The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyse the development of the public library in the district of Österåker during a period of 1958-1983. The main goals have been to identify the crucial events in the history of the library within their historical context and to analyse the factors that have been important for the development: financing, location, staffing, stock of books, book-lending level and different activities for children, youngsters and adults. The consideration has been taken to reasons and consequences of these events. The hermeneutic interpretation model of interaction between parts and wholes, between reasons and results is the basic method in this research which leans mainly upon local archives in Österåker. The public library in Österåker was established in 1952 as a fusion of previously existing small libraries: the parish library in Östra Ryd, the Labour Movement?s library and the temperance movement?s library.

This paper deals with how people use public libraries. An attempt is made to distinguishbetween different user groups on the basis of how they use the library. The roles of thelibrary in relation to its users are also discussed.The paper is based on a user study with the cooperation of 195 users. The user studywas carried out at the Public Library of Alingsås 1994. As material for comparisonsimilar studies from Sweden, but even from Denmark, have been used.

The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate how books are weeded in some Swedish public libraries today. It tries to shed light on some of the problems and obstacles that may arise, and on the criteria used by staff for weeding. I also hope to build a model for weeding, based on the results of my investigation. The method I have chosen for my work is qualitative interviews. The results of my thesis indicate that weeding is not the top priority of the staff at the investigated libraries.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the habits of borrowing books among third-grade pupils. My aim is also to study what significance their teacher and the librarian have on the pupils? borrowing habits. Based on the results from an experiment, two observations, interviews and by compiling a list of short summaries of literature relevant to my thesis. I wanted to compare earlier research with my own results and also reflect on remarks made by librarians and teachers concerning the children?s reading and use of the library.

What is the relation between literature and philosophy and what can we learn from it? Is there something about the novel and its language, fiction and narrative that separates it from philosophical litterature? In what way is knowledge about this useful to us, and is it possible to use fiction for the understanding of philosophy?This study makes an attempt to shed some light on the by no means obviuos distinction between philosophy and literature. The aim is to understand what, if in fact there is something that separates philosophy from literature, there is about the distinction that makes it possible for us to separate the ideas in literature from philosophical ideas, and in what way we can use the novel, or fiction in its widest meaning, to understand philosophy. When teaching philosophy you´re often required to make the abstract tangible. But if there´s a misconception about the distinction in what makes philosophical literature philosophical, then maybe there is something to learn from literature, or, at least, something about the fiction and its aesthetics, that makes it easier for us to relate to and understand, for example, the theories that are debated in moral philosophy.There are some philosophers who have used the form of fiction to make their thoughts on philosophical questions understandable.

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to examine how some university students, who are using the libraries extensively, use and experience the public and the university library and what they expect from the two different library types. I also compare their expectations with the different tasks and aims of the two library types. To answer this I have interviewed seven students at the department of history of literature at Göteborg University. I have also studied some literature and research related to this subject, for example user studies about students and libraries and the information behaviour of distance students.

Within the Swedish school and the public library communities it is generally held as a truth that reading of fiction develops the empathic ability of the reader. This opinion is also expressed in political guiding documents for the school system and cultural sector. This paper's main hypothesis is that there is no assembled theoretic ground for the statement that reading of fiction develops the empathic ability. The investigation consists of two parts, the first being theoretical and the second empirical. Definitions of what empathy and reading is, are reviewed in the first part.

The purpose of this study is to examine what view librarians have on reading promotion for adults, in particular reading circles, and in which way earlier experiences, education and competence form this view. To what extent, if any, do perceptions of professional identity influence the interest to carry out some kind of reading circles for adults?Our study is based on qualitative interviews with librarians, both those in charge of reading circles in libraries and those who are not. As theoretical starting point we have used Andrew Abbott's work on theory of professions and Jofrid Karner Smidt's thesis on literary preferences and different kinds of mediation of literature. For our analysis we will also use earlier studies on the subject to place our study in a wider context.Our conclusions show that the librarians in our study have an ambivalent view on their profession and professional identity.

