The aim of this study is to investigate methods of collection development, the users? influence on selection and quality aspects, focusing on non-fiction literature in Swedish public libraries. To find out opinions of collection development, I use the method comparative literature study. Antonio Gramsci?s concept hegemony forms the theoretical background, and hegemony as concept is related to a library context by using Maj Klasson?s text on the librarians? different positions of authorities.

This thesis investigates the situation for comics in Swedish public libraries. The main questions is separated into two groups, the first dealing with the physical situation were we investigate placement, cataloguing and shelf arrangement. The second deals with the librarians attitudes towards comics and how they may affect their work. The base for this thesis is the idea that the comic medium may sometimes be treated different than the rest of the libraries collections. Because of this, a theoretical basis is developed which focus on different views on comics.

This thesis presents a new way of providing library users with reference services, namely chat (text based digital reference service in real time). Our research questions focus on the role of reference service, a comparison of chat reference to other reference forms, and the interest for real-time, digital reference. Our literature review covered the areas of digital reference and reference theory, the results of which showed that an ongoing debate hardly exists among Swedish librarians on the topic of reference work. We interviewed librarians from the three different Swedish chat reference projects existing at the time of our study. Most interviewees were very positive about chat reference.

The aim of this Master?s Thesis is to examine the importance of literacy and reading in a country like Jamaica. What role do public libraries and bookmobiles play in promoting literacy, and how does this work correspond with the UNESCO public library manifesto?To answer this, interviews were conducted with nine Jamaican librarians, and study visits were made to libraries and bookmobiles. In addition, development plans, policy and other relevant documents were analyzed.

This thesis deals with the information needs and information provision of teachers in compulsory school, from a role theoretical perspective. The object is to investigate teachers opinions on their information needs and information provision. The following questions have been used to approach the problem: Which are the information needs of teachers in compulsory school? How do teachers get the information they need? Which difficulties and deficiencies do teachers experience in their information provision, and what does the ideal situation look like? The theoretical frame of reference consists of a model of the information seeking of professionals, which is based on role theory. Qualitative interviews have been carried out with nine teachers.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine if and how bibliotherapy can be part of ordinary work in Swedish libraries. Questions: what is bibliotherapy and who can work with it? What are the conditions required? What does it mean to people taking part and to libraries? In this study bibliotherapy is delimited to fiction and activities including discussions, excluded are self-help books and the individuals private reading. The study is based on four qualitative interviews with librarian and bibliotherapists in Kirklees, England, partaking in nine bibliotherapeutic sessions and a literary survey, together forming a case-study. Conclusions: There is not a single answer to the question what bibliotherapy is, but if one puts stress on the biblio- part of the word, seeing reading as a normal activity it can be part of library work, whereas the therapy- part should be dealt with by professionals outside libraries.

The aim with this thesis is to highlight components regarding small children?s reading environment in preschool and see how these affect their meeting with literature. The study is based on J. A. Appleyard?s theory on man?s development as a reader.

The purpose of this thesis in Library and Information Science (LIS) is to examine concepts related to multiculturalism in Sweden. It aims to look beyond the rhetorical construction of these concepts, in an attempt to clarify the actual purpose of commonly emphasizing the importance of mulicultural library services. Norman Fairclough's critical discourse analysis (CDA) as well as theories on ethnicity and intersectionality constitute the theoretical frame. The material consists of selected anthologies, handbooks and articles in Biblioteksbladet from 1974?2014, as well as a small case study.

This essay is about testing the validity of an article written by Jonas Löwgren, called The use qualities of digital design. The study we have executed is about testing the featured qualities of digital design in the article on two search systems located in the library of Stockholm University and Södertörn University respectively to see how they are able to be applied on search systems. To acquire the information for the study, we handed out a written inquire among users of those systems. The result of this quantitative study shows us that many that five of Löwgrens qualities is likely to be present on the systems. Our conclusion is that five of these are appliable on search systems.

This masters thesis concerns the professional knowledge of the librarian. It is a comparative study where two major ma-gazines in library press, Biblioteksbladet and DIK-forum, is compared between the years 1990-2000, in relation to the theories of professionalization and the associations to the union. The study focus on showing the differences and similarities between the two magazines according to how they interact from the subjects education, wages and status. The study is conducted from two questions: - Which are the central differences and similarities in the description of the librarian profession in the two magazines, from the perspectives of wage, status and education? - In what way do the two magazines reflect the theories of professionalization? To give a wider perspective of the librarian profession, there is also a historical chapter with an explanation to the making of the librarian profession..

A protection helmet for young people (3-7 years) in winter environment has been developed in this thesis. The result is a concept proposal for development at STIGA Sports AB in Eskilstuna. This thesis work has been performed during 20 weeks, for a Master of Science in Product and Process development at Mälardalen University Eskilstuna Sweden in September 2009 to January 2010. The helmet is shown as a CAD model with detailed solutions to the outer shell, interior and adjustability (in sizes 50-56 cm) which are the three focused areas in the development. Also a physical model in scale 1:1 has been developed and is shown in this thesis work.To achieve the best result possible the process started with an analysis of the market and the product.

The information society creates new demands on the knowledge making individual; besides being literate one has to be information literate. And in the educational society there is an ongoing change from teaching to learning, the focal point being the active student and life long learning. The aim of this dissertation is to within a context of learning and teaching elucidate the relation between user education and subject education by examining what significance the academic libraries user education has for the development of information literacy within students. Some epistemological theories connected with learning is presented as well as aspects of the information search process and of information literacy. Universities and their libraries view of information literacy and the goal of their user education is being focused on in an empirical study.

This master?s thesis seeks to examine how a public library use the intranet with regards to the possibilities that today?s intranet technology offer ? especially concerning functionalities that support information, communication and knowledge exchange in the organization. The purpose of the study is to investigate how employees in one specific public library perceive and use the intranet in their daily work. The theoretical framework takes its point of departure in two complementing models regarding the implementation, development and management of intranets and a model of a multi perspective view of the intranet as a shared information space for content, communication and collaboration. The study is based on interviews with eleven of the intranet users, whom with the aid of an interview guide have been asked questions regarding goals, implementation, content, design, applications and advantages/disadvantages with the intranet.

The question whether controlled vocabulary or natural language free-text terms is the most effective search strategy has occupied researchers in LIS for many decades. This Masters thesis is an empirical study which aims to compare these two search strategies in LISA Library and Information Science Abstracts, an online bibliographic database. 22 topics from the discipline of Library and Information Science were constructed and out of each topic one query for each search strategy was formed. Queries in natural language were formed with terms from different sources, for example dictionaries, while queries in controlled vocabulary were built with terms from LISAs electronic thesaurus. The measures used in this study were precision, relative recall pooling method and overlap.

The purpose of this paper has been to study the relationships and attitudes of a few teachers and librarians as to their co-operation in a combined public and upper secondary school library and to find out what circumstances there may be to exert an influence on their work. The paper has been based upon qualitative interviews with upper secondary school teachers and librarians as well as on studies of literature relating to our issue. We believe there may be different approaches to the learning process, as these are the relations and attitudes of two professions from different trades. That is why our point of departure has been Roger Säljö's theory about learning and, in our analysis, a few of Jean Donham van Deusen's ideas of joint planning and flexible timetabling. All respondents agreed that co-operation could be better, but the teachers were of the opinion that it must not interfere with their time.