of fiction has always been one of the main tasks of the public library. The focus on information technology is often seen as a threat and competitor to this task. But technology can also offer new ways to mediate fiction, and the aim of this thesis is to examine how library websites and blogs can be used for this purpose. The research questions are:? What forms of fiction mediating material exist on library websites and blogs?? How is the fiction mediating material presented?? Are there any differences between the fiction mediating working methods on websites and blogs compared with those in physical libraries?The thesis is based on a qualitative content analysis of eight Swedish public library websites and three blogs, and on a theoretical frame work including literature and research on mediation of fiction, library websites and blogs, web design and usability.

Sweden  has  been  characterized  as  one  of  the world?s most  secular  countries, even though  it is  becoming  increasingly more multicultural.  This,  combined  with  the fact that pupils do  not  feel  they  have  enough  time  in  school  for  Religious  Education and that the requirements are increasing made me interested in how they talk about religion in upper secondary school. The aim of this study is to see if there are any differences between how pupils in vocational programs and academic programs are talking about religion and Religious Education. The main questions that were raised revolved around 1)  how  pupils  talk  about  what  religion  is,  2)  how  they  talk  about  religion  in  the Swedish  society  and  3) how  they  talk  about  Religious  Education  in  upper  secondary school. The questions were also about what similarities and differences I could find in the way they talked about these subjects.

For hundreds of years the scientific journals has been the foremost tool for scholarly communication. Publishing of research results is very important for scientists. Often the research is bound to the university and the research libraries supplies the scientist with all journals needed. The last decades the libraries have seen the costs for subscriptions to journals explode. Commercial publishers often lie behind the mostly unmotivated escalation in price.

The aim of this study is to understand how the library environment affects the experiences and feelings of public library users. In order to concretise this, the study sets out from the public library in Bollebygd. We wanted to find out how the library users experience the library environment. Does the library environment affect the meeting between library users? How does the environment affect their moving patterns inside the library? Which environmental factors influence the users' experiences? Our questions were: how do users experience the library environment - as a mediating space for information and culture? - as a social room and meeting place? The material used to attain the purpose of the study consists of qualitative observations and interviews, and literature studies.

The purpose of this Master thesis is to compare the perception and significance of reference work in two countries, Sweden and Germany. This will be achieved by means of a literature review of previous research literature and public documents and a content analysis of articles from two library journals.A first step was to examine the historical development of reference work in the selected countries. In connection with this there proved to be distinct phases in the discussion regarding reference work. These phases with their specific discourses, themes and emphases reflected and thus later were confirmed in the second part of the study.The results show that despite some similarities there are also quite a few differences in how reference work is perceived in both countries. For Sweden, the idea of reference work was introduced relatively early.

The purpose of this masters´ thesis is to examine the attitudes of public librarians towards easy-to-read literature and see whether a connection between these attitudes and accessibility can be made. The study has been performed with a qualitative approach and consists of four depth interviews with emphasis on how librarians relate to and experience easy-to-read literature and its´ users. As complement to the depth interviews, two micro interviews were made. The study can be seen as a follow up to a survey I made 2005, commissioned by The centre for Easy- to-Read. As analytical tools the cultural sociological theories of Pierre Bourdieu, with his concepts field, cultural capital and habitus, have been used.

Syftet var att undersöka skillnader mellan olika studentgrupper uppdelat efter år av arbetslivserfarenhet och ålder. Detta för att se om arbetslivserfarenhet och ålder hade någon betydelse för studenters interna motivation, externa motivation, amotivation och kontrollokus. I tvärsnittsstudien deltog 71 studenter (60 kvinnor och 11 män) från en högskola i Mellansverige och deltagarnas ålderspridning var 19-47 år. Undersökningen byggde på två enkäter; The Academic motivation scale (AMS-C28) for college students (Ryan & Deci, 2000) och Academic locus of control scale for college students (ALC) (Trice, 2013). Statistiskt signifikant skillnad fanns mellan en studentgrupp som var 19-22 år gamla och en studentgrupp som var 26 år och äldre på kontrollokus, där resultatet visade att den äldsta gruppen upplevde mer externt kontrollokus än den yngre gruppen.

The aim of this essay is to examine three separate Swedish public libraries and their respective websites on the grounds of the usability sciences. I firstly had to summarize the main properties of the usability-field in order to gain an extended knowledge of its purposes and possible usage for today?s library systems. I was then able to apply the extended knowledge in the examination of the three library websites and the purpose of determining whether or not they were designed according to the standards set by the usability-sciences.Usability is a rather new science that deals with the dissection and examination of computer-based systems, in order to find the key components that make systems user-friendlier. With user needs being the main focus of its research, usability tries to meet all the different needs of the modern user and construct systems that are less system-centered and more user-centered.

The aim of this research is to examine the Göteborg International Film Festival Fund (GIFFF, 1998?2011) as a part of the festival's overall operations, to provide answers to questions about if/how the Fund can be understood as an expression of the festival's fundamental values, and how the Fund can be recognized within the festival's strategic development. The GIFFF is also discussed in relation to contemporary academic studies that interpret Western film funds for the developing countries ? such as Hubert Bals Fund and Fond Sud Cinéma ? as an expression of Eurocentrism.The investigation is based on the contemporary film festival research, previous academic studies on Göteborg International Film Festival, the festival?s printed material ? such as programs and press releases ? as well as interviews with the former festival director Gunnar Bergdahl, who initiated the Fund, and festival editor Ulf Sigvardson, who ran the Fund during its final years of existence.The conclusions are: The Fund's objectives ? such as to support filmmakers and film schools in the developing countries, and also to screen their films at the festival ? can be seen as a broader interpretation of the vision that was determined by the festival founders, that the festival should be a platform for independent filmmaking and also help screen the films that otherwise would not reach the Swedish audience. Also, the Fund was a significant part of the festival's expansion strategies during the 1990s.

The aim of this Bachelor´s thesis is to contribute to theunderstanding of the headmaster´s view of his role when it comes to developing the school library and in particular the work of integrating the library into the teaching. The basis is three questions: What views do the headmasters express regarding the libraries´ main functions? What views do the headmasters express regarding their own importance for the school libraries´ pedagogical role? How do the headmasters regard the interaction between teachers and librarians, as to how the interaction works? To get answers to these questions we conducted semi-structured interviews with headmasters of secondary schools. As a theoretical starting point, we used our own taxonomy for headmasters. The basis of our taxonomy are from the points by the ?Svenska biblioteksföreningen? and ?Kungliga biblioteket?, which together form a description of a school library integrated in the school curricula.

The aim of this Master's thesis is to study the public library identity from a brand perspective, how the public library brand identitity is communicated through blogs and what is communicated in them.The authors analyse the public library identity through selected concepts and a model within Aaker´s and Kapferer´s branding theories. These theories have been applied on literature and blogs as a method. The authors have examined literature about the public library identity in different works within Library and Information Science and political documents that applied to public libraries. An empirical study has been carried out on blogs published by public libraries in Sweden.The result of this study has lead to the identification of different core and extended identities for the public library brand. The core identities have been identified as democracy, adult education (the swedish word ?folkbildning? has no correct translation in english, adult education is the recommended related term) and lifelong learning.

Our state of emergency is good - is the public library prepared for the future?Our state of emergency is good! These are the words spoken by Prime Minister Per Albin Hansson in 1939. He claimed that Sweden had nothing to fear from a future war, we were safe. Today we know it was not so. Is this the situation for Swedish public library of today? Is the public library ready to face the future, or is it only fancy words?We have to form the future, not let the future form us.