The aim of this master thesis is to gain greater knowledge of interpersonal communication. This study explores on one hand how interpersonal communication can be used as an important part of reference work in a Swedish electronic synchronous reference service, and on the other how interpersonal communication affects the relationship between user and Librarian. By using communication theory and establishing a positive relational contact with the user in the electronic environment, the outcome of the reference encounter can be successful for both the Librarian and the user. Furthermore, the importance of recognising relational barriers is of great relevance to the relational contact. The scope of this master thesis is to find what relational factors are used and can be used in the interaction between user and Librarian.

This master thesis deals with the problem of integrated libraries. The number of integrated public and school libraries has significantly increased over time. These libraries are integrated for different reasons, most often because of economic considerations. The goal of the thesis is to investigate Librarians´ understanding and perceptions of the professional role in this type of integrated libraries. I have investigated how Librarians see and interpret their own professional role, and what factors influence their perceptions in an integrated library.The three main questions are: How do the Librarians explain their professional role in an integrated library? How does their professional role change because of the fact that they work in an integrated environment? What factors, according to the Librarians, influence and/or change the professional role mostly? The data has been collected through interviews with eight Librarians at integrated libraries.

The aim of this thesis is to accomplish an understanding on how Librarians experience their professional role at private companies. The study is based on qualitative interviews with persons who have a degree in Library and Information science, but does not work as an ordinary Librarian. To answer why the respondents work at private companies, this thesis dwells on how the education in library and information science prepares their students to face an alternative career; why the respondents wants to work at private firms instead of a library; if the salary is a key factor in order to choose a career; if the respondents think the companies appreciate their qualifications, and finally, if the respondents think they intrude on other professions' territory? Working at a private company, with a degree in library- and information science, is not, according to the respondents, easy. Although appreciated by their knowledge in the field of information, the interviewees think that the title Librarian is hard to cope with.

The Librarian profession is dominated by women. The aim with this essay is to find out howmen and women in this field get on together, and how they experience their psycho·social work situation bearing this in mind. Are there any advantages or disadvantages being a woman or a man in this profession? What do the Librarians think about the future? Men and women working at five different public libraries, where the domination of women is greatest, have been interviewed. The essay is based on their opinions and experiences.The female and male Librarian get on well with each other and have a good cooperation.There are not many advantages or disadvantages depending on the sex in the profession, but the image, status and salary would probably be better, if there were more men in the profession.

The main purpose of this Master?s thesis is to investigate how the transfer from academic studies into professional life is experienced in retrospect by professional Librarians. The aim is also to examine in which context the studies in library- and information science in Sweden has been formed. To attain the purpose of the thesis four main questions is being asked: In which context has LIS-studies from the period 1993-2007 been formed? Which competence does the professional Librarian consider to be the most fundamental in professional life? Does the professional Librarian experience that the knowledge attained from LIS-studies is sufficient for the actual tasks? Which are the differences between tasks at different types of libraries? The study is performed through a questionnaire survey in which 94 professional Librarians express their experiences of their LIS-studies in retrospect.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate how children experience Librarians, their knowledge, assignments and appearance. The children?s thoughts about libraries and Librarians in general are also studied. Empirical data has been collected by interviewing children aged 8-12 years old. The method used is qualitative interviews performed individually, in pairs and groups.

The purpose of this master thesis is to describe the professional and literary life of Karl-Gunnar Wall, city Librarian of Katrineholm between 1944 and 1975. Questions at issue are the reasons for Walls literary interests, Walls choice of occupation, crucial personal meetings, the context in which Wall acts, Walls fundamental principles as a Librarian and as a critic, and the features comprising Walls life history. The method used is a merely qualitative one called "life history". It is founded on in-depth interviews with the persons involved and emanates from the individuals own story about his life. I have carried out three taped interviews; one with Wall himself, and two with his colleagues.

The aim of this masters thesis is to examine the supply of magazines and periodicals for young people at the library. We also examine young peoples reading of magazines and periodicals and compare the librarys selection with what young people read. The main questions of this thesis are: What do young people do at the library on their spare time? What weekly magazines and periodicals do young people read? What range of magazines and periodicals do the city- and the school library have? Where is the department located and how is it designed? What kind of relationship is there between young peoples reading and the selection? To answer these questions we have done an interview with a Librarian and a questionnaire among 13-16 year old children. We found that it is not often that young people read their magazines and periodicals at the library.

The purpose of this study is to examine teachers and school-leaders attitude to the school library. Both the cause of and the consequences of these attitudes are examined. In order to fulfil my purpose I have examined this through both literature and empirical studies. I have interviewed the headmaster, the school Librarian and two teachers at two comprehensive schools. As theoretical framework I have used David Loertschers taxonomy containing theories about the levels in an ideal school library and Miles model of school development.

This master's thesis reports on our investigation of how the public Librarian's professional identity is formed and what it is formed of. We have considered factors such as: education, competence and daily tasks. In order to fulfil this aim we have used a literature study on concepts such as competence, education, professional identity and profession. We have also carried out an empirical study where we have interviewed nine Librarians on public libraries. The method of analysis is qualitative.

The aim of this study is to examine whether the image of the stereotype Librarian has created conflict in young Librarians´ personal identity and/or professional identity and if this has shown in their choice of clothes? Our purpose was to find out, with the help of their choice of clothes, the young Librarians view of themselves as individuals and professional Librarians. We have searched for the answers to the following questions: - Do young Librarians experience that clothing at their workplace has any significance and if so, what do they want to signal with their clothing? - Do they experience that clothing and appearance has any impact on their personal and professional identity? - How do they relate, by their choice of clothes, to the stereotype images of the Librarian? We have performed qualitative interviews with eleven young female Librarians. As a theoretical framework we have used ideas and concepts from different areas of research; semiotics, social psychology, business administration and ethnology.

The aim with this Masters thesis is to examine the professional knowledge of the Librarian. The method used is text analysis of a state public investigation, SOU 1969:37, that concerns Librarian education. The theoretical starting point is a theory of knowledge thats descended from Aristotle. Three different forms of knowledge are central concepts in the theory: the theoretical, the practical and the ethical. The main issue in this thesis is: In what ways did the investigators look at the Librarians knowledge? Was it in a changeable period of time? In that case, what reasons could there be? The conclusion shows that educational political changes were affecting the whole educational sphere at the late 1960:s, and in the beginning of the 1970:s, including library education.

AbstractIn this master´s thesis I primarily investigate Librarians´ and teachers´ conceptions of collaboration between libraries and schools and their conceptions of childrens´reading. Secondary I investigate the contents of laws concerning libraries and schools and also the school curriculums concerning the subject field of the Swedish language. My theoretical point of departure is that of social constructionism. I use two models in my analysis. One is a model of collaboration created by Patricia Montiel-Overall, called TLC (Teacher Librarian Collaboration), which grades collaboration from the lowest level (A) to the highest (D).

The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine the role of Librarian in order to illustrate how the Librarians work, how their competence and education have changed and developed during the last decade, and ultimately to see what the role of Librarian looks like in the 21^st century. After describing the Librarians work, competence and education in the 21^st century, we discuss whether or not the changes that have arisen during the last decennium have affected the possibilities for Librarianship to develop into an accepted profession. The method of investigation is a qualitative analysis of printed sources. As a basis of the discussion and analysis Andrew Abbotts theory of professions is used. We also use Per Tengblads analysis model, which includes six important steps in analysing the professionalism of an occupation.

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.