This is a two years master?s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies, which purpose is to find out what ideas there are about school libraries and to get an idea of how informants interpret the new Education Act, which requires all students to have access to school libraries. Another intention of this paper is to highlight the potential rural-related attitudes of the responents. The study includes the sparsely populated municipality of Krokom and is based on interviews with librarians, the school director, principals and politicians who work there. The theoretical basis for this paper is Loertscher?s model för school libraries and a centerperiphery perspective.

The purpose of this master's thesis is to describe and analyse the origin and development of the libraries in the town of Värnamo, between the years 1908 and 1960, when a new modern public library was inaugurated. The method I have used is, to a great extent, examining and analysing source material from the archive of the municipality in Värnamo and the popular movement in Jönköping. As a background to my study I describe the development of the Swedish society, from the end of the nineteenth-, until the middle of the twentieth century. I also describe the local development of Värnamo, during the same period. Furthermore I also give a general description of the progress of the libraries in Sweden during the same time.

The purpose of this master´s thesis was to investigate the role and function of the annual reports of public libraries: for what purpose are they put together and how are they evaluated and utilised. The study presents different views on the structure and content of library annual reports. Focusing on a specific public library and its municipal administration, the authors identify and describe problems and possibilities regarding the library annual reports. The study also provides a general view of their occurrence, their addressees and the importance attached to them.In a review of current literature on accounting and activity reports the authors place the annual reports of public libraries in a wider context. The study also presents two current models of performance measurement - the Intangible Assets Monitor and the Balanced Scorecard - which were developed in the private sector, and the authors discuss their relevance when applied to public libraries.Data were collected both in interviews and by means of a questionnaire.

This study examines the closure of public libraries, and the nonprofit organizations takeover of them as a phenomenon. The aim is to understand why the nonprofit takeover is common and what the takeover symbolizes and if the discourse in media invokes the views on libraries and the profession.Interviews were made with librarians, politicians and representatives of a nonprofit organization to study different sides of the phenomenon. Other empirical data were found in local and national newspapers and media-channels. I discovered that public libraries are highly valued by both politicians and the community. The study also showed that a library in a community makes people feel valued.

The purpose of the thesis is to describe the developing of the branch libraries of the public library of Kristianstad between the years of 1967 and 1977. The municipality of Kristianstad was grounded by a unification of the city of Kristianstad and ten small municipalities. The fusion takes place in three different stages during the years of 1967, 1971 and 1974. The first stage included the city of Kristianstad and the municipalities of Araslöv, Nosaby, Träne and Vä. The municipality of Araslöv got free small villages and village of Färlöv was the biggest one.

I detta arbete har jag valt att undersöka hur tre pedagoger använder sig av skönlitteratur i undervisningen i Svenska som Andraspråk och vilken betydelse de menar att skönlitteraturen har för dessa elever men också hur pedagogerna väljer de skönlitterära texter de använder i klassrummet. Med hjälp av olika teoretiska utgångspunkter och tre kvlitativa intervjuundersökningar har jag försökt besvara min frågeställning. Min undersökning har inte gett mig någon generell bild av hur pedagoger i allmänhet arbetar med skönlitteratur i andraspråksundervisningen, men jag har insett att det inte finns ett sätt som är bättre eller sämre än det andra. Man måste jobba utifrån sig själv och sina förutsättningar. Pedagogerna menar att genom skönlitteraturen får eleverna det innehåll som de behöver kognitivt, men på ett mindre komplext språk än i traditionella läromedel. Pedagogernas huvudmål med allt arbete de gör med skönlitteratur är förståelse..

This two years master's thesis examines the experience of children who read to a dog. The theoretical framework is inspired by sociocultural theory developed by Roger Säljö and the concept carnival inspired by Mikhail Bakhtin. The sociocultural theory has been chosen because it emphasizes the role of practice, instruments and communication in learning and the concept carnival has been chosen to analyze the experience of reading to a dog.The method used is qualitative interview and observation. A total of eight interviews and two observations when children read to a dog have been collected. One interview is with a teacher and seven interviews are with the children (six children participated and one child was interviewed twice).