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.

This thesis is an attempt to study whether if problem-oriented teaching implies a moreadvanced use of school Libraries than other teaching methods.Teachers have been interviewed about what kind of information they and their pupils need,and where they find their information. Another question is whether the problem-orientedteaching method makes it easier for the pupils to find information in school Libraries thanother teaching methods do.The result of the study is that a problem-oriented teaching method creates opportunitiesfor the school library to become an important place for information retrieval. This teachingmethod is a major, but not the only determinal factor. Other contributing factors could beteamwork between teachers and school librarians and the existence of learning aids..

The purpose of this Master's thesis was to examine how and what trainee teachers are being taught about information seeking and school Libraries related to problem-based teaching method in compulsory school. The questions at issue were: How have trainee teachers learned about information seeking? How have trainee teachers learned about using school Libraries? We also wanted to know which education they have got in information seeking and school Libraries. We examined this through both literature and empirical studies. We used a qualitative method in order to answer the questions at issue.

This paper investigates the ongoing talks between the Swedish libraryassociation (Svensk Biblioteksförening) and the Swedish Publishers?Association (Svenska Förläggareföreningen) regarding a new payment modelfor e-book loans in Swedish public Libraries. The current model allows an ebookto be lent an infinite number of times and for each loan the library paystwenty Swedish kronor to the supplier, Elib, which in turn passes half of thatsum on to the publicers.The reason for the talks is that both Libraries and publishers have reason to bedispleased with the current model. For the Libraries it has proven to be aneconomic challenge, for the already strained library economies, sincepayment is made directly by the individual library from the media budget.The publishers also have reasons to want a change of model since thecompensation they receive from the Libraries is not enough for them tocontinue publishing e-books and making a profit. They argue that to protectthe commercial e-book market the principle of free loans has to be replacedby a model that introduces ?friction? in the form of limitations on how manytimes a title can be loaned.This study is based on interviews with representatives from both sidesinvolved in the talks, along with a representative from Elib and a librarian.An analytical tool has been constructed by the author to aid in the process ofuncovering arguments and standpoints in the interviews.

The focus of this thesis is a specific part of Swedish library policy called library plans. A library plan is a political document created with the purpose of constituting a platform for co-operation between different library systems within a municipality, e.g. through determining and analysing the needs for library activities within municipalities in Sweden.This thesis´ aim is to investigate whether library plans are, or can be used as, a tool for change and thereby increase legitimacy for public Libraries in Sweden.We have examined aspects of library plans using theories from change management to determine whether these plans include tools focusing on conditions in organisations that could result in an improved and stronger position in the society for public library. Through the use of theories from new institutionalism we opted for an understanding of the interaction between the Libraries and the context in which they are part of.Upon examining 23 library plans, we discovered similarities as well as diversities among them. From our study we have drawn the conclusion that it is important to analyse the specific needs of each different municipality and to consider these individual conditions and needs when developing and composing the library plan.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine attitudes and standpoints amongst librarians at the Swedish public library towards literary awards and awarded literature. The questions posed in the study are: What attitudes are expressed amongst these librarians towards the Nobel Prize in literature, the August Prize and literary awards and awarded literature in general? What significance do the Nobel Prize in literature, the August Prize and other literary awards have concerning purchase and display at these public Libraries? How is awarded literature perceived and how do they talk about it concerning quality and are questions of quality significant? Qualitative interviews with seven librarians at four different public Libraries have been done. Theories regarding J?rgen Habermas the bourgeois public sphere and Pierre Bourdieu?s terms habitus, field and capital have been used as to explain the library as a public sphere.

This dissertation discusses head librarians in Swedish public Libraries and the stress factors which affect them. The aim is to map out potential stress factors which head librarians come across in their day-to-day work. The purpose of the dissertation is to answer the following question: what stress factors affect library managers in Swedish public Libraries? The dissertation was conducted through a literature study, informal interviews and a quantitative questionnaire. The results of the quantitative questionnaires show that the factor that produces the highest level of stress is having too many different tasks.

The aim of the paper is to examine how public Libraries can develop their services for children with ethnic minority backgrounds as a user group. This is achieved through studying the conditions for library services provided for children aged 9-12 in this group by public Libraries in suburbs densely populated with ethnic minorities. The paper uses both a literature review and empirical research on the community Libraries in Rinkeby and Rosengård as well as the town library in Lund. Services potentially available to these groups are analysed and discussed in the later chapters. The overall conclusion is that those services provided for ethnic minority children are largely the same as those provided for in children library services in general.

In an international perspective the Russian children s library is a unique institution, being solely committed to children up to 14 years of age. In Russia of today it is, however, being exposed to hard pressure as the economical and social conditions have changed dramatically since the collapse of the USSR. My interest lies in examining this change of living conditions for the children s Libraries and how this in turn affect their work and role in the present state. In order to view this change in a longer perspective, I compare the situation for children s Libraries during the time of communist regime with that of today using documents about and from children s Libraries. I have studied its legal position and conditions, financial and political state, and how the modern society affects children and youth, especially their daily cultural life.

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.

The purpose of this thesis is to describe how principals apprehend the school library. In order to respond to this I formulated three questions: How was the improvement of the school Libraries carried out in one municipality? Is the school library experienced as a part of the schools organization? How is the use of the school´s library experienced? To be able to answer these questions, for the purpose of this thesis, I have studied relevant literature on school Libraries, the school organization and literature on qualitative methods. I have made six qualitative interviews. The objects of the interviews were three librarians and three principals.

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.

When the Tranemo library moved to new localities in 1991 there were also some changes made to make the library more user-friendly. The purpose of this essay is to see how a useroriented change can be done and how it has been perceived by members of the library staff and the library users.This is done by the following means:l) interviews with members of the library staff,2) a questionnaire to the users in Tranemo,3) a comparative questionnaire to users of the Libraries in Skara and Lerum.The comparison was concentrated on how the library presents its material. The result of this comparison shows that even though there is a difference among the three Libraries, the difference is small and it is impossible to say for sure that it has anything to do with the changes that have been done. The interviews and questionnaire in Tranemo give a positive picture of that library..

The purpose of this thesis was to find out whether the main class C (religion) in the Swedish classification system Klassifikationssystem för svenska bibliotek is well adapted to classify materials published in or imported to Sweden, and handled by Swedish Libraries today. The questions we put to ourselves were:1. How easy to understand, and how useful is the main class C religion today?2. What, in the main class C, is satisfactory?3. What, in the main class C, is inconsistent, anachronistic or incorrect?4. What, in the main class C, is in need of change or renewal?The method that was used was a number of interviews with librarians and cataloguers. We have interviewed eight librarians from six different Libraries, of different types, but all with a relatively large collection of religious materials.Though all of our respondents have expressed a feeling that all the major religions deserve equal treatment in the classification system and a similar division of space, after some pondering on the subject, our respondents have agreed that a larger space for Christianity is warranted considering the composition of the current collections and publication. Our respondents have in some cases expressed that there is a lack of instructions as to how the subdivisions of the main class C (religion) is meant to be used.

This Master?s thesis is about the public library development in a rural district, in this case Bergunda, a large rural district in Kronoberg?s County in Småland in Sweden, existing 1952 ? 1970. The main question is; how the public library develops in Bergunda large rural district 1951-1970. The main question is divided up in sub-questions: the district uniting in 1952 and 1971; personnel; lending; library housing and the public library structure. In 1952, there is one public library, Bergunda public library, and four study circle Libraries.