The purpose of this thesis is to examine which role public libraries play or could play within bibliotherapy. The study is based on qualitative interviews with five librarians who, in one way or another have experienced bibliotherapy activities. Further, we have interviewed two treatment assistants and one counsellor, who have cooperated with the librarians, to get their view. We have used the following research questions: Which bibliotherapeutic activities, if any, are pursued in public libraries in Sweden, and how do they look upon bibliotherapy? What role do public libraries play/could play within bibliotherapy? Ever since the term bibliotherapy was coined in the beginning of the twentieth century, the definition has been under debate. We have identified four main subjects of discussion.

User-centred acquisitions at three academic librariesA new way of developing collections has been adopted at a number of small academic libraries, user-centred acquisitions. The method implies that the main way of building the collection is by means of receiving suggestions of titles from library users. The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate changes in acquisitions of monographs. At a more detailed level it seeks a deeper understanding of what user-centred acquisitions is and how the method effects the acquisitions process. Changes in stock management and the reason why the libraries have chosen the method is investigated as well.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how librarians andteachers work together and with the help of other researchtry to understand what influences this cooperation. The studyis based on the following questions:1. These two professional groups have differentprofessional identities and work in two differentprofessional cultures. How does this affect theircooperation?2.

Archbishop KG Hammar has attracted attention for his liberal position in theology. His view on the role of language and communication is central in several books and articles he has published as leader of the Church of Sweden. One of his main theses is the fact that meaning is created in the encounter between text and reader. He often reiterates: God is relation. This non-traditional dynamic stance has a broad impact not only on theology.

The aim with this thesis is to investigate how librarians experience communication with children in reference interviews. In today?s interactive community it is meaningful to study how children communicate with the librarian in virtual reference interview as well as in ordinary reference interviews in physical libraries. Focus has been on finding out what children ask about and how they are asking in virtual reference interviews and in ordinary reference interviews, what type of information needs the children have. The study also focuses on which barriers there can be in reference interviews.

This master thesis is a study of a new electronic library reference service-project called Speak instantly to a librarian and the purpose of the thesis is to investigate a new electronic reference service and how the librarians who work with it experience it. This should be seen from an informational society point of view. The study is conducted from two questions: - What needs do the libraries have and how do they argue for the project and the chat-reference service Speak instantly to a librarian? - How do the librarians experience the personal work situation in the new reference service, and its use of chat technology? Together with interviews of a selected group of librarians from the public libraries of Göteborg, Malmö, Nacka and Stockholm, this thesis includes aspects such as the theory of the informational society by Manuel Castells, as well as literary studies of the history of library reference, the development of electronic reference service and the virtual library, and the background and the beginning of the studied project Speak instantly to a librarian. The thesis also contains an overlook of other similar library projects in the United States of America.

AbstractTitel: Myter som sanning i ?Battlestar Galactica?Författare: Ulf Liedström och Maria DovganHandledare: Malin NilssonExaminator: Veronica StoehrelTyp av arbete: C-uppsats i Medie- och Kommunikationsvetenskap, 15 hp HT-07Plats: Högskolan i HalmstadSyfte: Syftet med studien är att ta reda på vilka myter som finns i TV-serien ?Battlestar Galactica? och hur de används för att säga något om vår kontemporära syn på vetenskap, politik och religion.Metod: Vi har använt oss av en kvalitativ semiotisk metod med djuppsykologiska teorier av C. G. JungResultat: Vi har kommit fram till att myter i högsta grad används i serien och att de används för att få tittaren till att reflektera över det nutida samhällets brister och därmed är serien också väldigt samhällskritisk till sin karaktär.Nyckelord: Battlestar Galactica, Science Fiction, Semiotik, Roland Barthes, Carl Gustav Jung.

