The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the functions of the public library for parents of infants and how they see the ideal library. The research questions are: How do parents of infants use the library and what are their experience of it? What opinions and wishes do parents of infants have regarding the library? How can library services be developed to better match the needs of the parents of infants? The theoretical approach is based on Marianne Andersson and Dorte Skot-Hansen?s model of the public library?s functions and the model of classification by Ellen-Merete Duvold and Gunnar Sæbø. To answer my research questions I have carried out three focus-group interviews with parents of infants. The study revealed that the public library functions as a cultural centre, a social centre, a knowledge centre and, to a certain extent, an information centre for the parents.

This thesis is about School libraries and the honour "School library of the year". I have examined the questions - Whats to say about school libraries in the curriculum and the library law? - Who administer the honour "School library of the year" and whats demanded to get it? - What have made the school libraries I have examined to school libraries of the year"? As theory I have used the Taxonomies of the School Library Media Program by David V. Loertscher. I have given a background to and defined the school library as a function, a room and in the teaching among others.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to identify and describe thedifferent roles that are expressed in a public library by researchingthem in the four policy documents concerning Västerås public libraryin 2010 and by interviews with three specially chosen key persons.Further studied are the discourses that can be perceived in thematerial and whether or not the roles could come in conflict witheach other. Laclau and Mouffes discursive theory constitutes themethodical frame for this thesis and by using terms from discursivetheory the analysis was made in four steps.Seven roles were identified from the policy documents concerningVästerås public library and the interviews with the key persons. Thefirst role of the public library was the intermediary of knowledge andinformation, the second was viewed as a democratic role, the third asa marketing role, the fourth as a role that handled the collaboration,the fifth role was to improve literacy, and the sixth and seventh roleswere as a culture centre and a meeting place. With the help fromkeywords five major discourses were found within the material.

The aim of this study is to gain an understanding of how dyslexic adults experience the library, their meeting with a librarian and how they feel they are being helped with finding literature. To answer the purpose of the study I have conducted six semi-structured interviews with dyslexic adults.. Two theoretical models were used as an analytical tool in this study. One was Michael Buckland's aspects of access to information. The other is four aspects that explains the significance of personal encounter at the library.

This paper discusses how ten blogs written by librarians talk about using games in the library. What do they talk about and what are their arguments for using games as a learning tool, and what does this say about their views on the library?s role in society?It is examined by using argumentation analysis together with a model for identifying different roles within the library on the blog themselves. By identifying the most important arguments used and placing them within the model, the paper aims to see how the bloggers view the library as a whole and as a part of society.It showed that the reasoning among the librarians varies, but most emphasis was on seeing the library as a meeting space together as an inspirational space, and the use of games can greatly help with that. Especially when viewing the library as a meeting space with room for everyone regardless of their interests..

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to investigate and increase the understanding of Swedish Public Library Websites and to determinate which activity they mediate. To analyse the Public Library Websites Andersson and Skot-Hansen?s model of roles for the Public Library has been used. This model in¬cludes four roles for the library: the library as a cultural centre, a knowledge centre, as an information centre and as a social centre.

This thesis has examined a co-operation called SSP, between the social authorities, the school and the police, located in Malmö. The intention with SSP is to prevent crime and drug use among juveniles but also to evolve a structure for a long-term co-operation between the authorities.The purpose of the thesis was to understand and analyse what the co- operation represented and stood for. The study also examined how the co- operation was effected by differences in the organisation of the three parts.The main questions were the following; what does SSP contain, is SSP preventive and for whom, what motivates the co-operation and how is the cooperation effected by the view the authorities have on the target group?The method used for answering the questions was based on qualitative interviews with the three authorities involved. We have also searched for literature on the subjects involved.The main content of the thesis has showed that the limits of SSP are diffuse, and the focus of the co- operation lies at a structural level.

