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.

Image indexing research today is either conducted on a visual attribute level or on a higher semantic level, forming a semantic gap between the two. There is much to gain if research progress from the two fields is combined. Image retrieval using access points in both visual and semantic significations could improve retrieval and bridge the gap. In social media today, images are often the primary communication agent and the number of images on the web is increasing in an uncontrolled way. New and efficient ways to index and retrieve the images are needed.The purpose of this study is to examine if emotions could be a semantic access point for image retrieval and if folksonomy indexing is useful when searching for images that represent emotions.

This essay aims to investigate how Swedish Public Libraries market their activities in video games for youths. It also highlights how the library, on the basis of the unique opportunities of the video game medium, can develop this marketing to build a relationship with youths. The empiric evidence is based on a survey of answers given by 30 librarians responsible for video game collections, and qualitative telephone interviews with three of them. The essay?s theoretical framework is based on Philip Kotler and his co-authors? marketing theory which consists of five stages: Marketing research, segmentation, marketing mix, implementation and development.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate what information needs arise from the interest in music, which sources are preferred, how this information is sought and what part does the public library play in providing music materials. Brenda Dervin`s Sense-Making theory is what serves as a theoretic framework for this study. A qualitative approach was undertaken in the investigation and nine interviews were conducted with people interested in music. Findings indicate that different ways of acquiring information are used depending on the situation in which the information is needed and also what kinds of music people prefer. The main findings of this study suggest that people interested in music are keen to constantly discover new music to perform or listen to.

Hip-hop music has long been an expressive medium used by individuals from marginalized areas in Sweden to address social issues and shape their identities. Through interviews with Swedish hip-hop artists and analysis of lyrics, this bachelor thesis explores the self-expression of the artists and how they express their views of society. It focuses on how social problems are expressed and understood, as well as on how the artists view the depiction of contemporary Swedish hip-hop music in media. Additionally, the study investigates how hip-hop artists themselves perceive the significance of their music lyrics. Furthermore, I explore the impact of music on the identity of hip-hop artists from marginalized areas, as perceived by the artists themselves. To gain a comprehensive understanding, the ethnographic study employs semi-structured interviews and participant observation with four non-ethnically Swedish hiphop artists who live or have grown up in disadvantaged areas in Sweden.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the function of the museum library. The methodused consisted partly of literary studies, and partly of field investigations, conducted mainlyin the form of interviews.Two different sets of field studies have been conducted. The first one is an investigation ofthe museum libraries in Goteborg. After a preliminary study, three of these have been selectedfor further investigation. These are the libraries of Göteborgs Konstmuseum, GöteborgsStadsmuseum and Röhsska museet.

The aim of this master's thesis is to study how gender equity is discussed and worked with at a Swedish public library, and what potential consequences these discussions will bring. By analysing different types of documents and interviews with library staff using discourse psychological theories and methods we show that two dominating discourses coexist and determine the direction of how gender equity is discussed. These discourses are argued to create and uphold gender and gender roles within the organisation as well as in society at large.In our study we find that one of the identified discourses has, as one of its consequences, that it preserves and regenerates traditional gender roles. This discourse is mainly used when discussing personnel policies and when recruiting. We call this the discourse of gender role preservation.The second discourse is mainly seen when discussing the public dimension of the library's functions.

This study examines the cultural factors which necessitated the establishment of The Music Archives of Småland in 1991 in the city of Växjö. I wanted to know the importance of the local music tradition and the role of those people who worked to create an institution such as this. In order to do this I interviewed the chief collector of early folk music, Magnus Gustafsson, and made use of literary sources to devise questions and evaluate the results of the exercise. In this study I have made use of a model of a musical culture in a society, created by Lundberg and Ternhag, based on the theory of cultural fields by Pierre Bourdieu. According to this model, the stature of a musical culture gives different forms of musical expression certain roles, but these roles can be remodelled, reflecting perhaps political or ideological influence.

The purpose of this study is to acquire knowledge about how interaction, participation and inclusion are affected by individual integration for three students in upper secondary education for pupils with learning disabilities. To be individually integrated means, in this case, that the students from compulsory school for children with learning disabilities are taking part in some of the programme-specific courses together with students from the regular upper secondary school. This study gets its inspiration from the ethnographic research approach, and uses passive observations together with interviews with students and their guardians as main methods to collect information.The school in question has not made any adjustments to make the programme-specific courses more adapted to the different needs, which is typical of integration. This study shows that the school presumes that the students with the help from the vocational teacher, but without any special needs educational help, themselves are to adapt to the conditions at the regular upper secondary school. This, together with the lack of special needs educational competence among the vocational teachers, led to a higher level of exclusion and an enhanced feeling of not being up to standard among the integrated students.The results also show that the integrated students maintain a strong wish to be included with the students attending the regular upper secondary school.

