Should libraries first and foremost be a source of free informationwhere the citizens can find whatever information they want, or dothe librarians have a responsibility for what kind of works theypresent to people on their shelves? A wild debate broke out inSwedish media in September 2012, after the artistic leader ofKulturhuset in Stockholm; Behrang Miri decided to weed out allthe Tintin albums from the children´s library Tiotretton. Hewanted to start a debate on stereotypes in children´s fiction, andwhat damage they do to children who face them. The purpose ofthe thesis is to carry out a discourse analysis of this media debate,and to identify the different views that are expressed on thedemocratic mission of the libraries, what media they shouldpresent. The method and theory is based on the discourse theory ofErnesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe and their concepts are used toarrange the analysis around certain themes that build up twodifferent discourses; ?Freedom of information discourse? and the?Weeding out discourse?.The two main questions are: What views of the public librariesselection of works are expressed in the Tintin debate in Tiotretton,and how do the views relate to each other? What concepts arespecific for the debate, and what meanings do they get in thesedifferent views?In the concluding chapter I discuss which consequences theseopposing opinions can have for the future selection processes ofthe library..

The following thesis concerns the conceptualization of openness within the open access movement. Open accesscan be understood as a phenomenon or a movement that aims at changing the current system of scholarly communication.Consequentially, the movements goals arose in relation to the escalating serials crisis in scholarly communicationand the increasing power of commercial publishers. The purpose of the thesis is to study three centralopen access declarations with the aim of uncovering the different conceptualizations of openness found withinthese texts. Leaning on the theoretical position known as actor-network theory, the declarations role within a surroundingnetwork is explored by focusing on how openness as a concept has been produced and reproduced bycentral actors. Two overarching questions frames the study: How is openness conceptualized within the declarations?And how can openness, as a concept, be understood as an effect generated by a larger network?The first part of the study focuses on the first question.

This essay deals with 18 year old boys´ experience of their usage of pornography. My main focus was the pornography found on Internet, which includes pornographic films and nude pictures.Both developmental and social psychological perspectives were applied in the study. These theoretical perspectives were chosen, because boys´ view of sex, especially during their adolescence, are influenced by the increased supply of porn and that boys understanding of porn are influenced by values present in our society. The methods used were three focusgroups and a short survey with simple questions regarding pornography. The choice of methods was based on my standpoint that an open discussion concerning porn was less offensive of integrity, in comparison of working with individual interviews.

The BA thesis Front Yard Gardens ? spatiality, design elements, expression and social aspects is a summary of the entrance and front yard garden phenomenon ? where the entrance is the set design and the designer is the director. The thesis touches the social context of which entrances have been and still are shaped. The various appearance of the entrance and front yard gardens throughout the history, starting with the first entrance by the edge of the wood and coming up to the front yard gardens of today, is described. It touches the present day through an analysis of some entrances and front yard gardens of modern residential areas.

In the 1970´s the North American lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) was introduced to Sweden in large scale. The lodgepole pine affects its new environment different from Scots pine (P. sylvestris), leading to a change in biological diversity. Forestry today affects the ground beetle fauna (Carabidae). Habitat specialists associated with older forests are first affected. When the canopy closes again after a clear-cutting species that prefer open habitats reduces and those who prefer mature/closed forests increase. In this study we compare differences in diversity and community structure of ground beetles in stands of lodgepole pine and Scots pine.

The aim of this masters thesis is to examine how daily encounters between the Danish public libraries and the library-users called ethnic minorities are described within the public library field. Danish public libraries have been assigned to play a larger role in societys strive towards integration of immigrants and refugees. Within Danish politics I find an emphasis on the importance of maintaining Danish culture, but it is rarely expressed if ethnic minorities are, can or should be a part of it. Theoretical and methodological starting points are hermeneutics and text-analysis. My theoretical framework is research about international migration and ethnic relations IMER.