The purpose of this master's thesis is to find out what support students of Swedish for Immigrants (sfi) think they get from the public library during their study of the Swedish language. One important aspect in this essay is to examine whether the library can meet the need of Swedish-speaking meeting places where the sfi-students can practise their new language. The method used in this study is qualitative interviews. Nine sfi-students, one sfiteacher and one librarian have been interviewed. A sociocultural perspective on learning has served as a theoretical starting point.

This thesis addresses the library environment and how it affects the accessibility for the library users. A study is made of the public library in Eslöv. We wanted to find out how the library staff, the senior librarian and the architect discuss the library environment, considering:? The accessibility for the library users.? The possibility for the users to orientate themselves in the library.We also wanted to see how we as users experience the library environment and compare these experiences with the results from the interviews. The material used consists of qualitative interviews, observations of users and our own experience studies.

Voluntary organisations provided the first consumer guidance in Sweden. The government'sinterest in the question started during the second world war and has ever since increased.Since the 1970's the local authorities, with support from the community, have played animportant roll in consumer policy work. Due to the economic recession of recent years theappropriation to consumer guidance work has been cut down. The work has been rationalisedand libraries have more frequently been used to spread consumer information.In Stockholm the municipal has been responsible for local consumer information since the1940's. Co-operation with the library of Stockholm has occurred in different forms.

This thesis examines what and in which language young people in Sweden with other linguistic backgrounds than Swedish read, as well as if they have access to the literature that they demand, how they use the library and what kind of role the library plays to them. The chosen method was quantitative and it consisted of a questionnaire as this method is useful in quantifying phenomena, which is the purpose of this thesis. The investigation shows that the studied population is bilingual. I hope that the thesis points out the range of the problems and that these issues need to be solved within the society and not the within the family. We need to make use of the resources of the young immigrants, as their cultural competence, in some cases even bi-cultural competence, can be useful for the Swedish society.

The aim of this bachelor thesis is to examine what expectations young adults have of the public library andthereby determine the relevance of the library guidelines, Påbarns och ungdomars villkor (2003), for young adults. The empirical data is gathered through focus group interviews consisting of 18 participants between the ages of 16 and 17. The conceptual framework for this study is based on Lee´s motivation model for customers in the public library (2007). The model focuses on three conditions for motivation: expectation, instrumentality and valence.The results reveal that young adults in this study have low expectations of the public library. They express little need for public library services because they see the possibility of finding the same things that the library offers through other alternatives, such as the Internet.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and analyse the private researchers encounter with the Royal Library, national library of Sweden. The main focus is on answering the two questions: who is the private researcher and what is his/her impression of the Royal Library? These questions are answered from the vantage point of the following theoretical perspectives: library anxiety, Bourdieu, library architecture, gender studies and service management. The methods used are qualitative interviews, and textual analysis using the printout of these taped interviews along with notes and an earlier user study as material. The conclusions are that barriers with staff is the most frequent factor of library anxiety in the private researcher at the Royal Library, and mechanical barriers the least frequent.

The purpose of this master thesis is to study the correlation and meaning of current ideas and practice at the public library of Gothenburg. This was done by comparing the visions and ideas expressed by the library through the library plan, with how the daily practice looks. For the theoretical framework organizational theory is used and research data was collected both from public documents and through observations. The public library of Gothenburg were chosen for the study because of it's newly renovated facilities. The idea is that these facilities make a suitable study object of the current ideas and priorities of the public Swedish library in general.The results show that the public library practice in Sweden still rests on the original public library ideas such as offering information for free and treating every user as equal.

The Swedish academic libraries have gone trough radical changes during the last decades. The development of information technology, the educational expansion and new pedagogical ways of learning within the higher educational system have changed the conditions, not only for the academic libraries, but also in many ways for the librarians. The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine how Swedish librarians experience their pedagogic role and task in the context of an academic library. The following four questions in this investigation were asked: How do the librarians experience the formal task that they have? How do the librarians experience the physical library environment? How do the librarians experience the co-operation with others involved in their work? How do the librarians experience their own pedagogic knowledge and competence in their daily practice? The study showed that these librarians believed the physical environment to be very important and is seen as a pedagogical tool in their daily work.