Library 2.0 is a term which emerged a few years ago and is frequently discussed. There is no uniform definition of the term but the central aspect of the concept is to encourage increased participation from library users.The aim of this Master's thesis is to investigate if and if so, how the professional role of the librarian is affected by Library 2.0. To do that, we have conducted a case study at the public library in Umeå. Their homepage minabibliotek.se is a practical example of Library 2.0. The homepage is based on interactivity and the library users can participate in various ways.We thougt that qualitive interviews was the best way to gain an understanding for how the librarians at the public library in Umeå experience how the work with minabibliotek.se affect their professional role.

The government procurement legislation ? i.e. the Swedish procurement law, the EC procurement directives and the WTO?s Government Procurement Agreement ? applies on public procurement. Such a procurement exists when the contractor meets the conditions stated in the directives that the organ is to be considered as a contracting auhtority.

The purpose of this thesis is to form an idea about the qualitative value and meaning of reading fiction in a psychological perspective and over a lifetime. Seven women, 68-79 years old, were interviewed about their reading habits of fiction in their lifetime. The material is presented as life stories. I use an inter-nordic research project called the SKRIN project which looks upon reading habits from an individualistic and psychological perspective. I also refer to an American study which focus on reading development with roles readers take in different ages of life written by J A Appleyard.

The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate four children?s librarians? literature view and their collaboration with pre-schools. My main question at issue is ?What literature view do children?s librarians in this thesis have and how does this reflect their collaboration with pre-schools??. Another purpose is to study the canon process in relation to children?s libraries and pre-schools.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to explore the image of the librarian from three groups: librarians, researchers and directors of staff from industrial companies. The purpose was also to study the image of the future librarian as the Swedish School of Library and Information Science at the University College of Borås introduces it. As my theoretical framework I used communication theories and marketing theories. I searched answers to the following questions: - Is there any resemblance at all between the common stereotypes of the librarian and the images given by the participants of the survey? - How do the librarians view themselves? - What is the image of the librarian among the researchers who use the services of the library? - What is the image of the librarian among the directors of staff from the industrial companies? - What is the image of the librarian given by an educational institution during the basic education? I contacted the participants and asked them to draw a picture of a librarian and write a short text about the picture.

In this survey the author discusses teachers interpretation of documents formulated bythe government. The text in focus is the beginning of the curriculum where the basicvalues for the Swedish school system are to be found. Since there are great difficultiesknowing what the politicians mean, this survey tries to discuss different words likesecularism, confessional, non-confessional, and what they mean. This might seemobvious at first but it is relevant when you discuss religion and it´s roll in liberaldemocracies. This survey also tries to show how different interpretation of the textwould lead to different practice because of the lack of an actual consensus.

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to investigate children?s access to specific children?s activities at Swedish public libraries 2005. The thesis is based on literature studies and qualitative interviews with children?s librarians, library directors and local politicians at two demographically different libraries in Gothenburg.The sub questions are: What measures exist to promote children?s access to public libraries and children?s activities when it comes to: law and other political statements: different efforts on the state level and different efforts on the municipal level in the direct activity with children at public libraries? What driving forces and needs justify activities for children at public libraries? How will the responsible persons judge that the efforts are sufficient? The result of the study shows that children?s access to library activity has increased in the last couple of years due to reorganization, economic savings with closing down of library affiliates and because libraries have given priority to other things, like IT and new media. Children?s librarians have got new assignments and less time for children?s activity.The conclusion of our investigation is that children?s librarians are ambitious in their work, but unfortunately don?t give children?s library activity adequate resources.

In the area of short stories there is little doubt that Roald Dahl has been an influential writer. Dahl´s short stories have been presented to the general public through TVbraodcasts but in order to grasp the true spirit of Dahl´s writing the best method is, of course, reading his books. The fictional works of Roald Dahl can be divided into two major categories: stories for adults and stories for children. This essay is concerned with the second grouping and is an attempt to analyse three themes that are of particular importance to his work. After a brief biographical note on the author, the essay analyses the element of the macabre in Dahl?s writing.