The aim of this master's thesis is to study how the design of the music library space affects how it is used and its role as an arena for culture. This is done in form of a case study of Library 10 in Helsinki, a public library branch that specializes in music and information technology. The backdrop to the study is the changing context for cultural activity in the information society and the role of public Libraries as public space and meeting place. By analyzing the distribution of space in the library, the distribution of functions and artefacts and the spatial use of the room, I interpret the ways in which this distributional logic produces a unique place for music and culture. I discuss the music library design in a space and place perspective, utilizing theoretical tools from cultural geography and the space theories of Henri Lefebvre.

The main thing we wanted to find out with this thesis was, can reading aloud help the natural language development. We also wanted to know how Libraries in Sweden work with reading aloud and if children with reading and writing problems are being helped by being read to. We also wanted to find out what authoritarians on literature think a good reading-aloud novel should contain. To find this out we decided to do a literature study, we have taken part of a number of authoritarian opinions on this matter and we also studied some theories on this subject. We also decided to do a couple of interviews to exemplify how regular Libraries work with reading aloud.

The purpose of this master´s thesis is to examine how the cultural exchange function of Swedish Libraries may be perceived on their websites. A further intention is to examine how the library websites are used at the present. Two quantitative web-based surveys have been sent out to a great number of Swedish public Libraries. The first survey was directed to the webmasters of the Libraries, in order to review the different services offered by the Swedish library websites of today. The second survey was conducted with library directors, in order to visualise what services they consider ought to be present on their own library website.

The public Libraries in Sweden has an obligation to serve all of its citizens, but despite of this they often fail to include their LGBTQ-patrons. Since the year of 2008 RFSL (the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights) have arranged a specially designed certification-process based on normcritical criterias that a chosen institution should fulfill to make their work more inclusive for LGBTQ-people. Sollentuna is the first municipal in Sweden to certificate all of their Libraries. This study aims to examine what the certification have meant for the public library in Sollentuna and how a normcritical view can contribute to include LGBTQ-patrons at the library. As a method we used a qualitative interview-study to get a full picture of the certification-process and its influence on the public library of Sollentuna.

The purpose of this study is to examine the view of Swedish language teachers on the role of fiction and of school Libraries within the compulsory school?s teaching of Swedish of form 6-9. The questions to be answered are:? What part do Swedish language teachers (hereafter called teachers) think fiction is playing regarding the pupils inclination to read and reading promotion?? What is the attitude of teachers regarding the function of fiction in the Swedish subject?? What do teachers consider being the role of the school library in education, and can this be related to the local school library resources?To answer the questions a questionnaire was sent out to thirty-five teachers. Four qualitative interviews were also carried out among the fourteen teachers that answered the questionnaire.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the classification,shelf arrangement and display of documents in antiquarianbookshops and see the reasons behind these. The results willbe compared with previous reviews of alternative shelfarrangement in Swedish public Libraries, to see whatdifferences and similarities there are in the classification andshelf arrangement between antiquarian booksellers andLibraries. The questions to be answered were: (1)What formsof classification and shelf arrangement are used inantiquarian bookshops and how does it differ from theclassification and shelf arrangement made in Libraries withan alternative shelf arrangement? (2)What exposure ofdocuments are there in the various antiquarian bookshops? Isthere anything regarding the exposure that differs betweenthe antiquarian bookshops and the Libraries? An idea andideology analysis of various dimensions is used as atheoretical tool during the work. The dimensions were: (1)Shelf arrangement: It is important that customers/borrowerscan find themselves - it is important that staff know wherethe documents are.

The purpose of this thesis was to figure out the feelings that librarians felt towards the e-books at the library. And if it affects their work at the library, especially from a financial point of view. The reason I decided to do this study is because the subject of e-books has become bigger in the last couple of years, and that I got the feeling that the librarians didn?t like them that much. So I did six interviews with six different librarians from different Libraries to see if they felt the same thing or if they are in fact positive towards them.The results I received from my study were that the librarians are positive to the e-book.

The aim of this thesis is to research if and in that case how, marketing of Swedish public Libraries is used as a possible work method in a time when they are marked by changes in the form of cut backs and technical innovations. With a strive to get an overview by the possible debate I have chosen to do a closer exam of 20 texts published in five of the biggest Swedish library publications during a period of 20 years. My research is based mainly upon Philip Kotler?s marketing theories regarding non-profit organization as well as Eileen Elliot de Saéz interpretations of these to a library context. The first part of the essay therefore consists of an introduction of these, as well as a rendering of their method of work, which shows the width of the conception of marketing.

