The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the view on the personal encounter between staff and visitors in public libraries in order to detect possible differences between the two groups in order to see if the personal encounter as such could be used in order to market libraries. We believe that social competence must interact with the initial personal encounter in order for the visitor to experience the visit as positive. We have based the theoretical framework on Erving Goffman?s theory on social interaction, as well as on Christian Grönroos? theory on quality of service and marketing. We use the following questions: How do library staff view the personal encounter? How do library visitors view the personal encounter? How does the library staff?s treatment affect the visitor?s view of the library?Are there any differences in view between visitors and staff concerning the personal encounter? If so, what kind of differences are they? Using qualitative interviews, we have interviewed nine visitors and six staff members at two public libraries.

This study examined gray areas within professional ethics of a public library organization and investigated the relationship between the library as an organization and the librarian as an employee when it comes to support and opportunities to make exceptions to rules and regulations. This relationship is then related to workplace issues.Data were gathered via interviews with six librarians who were placed into two focus groups. Library organization documents that contain rules and regulations (guidelines) were examined. The presumption was that conformity between librarians? experiences and actions and the organization?s guidelines will tell us something about workplace conditions.

Syftet med den här uppsatsen har varit att få en bild av yezidiernas religion och deras liv i exil. Hur yezidier ser på sin identitet och möjlighet att utöva sin religion i Sverige. I uppsatsen finns en kort forskningsöversikt av de centrala delarna i yezidismen. För att få svar på mina frågor har jag använt kvalitativ intervju som metod. Undersökningen är gjord i form av djupintervjuer med yezidier bosatta i Hässleholms kommun.

Mitt syfte med detta arbete har varit att försöka ge en beskrivning över vilken relation den konverterade muslimen i Sverige har till Koranen. Jag har valt att försöka belysa detta genom frågeställningen:Hur tillgodogör sig konverterade muslimer i Sverige Koranen?Arbetet är en kvalitativ fallstudie där jag genom fyra djupintervjuer på ett så brett vis jag förmått försökt omfamna de olika uttryck som relationen tar sig. Intervjuerna redovisas som referat i berättande form, och de föregås av en översiktlig beskrivning av Koranen.Arbetet avslutas med en utvärderingsdiskussion där jag konstaterar att arbetet är ofullständigt då jag ej kunnat belysa den företeelse som frågeställning avser på ett begreppsligt vis. Slutligen så redogör jag för en möjlig fortsättning..

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.

This thesis is a study of Futurum.kom´s campaign "Lyssna dig rik". Futurum.kom is a regional marketing project between Länsbibliotek Sydost, Regionbibliotek Kalmar and 25 public libraries in the county of Blekinge, Kalmar and Kronoberg. The aim of the Futurum.kom project is to strengthen the role of the public library in society. "Lyssna dig rik" was a cluster group campaign with the aim of making people know about the possibilities of loaning audiobooks in libraries. The target group was lorry drivers in the age of 30-65 with the possibilities to listen to audiobooks at work.

The aim of this masters thesis is to examine how the educational work of the Swedish public library was regarded in the Swedish library journal Biblioteksbladet at three different periods of the twentieth century, i.e. the thirties, the sixties and the nineties. Using a theoretical framework from the field of professionalization and a methodological framework of hermeneutics, it is shown that the educational work of the thirties can be described as having a focus on free learning whereas the educational work of the sixties can be described as having a focus on public utility. The educational work of the nineties focuses on the information seeking process of the user. It is noted that this development during the century can be understood as a shift of the cognitive authority of the public librarians.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the functions of the public library for parents of infants and how they see the ideal library. The research questions are: How do parents of infants use the library and what are their experience of it? What opinions and wishes do parents of infants have regarding the library? How can library services be developed to better match the needs of the parents of infants? The theoretical approach is based on Marianne Andersson and Dorte Skot-Hansen?s model of the public library?s functions and the model of classification by Ellen-Merete Duvold and Gunnar Sæbø. To answer my research questions I have carried out three focus-group interviews with parents of infants. The study revealed that the public library functions as a cultural centre, a social centre, a knowledge centre and, to a certain extent, an information centre for the parents.