This thesis aims to study the impact of the transition from communism to democracy on the public libraries in Poland. The central areas of study are changes in: the organisation of the public library system, the role of the public library in society, the librarian's daily work and job situation and collection development. The thesis is based on qualitative interviews with public librarians, public library managers and researchers in Warsaw, Torun and Gdansk. The theoretical background consists of chapters outlining thoughts on democratic and communist library ideas and public libraries' responses to a changing society. The results show that the public library system has been affected by two major decentralisation reforms in Poland, leaving the libraries in the care of local governments.

The purpose of this thesis is to compare mass digitization and qualitative digitization, to see how the digitization process and the digitalized material differ. The study emanates from the mass digitization as it is performed at the National Library in Norway, and the qualitative digitization at the Royal Library in Sweden. The method used is document studies combined with mail interviews. The focus is upon the practical operation, to which counts: ?purpose & selection?, ?preparation, image capturing and processing?, ?metadata & text encoding?, ?quality assessment?, ?storage of digital originals and copies? and ?display?.

The purpose of the study is to analyze what conditions the specific company provides employees to enable organizational learning. To clarify the framing of the study a few quastions has been specified to narrow the issu. The questions that has been used are: what opportunities does the company creat to enable organizational learning and how does the emplyees contribute to organizational learning.In the search of knowledge to the previously questions this study becames a qualitative study with an ethnographic approach based on observations and interviews. This method gives the knowledge that makes us understand the actions that takes place in the oraganization and the shared image the oraganization provides. An understanding for the employees and the organization has been achived after compiling the empirical material from observation notes and transcripts from the interviewsIn the work whit the analysis the empirical material based on transcripts and observation notes has been the main material.

The purpose of this Master?s thesis is to describe and analyse the development of the public and the study circle libraries in the district of Kolbäck during the period of 1913-1954. The factors important for the library development described in sub-questions are: financing, locality, staffing, stock of books, book-lending level and uniting district effects. I use a hermeneutic interpretation model of interaction between the parts and the wholes, between reasons and results. This research leans mainly upon material which is sent to be deposited in archives in Hallstahammar, Västerås and Grängesberg.

This paper aims to apply a specific architectural theory onto Lund City Library in order to achieve a better understanding of how the physical concept of the library is affecting our knowledge and our production of meaning; and furthermore how it suggests a certain form of usage. This paper discusses the ways in which architecture is affecting us when we use the library. The paper attempts to answer the following question: ? Which one of Koch?s spatial structures could apply to Lund City Library, and in which ways could this spatial structure be a producer of meaning? The specific architectonical theory used is developed by Daniel Koch in his paper Spatial Systems as Producers of Meaning: the Idea of Knowledge in Three Public Libraries. This theory is the method of the paper as well.

Titel: Vallöften i lokala medierFörfattare: Johan Olsson och Mathias StenbackUppdragsgivare: Institutionen för journalistik, medier och kommunikation (JMG) vid Göteborgs universitetKurs: Examensarbete i Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap vid Institutionenför journalistik, medier och kommunikation (JMG) vid Göteborgs universitetTermin: Höstterminen 2012Handledare: Nicklas HåkanssonSidantal: 54Antal ord: 16 643Syfte: Att undersöka hur Göteborgs-Posten skildrat de lokala partiernas vallöften inför kommunalvalet 2006.Metod: Kvalitativ textanalys enligt ECA (Ethnographic Content Analysis) samt kvantitativ metod.Material: Göteborgs-Posten, 2006-08-17?2006-09-17Huvudresultat: Med avstamp i teorier kring mediernas dagordningsfunktion samt medielogik och nyhetsvärdering har vi identifierat lokala vallöften somskildrats av Göteborgs-Posten. Vi har också undersökt förhållandet mellan avgivna och medierade vallöften. Vi ser en journalistik som intar en passiv och speglande roll. De förtjänster som kan skönjas i de fall tidningen söker presentera och tydliggöra vallöften för väljarna, innebär nackdelar i form av att journalistiken blir behäftad med brister.