The aim of the study is to examine how different factors,such as views on how knowledge is produced and howlearning takes place, effect the way an academic librarymanages space. This is done by looking into how a specificlibrary, namely Library & Learning Resources (LLR) at theUniversity of Borås, by re-planning the building?s structure,design and functions, can support the students? differentstudying habits. The analysis is performed by using a theoreticalperspective built by a model first created by thearchitect Daniel Koch. The model is designed to look uponhow space produces meaning and knowledge.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate how purchasingmanagers in bookshops and public librarians reason withregards to their selection of fiction literature. Nineinterviews have been conducted in this qualitative studymade in the spring of 2013; four librarians, four bookmerchants, as well as a market director of a major chain ofbookstores. Our focus has been particularly directed toascertaining what influence the cultural-political mission oflibraries have had on the process of selection, as well as theextent to which factors such as demand and quality play apart in both organizations. We have been interested inseeing how libraries and bookstores compare with regards tothese factors, because of obvious differences in their goalsand purposes. Librarians see both the benefits and flaws intheir way of working, as well as in the way in whichbookstores conduct their business, and vice versa, that theyare often successful in cooperating, like when arrangingvisits from authors etc.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine the reading support activities performed by the school libraries of five Swedish upper secondary schools. It focuses upon fiction reading. Two main research questions are asked: the first one in order to find out what kind of ideas of fiction, fiction reading and young people that are held by the librarians of the five libraries, the second one in order to find out what the motives behind the reading support activities are. One additional research question is asked to examine how the librarians estimate the results of the reading support activities, and furthermore how the students seem to respond to them.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine and present the programmes and activities of school library centres in order to see what functions (purposes) they can fulfil in a municipality and also if and how they can contribute to school library development. In order to fulfil my purpose I have made qualitative interviews with five librarians from school library centres. The theoretical framework is primarily based on David Loertscher?s.

The aim of this paper is to study in which contexts Muslims and Islam are represented in newspaper- articles in the Swedish press. The research questions are formulated as follow: In what contexts are Muslims and Islam represented in Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter during the years 2011-2013 ?Does the newspaper-articles in Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter reflect open or closed attitudes about Islam?  My material compromises twenty-five newspaper- articles from the newspapers Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter during the years 2011-2013. The material became a subject for qualitative content analysis. This resulted in four categories, the categories were formed from the content of the newspaper-articles. The categories are: (1) Violence / Terrorism, (2) Extremist / Fundamentalist, (3) Islamic god´s state / government / Islamism and (4) Others.

This master thesis deals with reading and library habits among young male students at the vehicle engineering programme in an upper secondary school. Also their overall opinion of libraries has been looked into. For the completion of this study all of the 43 students in question took part in a questionnaire while 5 of them were interviewed. The result of this statistical survey complemented with more focused interviews show that at some time or another all the students read, but their preference lies within the news and engineering pages of daily newspapers and periodicals. Those who read books choose action and fantasy for content.

In this thesis we have examined opinions of the social web in Scandinavian Library journals. Our interest lies in aspects about the social web, and above all about Library 2.0. The central question is how this new technology, a growing digitalization, and a social web that focuses on interactivity and participation affects opinions about libraries. We have investigated opinions about Library 2.0, with respect to three different dimensions: The role of the library in society, power/hierarchy and knowledge. The method used in this thesis is idea analysis using these dimensions as analytical instrument.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine the user service discourses in the field of public libraries that can be identified in four Swedish library journals. Also which underlying causes that control the discourses and the consequences of them are examined. Questions in this study are: which discourses can be found, what characterises them, what kind of different discourses concerning technology in society control the user service discourses and what are the consequences of them. The theoretical starting-point is Ernesto Laclaus and Chantal Mouffes discourse theory. The method is text analytic.

Futurum.kom is a collaborative marketing project with the aim of strengthening the internal organization of Länsbibliotek Sydost, Regionbibliotek Kalmar and the 25 public libraries within the southeast region. The project intends to externally build the brands of the public libraries in Blekinge, Kalmar and Kronobergs län. This thesis is a study and evaluation of the implementation and results of Futurum.kom?s first campaign "Låna dig rik" at a public library. The analysis is based on the following issues:? What goals does the library have with the "Låna dig rik"-campaign.? What is the feedback from the staff's experience of the users in terms of needs and demands?? In which way does the library choose to implement the marketing campaign and what role do the users have in this process?? What is the internal performance of the library's marketing campaign, what was the experience of the staff of the campaign?? What is the external result of the library's marketing campaign?The method is based on a case study of a single library, with a series of interviews and document analysis of written and electronic documents.