During the last ten years, PIRLS and PISA have evaluated the reading levels of children and youth around the world, sometimes with grim results. The Swedish evaluation show a constant decline in reading comprehension, and Sweden, which from the start produced one of the best results in the world, have plummeted to the bottom of the ranks. The librarians of the public library have extensive experience of working with different projects engaging children and youth in reading, and so they have a major part to play in this matter. Consequently, the aim of this study is to examine and describe the different perceptions the public librarians have of these projects. Four research questions were formulated, each focusing on the perceptions regarding different aspects of the reading promotion projects.

In the paper we bring up and analyse the attitudes librarianshave towards youth and youth programs in the public library.The purpose is to raise awareness among librarians and tomake the process of change and development. We have usedsemi structured interviews in order to answer our researchquestions and conducted the interviews with five librarians incharge of the youth programs in different public libraries. Inthese interviews we asked about their views on youth as auser group, youth programs and how this affects theiropinions on the roles of the public library. We have also triedto see how the librarian?s opinions differ from how thelibrary runs their youth programs today.We have used two different models as theoretic framework.One of them has defined three different roles of the publiclibrarian and is constructed by Maj Klasson and the other is adeveloped version of Andersson & Skot-Hansen?s classicmodel of the roles of the public library made by Jochumsen,Rasmussen & Skot-Hansen.

The aim of this bachelor?s thesis is to investigate what role the public library in Sweden may have when it comes to gender equality issues. The questions at issue that were asked, in order to give an answer to the aim, was how the librarians defined and saw work with equality, how much the steering documents for the library impact and what they are doing in their practice to weaken the dichotomies between the sexes. The theoretical starting point used for this study is three concepts, the gender system, the stereotypes and the gender contract described by the Swedish historian Yvonne Hirdman. The purpose of the three concepts is that gender is a social construction which produces gender stereotypes and a gender order in society, which the library is a part of.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to identify and describe thedifferent roles that are expressed in a public library by researchingthem in the four policy documents concerning Västerås public libraryin 2010 and by interviews with three specially chosen key persons.Further studied are the discourses that can be perceived in thematerial and whether or not the roles could come in conflict witheach other. Laclau and Mouffes discursive theory constitutes themethodical frame for this thesis and by using terms from discursivetheory the analysis was made in four steps.Seven roles were identified from the policy documents concerningVästerås public library and the interviews with the key persons. Thefirst role of the public library was the intermediary of knowledge andinformation, the second was viewed as a democratic role, the third asa marketing role, the fourth as a role that handled the collaboration,the fifth role was to improve literacy, and the sixth and seventh roleswere as a culture centre and a meeting place. With the help fromkeywords five major discourses were found within the material.

The aim of this bachelor?s thesis is to gain deeper knowledge about how librarians in public libraries in Sweden view theirprofessional role with regard to the last decades of change in the library field. Especially concerning the technical evolution and towards a higher user orientation and market mindset, and in which ways this has influenced the librarians everyday working tasks. A particular focus has been placed towards the reference transaction, the use of computers and e-media, and the stock development. We believe that there currently is a changeover, from the libraries traditional line of function, towards them as more of service institutions.The method used in this study for answering the research questions and to gather empirical information is semi-structuredinterviews.

Uppsatsen belyser hur verksamheten på två förskolor, en i Tyskland och en i Sverige, struktureras, organiseras och genomförs i praktiken. Uppsatsen beskriver styrdokumentens innehåll och läroplanernas transformering i en jämförelse..

Several public libraries are displaying media, such as literature, on the websites of their own. The purpose of this Master?s thesis is to make a survey of the display phenomenon at Swedish public libraries. Therefore the authors of this essay seek to understand why media is being displayed on the websites of public libraries, how it is being displayed and what kind of consequences the displaying will provide according to the respondents. The theoretical framework is based on different theories where marketing and availability defines the equal summary.