The Swedish public library was founded in the years when the society in Sweden went from being a society of agriculture to industrialism. Modernism was sweeping over the country, everything was possible, which influenced the new society that was built. Now Sweden was going to be a true democracy with responsible and empathic citizens. One of the main tools in this process was to educate people, to get them to read and write and the public library fitted very well into these new ideas. It represented a place, free of charge, where everyone could go to take part of the knowledge and cultural learning that they needed in order to become the citizen that the society required.

This thesis is about how the library can help immigrants integrate into theswedish society. By studying leading documents of the Libraries in Malmö,Stockholm and Umeå in search for how the relate to work consideringimmigrants and integration I have studied the library as a bridge betweenbeing included and excluded in the society. The thought is that the libraryopens the door to new worlds both for immigrants and born swedes toobtain knowledge about a culture different from their own.In my thesis I reached the conclusion that library on a day to day basisworks with the integrationprocess for immigrants. Although the leadingdocuments should evolve since they show gaps and seem somewhatmisguiding in their presentation of the Libraries function. The Librariesshould work more with analysis of the environment that they are active in sothat they are more individualized for the people around it.

The aim of this Master's thesis is to examine how blogs are used by public Libraries for marketing purposes, and how librarians who blog perceive their blog as a marketing tool. The thesis is based on a qualitative study conducted using asynchronous e-mail interviews with librarians representing eleven different library blogs. The theoretical framework and concepts are taken from marketing theory, including Kotler's marketing mix, relationship marketing, and theories on the marketing of non-profit organisations, knowledge organizations, the Internet, and blogs. Our results and analysis reveal that Libraries use blogs because they are an easy tool to use, they represent a new way to inform users about the library, they are a way to improve contact with the users and a way to reach potential users. According to the librarians we interviewed, blogs can be used to market Libraries in a number of different ways: by disseminating information on the library and its various media and events, by providing a forum to demonstrate the skills of the librarians, and as a way of changing the image of the library.

BarnOPAC is a Swedish library interface for children. It was launched in public Libraries in Sweden in 2001 and has now become a part of library software equipment in several public Libraries. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate the interface BarnOPAC on the basis of the childrens perspective. The questions raised consider: how children experience and handle this interface, how library staff experience it and what viewpoints librarians have on childrens use of it. For this purpose we implemented a user study including eight children using the interface in a school library.

This thesis applies a discourse theoretical approach in order to examine in whatways and with what possible meanings the library at KVINFO participates in the overall gender discourse in society. This means that our reading takes place at a metatheoretical level, focussing on the library as a constructor of meaning in relation to society's gender discourse.Besides the actual reading, the thesis argues for the fruitfulness of using both a discourse theoretical and a feministic perspective in the field of Library and Information Science. By looking at Libraries in general through a lens provided by these perspectives, Libraries are staged as battlegrounds for competing discourses,that attempt to promote its particular knowledge claim on how reality should be perceived.The reading shows that it is possible to perceive the library at KVINFO as amaterial articulation that takes shape by and is part in a feministic counterdiscourse against the masculinistic hegemonic discourse, which throughout ?hisstory? has positioned women as ?the other?, and established men as the normative category in society, including the Libraries. Through its practise KVINFO has contributed to a change in the collective identity ascribed to women.

The purpose of this master thesis is to use marketing theory on the library?s activities. The marketing theory used is the 4Ps; product, price, promotion and place, as it's presented by Philip Kotler. Because the library can be seen as a service oriented organization Christian Gronroos theory of marketing in the service industry also has been used. A case study of the public library in Broby was made to illustrate how the public Libraries? activities can appear in the light of marketing theory.

The subject for this Master's thesis is the mission of the public library concerning target group everybody. Control documents, traditions, norms and trends influence how this is interpreted and how the library's service is being formed. The often very abstract terms used to describe the public library's mission makes it open for different interpretations. We are of the opinion that the public library's service should be formed to reflect the needs, interests, and priorities of the community it services, in order to be more attractive and useful.The aim of our study is to examine how the public librarians define and adjust to the mission to satisfy all citizens needs. Why do they choose to concentrate on certain target groups? And what does that show of how the public Libraries reflect their communities? Our investigation includes examining six activities aimed at a certain target group and the six public Libraries that carried these out.