Denna utvärdering syftar till att ta reda på vad folkbibliotekarierna i Umeåregionen har för åsikter om e-boken, om e-bokavtalet med Elib, vad dessa två fenomen har fått för betydelse för biblioteksarbetet, samt hur man skulle kunna förbättra det rådande avtalet mellan biblioteken och Elib. I den meningen är det även en formativ utvärdering som vill ge förslag på förbättrande åtgärder.Jag har i undersökningen valt att intervjua fem bibliotekarier inom Umeåregionen om deras syn på e-böcker generellt, e-bokavtalet med Elib, alternativa e-boklösningar samt deras syn på e-boken och e-bokavtalets betydelse för det dagliga biblioteksarbetet i nutid och i framtid. Därefter har jag i analysen använt mig av s.k. öppen kodning, hämtat från den samhällsvetenskapliga analysmetoden grounded theory, där jag brutit ner intervjudata i mindre beståndsdelar, begrepp som jag sedan använt för att analysera intervjumaterialet.Utvärderingen avslutas med några förslag på förbättringar av e-bokavtalet med Elib, exempelvis att bibliotekarierna måste få större kontroll på urvalsprocessen, och slutligen med några tankar kring vidare forskning inom ämnesområdet e-böcker..

The purpose of this paper is to study the ongoing discussion concerning e-books at Swedish public libraries. The e-booksituation has as of late gained a lot attention in the media. The main distributor of e-book in Sweden - Elib - is in the centreof this discussion and our goal has been to study the opinions and arguments that have been expressed within articles and blog postsconcerning the situation.We have analysed our articles and blog posts through a qualitative text analysis in order to find the main problems of the e-bookdiscussion and which arguments are used. We have also studied the effect Elib might have on the libraries' collection developmentaccording to the articles and blog posts.We found that the major issues within the e-book situation include Elib's price model - which is costly for the libraries - thewatermarking and the selection of books available to the libraries. It is also considered, according to the author's of our articles and blog posts, that the collections at the libraries are affected byElib's system since the choice of which books to include is given to the publishers, not the libraries or its users.The articles and blog posts agree that a change needs to occur for the e-books future survival at the public libraries..

This paper investigates the ongoing talks between the Swedish libraryassociation (Svensk Biblioteksförening) and the Swedish Publishers?Association (Svenska Förläggareföreningen) regarding a new payment modelfor e-book loans in Swedish public libraries. The current model allows an ebookto be lent an infinite number of times and for each loan the library paystwenty Swedish kronor to the supplier, Elib, which in turn passes half of thatsum on to the publicers.The reason for the talks is that both libraries and publishers have reason to bedispleased with the current model. For the libraries it has proven to be aneconomic challenge, for the already strained library economies, sincepayment is made directly by the individual library from the media budget.The publishers also have reasons to want a change of model since thecompensation they receive from the libraries is not enough for them tocontinue publishing e-books and making a profit. They argue that to protectthe commercial e-book market the principle of free loans has to be replacedby a model that introduces ?friction? in the form of limitations on how manytimes a title can be loaned.This study is based on interviews with representatives from both sidesinvolved in the talks, along with a representative from Elib and a librarian.An analytical tool has been constructed by the author to aid in the process ofuncovering arguments and standpoints in the interviews.

In the wake of the electronic revolution digital library has become one of the central themes concerning libraries. The present study takes up the question whether digital library can function in the same way as the conventional library. The question can obviously be posed from different perspectives, e.g. technological-, the user-, or the organizational perspective. The study investigates if (and how) digital library can have the same functions as the traditional library.

The increased popularity of e-books in the Swedish publiclibraries started a debate in newspapers and library journalsbecause of the increase in costs, which this popularity hadled to. The main subject of the debate was the businessmodel provided by the e-book vendor Elib, which accordingto some ruins the libraries financially. In this thesis, opinionarticles have been analyzed using a theoretical model ofcultural politics by the Danish Library and Informationscience researcher Dorthe Skot-Hansen. The results of thestudy showed that people from the library field, publishersand authors were the ones contributing to the debate. Theanalysis of the articles showed that the model of culturalpolitics which consists of four general motives: socialchange, education, economic growth and entertainment wasvisible in the articles.

The main purpose of our thesis is to discuss the subject e-books from a Swedish public library perspective. The aim of the thesis is to locate and analyse statistics in regards to lending electronic books in public libraries. With this background a text analyse have been done, which views different arguments about e-books. We have studied the current statistics about lending e-books to the public users, the statistic material was gathered from the two main providers of e-books, Elib and E-biblioteket. With this statistic report as a background, arguments from scientists, journalists and users of e-books have been studied.

This master thesis aims to examine how public libraries in Sweden are practically and ideologically equipped to deal with e-books, outside of the dominant distributor Elib. The study also aims to find out what?s required of the book market and the public libraries to make further progress in the question of e-books. In Sweden e-books are still representing only a small amount of all the library loans and an even smaller amount of the commercial book market.The methodological and theoretical ground for the thesis is Grounded Theory, and the survey is based on interviews with publishers, librarians and distributors.The conclusions of this thesis are that the public libraries lack resources to invest in e-books, and that they also lack in knowledge about the media and its readers. It also exposes that both internal and external collaboration efforts need to be further developed.

Att göra böcker i digitala format är inte längre någon nyhet då det har förekommit länge. Den svenska marknaden har dock inte förflyttat fokus från den traditionella fysiska boken till de digitala formaten ännu. Den nya tekniken har potential att förändra marknaden och göra den mer kommersiell med fler alternativ till den traditionella boken och flera amerikanska storföretag har utvecklat affärsmodeller som utnyttjar detta. Den amerikanska försäljningen av e-böcker har under år 2012 gått om försäljningen för inbundna böcker. I Sverige var marknaden för e-böcker i början av 2012 inte större än 1,5 procent av bokmarknaden.För de svenska författare och bokförlag som vill utforska kommersiella strategier för utgivning av e-böcker står främst nordamerikanska och några få svenska företag till buds med olika alternativ för utgivningen.