The aim of this master thesis is to investigate the ideas about functions that public libraries have in the local society. We have used the method idea analysis on four municipal library plans, to find out which ideas about library functions that frequented each plan, and what similarities and differences there were between the ideas about functions in each plan. As a theoretic base, we have used a theory about three dynamic spheres in modern society: the state market and civil society, and examined how these three spheres influence and control the library functions. We have extracted six different ideas about library functions: educational, social, economical, entertaining, serving and democratic functions. The most dominating ideas in this study are ideas that the public library should be an educating and formative institution.

The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyse the road towards a modern library in the southern archipelago of Gothenburg between the years 1943 and 1976. The archipelago consists of about thirty smaller and larger islands, of which seven are inhabited throughout the year. Styrsö and the surrounding islands composed a municipality of their own until 1973. In January 1974 it became a part of the municipality of Gothenburg, this is also the year when the only bridge in the archipelago was ready to be taken into use, between Donsö and Styrsö. There is no bridge between the mainland and the islands.

Lot of mergers are not successful, due to several reasons and one reason can be found within the organization. Since organizations consists of people, who are involved in the merger, the importance of cultural aspects must be stressed. Six months before this essay, Carlsberg Sverige AB formed through the merger of Pripps and Falcon. These two companies are in the start up process of the merger, which is the focus of this essay. The awarness of differences and similarities is crucial for the merger.

Arbetet handlar om Sveriges roll som normentreprenör i den internationella biståndspolitiken. Vi utgår från Sveriges utvecklingssamarbete med Tanzania som ett exempel på svensk biståndspolitik. Utifrån detta försöker vi bedöma huruvida Sverige har utövat inflytande som normentreprenör vid tillkomsten av det internationella fördraget Parisdeklarationen. Till vår hjälp tar vi socialkonstruktivistisk teori, i synnerhet normforskningen.Våra resultat tyder på att Sverige kan ha fungerat som normentreprenör i samanhanget. Motsatsen kan inte bestyrkas..

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine in what way the introducing of library plans in three municipalities have affected the work in library organizations. We base our study on a new institutionalist perspective, which focuses on changes in organizations from a social and interpretative perspective. By using this theoretical framework, it is possible to study how interpersonal relations affect the development in library organizations. Through qualitative interviews with ten librarians, we investigate how the establishing of library plans has influenced, and been influenced by, the library field and by the environment, i.e.

Syftet med vårt examensarbete är att undersöka om det utifrån ett internationellt perspektiv råder jämställdhet i klassrummet. Vi har studerat gymnasieelever i Sverige samt Argentina med fokus på elevens perpektiv. Genom att studera elevers upplevelser av jämställdhet i klassrummet, ökar vår medvetenhet och således möjlighet att bemöta eleverna i vår kommande yrkesroll i enlighet med den rådande läroplanen. Resultatet av vår studie visar att det inte råder jämställdhet i klassrummet, varken i Sverige eller Argentina..

In Sweden most public libraries give users access to databases. These databases are sometimes possible to reach outside the library by internet at any time and this provides a change for the library and the society. Librarians function as change agents when they give access to databases and when databases are introduced to users. However, reports show that the use of databases, especially those in English, is not high in reference work. This study aims at analysing attitudes of librarians to access and use of databases on and by public libraries.

The aim of this study is to look at how librarians express theirpart in reading groups organized by public libraries. Thestudy is based on interviews with seven public librarians insouth regions of Sweden. The main theory used to analyse isfound in the article Bibliotekaren som litteraturformidler(1994) written by the Norwegian librarian Jofrid KarnerSmidt, where she talks about five different roles that alibrarian can have in this context and how they appear. Threeof these roles were used in this study: the pedagogue, theliterature expert and the marketer.The interviewed librarians mostly had a similar view on howthey look at their role in the reading group. They saw theirpurpose as to provide all kinds of people with a possibility tojoin in discussions about mutual interests and share variousopinions about books.