This master?s thesis aims at examining and structuring different viewpoints concerning the assignments of the Swedish public library system. The method used is ideology analysis.The main questions are: what are the overriding goals connected to each of the different assignments? How are these goals motivated? By which means are the goals to be reached? And how does our analysis relate to earlier research on the assignments of the Swedish public library? The thesis can be said to consist of three main parts. Part one is a theoretical framework introducing the concept ?ideology analysis? and the concept ?schools of thought?.

The aim of the study has been to find out children?s librarians? views on and management of media that contains topics with a controversial nature and also to find out how this affects the public library as a democratic institution. We have conducted the study by interviewing six children?s librarians. By using Vestheim?s terms value rationality and instrumental rationality, we have been categorizing the answers from our informants and thus identified two different points of view.

The purpose of this study is to examine if digital public libraries are serendipitous environments. Serendipity in this instance is defined as finding something unexpected and valuable, while searching for something else.A survey was conducted at two Swedish digital public libraries, where the patrons were asked to fill in a questionnaire online. The questions were based on the work on serendipitous digital environments by Lori McCay-Peet, as well as considerations of human factors that could possibly influence serendipity.The result indicate that a majority of patrons experience serendipity at the digital library, although it?s still more common to do so at the physical library or on other web sites. The result also confirms the importance of taking human factors into account when studying serendipity.

During my time as a student at the School of Library and Information Science in Borås there was an ongoing discussion regarding whether or not the library and librarian were facing an identity crisis and what future consequences this may lead to. The discussion was and still is of interest to me since it most likely will have an impact on the identity I soon will make part of my self as a professional librarian. This master?s thesis is an attempt that to through discourse analysis seek clarity in what the future identity of the library and the librarian may consist of. I do so by examining articles from the two library journals Ikoner and Biblioteksbladet.

The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to present an overviewof a number of libraries? specially adapted media forchildren with special needs.We also wanted to see how the librarians worked to helpchildren with special needs, to take advantage of the librariescollections and activities. These special needs could bedyslexia but may also be disabilities which have resulted inthem being unable to read literature other than specialadapted literature. Examples of this literature are DAISY,book & DAISY, pictogram, bliss, ISAAC, easy reading,Braille, tactile picture books, and computer programs thatmake it easier for people to read in their own way with theirown skills.Using qualitative interviews we have interviewed sevenlibrarians. Through this process we have been able toascertain which methods public libraries use to meet theneeds of those children whose disabilities relate to reading.The interviews also explored how they are working withchildren who need more time than other children does whenit comes to reading.The results of the interviews showed that the librariesprovided a lot of special adapted media.

The aim of this master?s thesis is to explore what learning potentials there are in Demoteket. Demoteket is an on-going project that preserves and exhibits young people?s artistic creations. The idea is that public libraries receives and lends out the young people?s artistic creations.

1993 skrev Sverige under FNs konvention för biologisk mångfald, vilket är ett juridiskt dokument som innebär att Sverige har förbundit sig att bevara och hållbart bruka denbiologiska mångfalden. Som en uppföljning till detta antogs Programmet för Odlad Mångfald, POM. Andra aktörer i bevarandet av växtgenetiska resurser är CBM, Jordbruksverket, NordGen, klonarkiven och SLU. Som en del i arbetet med att bevara den biologiska mångfalden, odlas material av vegetativt förökade växtslag i genbanker.En utredning av betydelsen av dessa genbanker i Sverige är huvudsyftet med mitt examensarbete. Tre olika perspektiv redovisas och diskuteras; 1) Bevara för framtida växtförädling/nyttoperspektivet, 2) Bevara för historiska och kulturella intressen, och 3) Bevara för etiska och existentiella värden.