The aim of this thesis is to investigate the information need of the incubators that comes from Chalmers University of Technology and are situated at Chalmers Innovation. It is also of interest to investigate how Chalmers University Library covers this information need. The investigation was carried out using qualitative interviews with representatives of the incubators. They were asked questions about the perceived need of information and which type of contacts they had with the library. The result is that the incubators feel that there is a great need for business information that is hard to find.

The web has made an incredible amount of unorganized information available to anyone. There are search engines that help us structuring the information, but it is still difficult to find what you search for on the web. The purpose of this master's thesis is to investigate whether the already existing techniques for automatic indexing are suited for the new information retrieval context on the web and how the choice to support these techniques, or not, affects the search results. This is examined through a literature study on automatic indexing and other related concepts, such as information retrieval and information searching on the web in order to get a theoretical frame to the work and by an observation of the search engine HotBot to approach the purpose of the thesis. The observation is carried out by searching HotBot's database and investigating the search results in order to try to identify patterns that can reveal something about how HotBot's automatic indexing is done.

This essay is a survey of thirteen user studies performed in the field of image retrieval. The purpose is to try to distinguish principles that should be kept in mind when wanting to make image databases available for a wide and varied group of users. The essay tries to answer two questions, namely: Are there any results in accordance among the different studies? What in the user studies should be considered when it comes to how content description, interface and functions for searching can be designed when creating systems for image retrieval? Each study is first reviewed on its own, and then a comparative analysis of all the studies is carried out. Derived from the result of this analysis, the conclusion is presented in the form of a row of suggestions to which aspects are to be suitably included in the design of image databases.

The purpose of this study is to investigate childrens possibilities to retrieve information by searching in searching engines designed for children. Two such search engines are examined: Yahooligans and Kids Click, both of which index pages in English only. I have compared Yahooligans with its equivalence for adults; Yahoo, by evaluating the retrieval effectiveness. Some functions in Kids Click and in Yahooligan are investigated. Seven class room studies are described in the prior research chapter.

The purpose of this essay is to explore how students in secondary school seek out and use information. More specifically, the essay examines how the search and use of information differs between students working in groups and students working independently. The essay draws on in-depth interviews with six students. Two different theories are used to analyse the transcripts from the interviews. The first theory consists of Carol Kuhlthau?s six different stages showing how the students? feelings, emotions and actions change during the information seeking process.

This thesis aims to discuss how an information system and its users may adapt to each other. The main discussion is how to create an information system that is adaptable without losing its organising properties. The thesis uses a holistic approach to the topic and the areas being dealt with are information architecture, interactive information retrieval and information searching. The practical work consisted of constructing a database for Autoliv?s Research and Development branch.

This thesis examines the problems related to IT in the Swedish healthcare system, specifically the drug searching part of the electronic healthcare systems used in Sweden. The question formulation is divided into two questions: What parameters and functions are of greatest importance when performing a search on drugs, and how should these be presented in a graphical user interface? Thus the purpose is to answer these questions through developing a design concept, in the form of a prototype, which describes how a drug search can be carried out.The entry point is a central quality checked drug database that is managed and owned by Swedish county councils and regions. The problem is attacked through user-centered methods where interviews of physicians and developers, in conjunction with observations, are used to give an overview of the problem area as well as to specify a requirements specification for the prototype that this thesis aims to develop. The thesis result is a requirements specification in combination with a prototype that exemplifies how drug searching can be performed, the prototype is based the requirements gathered from the interviews with the user group of physicians..

The aim of this master thesis is to investigate how the OPACs Online Public Access Catalogue used by public libraries have adapted the features and possibilities offered by online catalogues, for the purpose of searching for fiction. This is done by comparing five OPACs to Amazon.com, an online bookstore. The questions investigated are: Have the OPACs developed from the principles of the card catalogue and adapted to the features and possibilities offered by online catalogues, when searching for fiction? Can the library catalogue provide the same features as Amazon.com, when searching for fiction? How do the OPACs use the resources that online catalogues provide when searching for fiction, compared with Amazon.com? The thesis is based on two qualitative studies. The first study presents five OPACs from different library systems and examines which features they have in common with Amazon.com.

During the changes of time, the stipulations for the existence of books and libraries also change. With technical advances come new possibilities, and the option to publish literature electronically is one of them. The purpose of this Master's thesis is to answer the question how the advantages and disadvantages of electronically published literature is described and constructed. To further deepen the analysis these questions were asked: What aims are the electronically published literature said to achieve? Why are the electronically published literature said to achieve these aims? And who are favoured/disfavoured by electronically published literature? The analyzed publications are four Swedish library related publications: Biblioteksbladet, Dik-forum, Ikoner and Nya Ciceron.

The aim of this study was to examine how the feelings of ?being met? from personnel can affect suicidal youth and their parents, when searching for help. Five Swedish parents share their experiences of ?being met? by personnel regarding the care of their child who has taken their life. ?Face to face? interviews where done with four of the parents.

Recent changes in Swedish law suggest new groups of ?desired? labor migrants, which international students is an example of. Despite this, international students in Sweden have received little previous attention in the literature. The current study focused on international master students? experiences of job searching in Sweden and challenges they face in job searching, recruitment, and workplaces.

People are constantly using there friends in order to ask for a favor or to get hold of some information. This is usually done unconsciously and it is just viewed as everyday life behavior. The function and the use of these links definitely have a value, which means that it can be viewed as a form of capital. But this capital is not caught in the traditional theories of physical capital or human capital; it demands it?s on theorization.

This report is the result of an evaluation of a project, conducted by five regional libraries. Through a training course the project should inspire small and medium sized enterprises to use modern information technology and Internet when searching for information. To evaluate the project, qualitative interviews were conducted with five librarians and quantitative questionnaires were distributed to all the course participants. The evaluation shows that the project goals were met, apart from the number of course participants, which was much lower than anticipated. It also shows that the project resulted in an increase in information technology and competence at the libraries, and that the course participants profit from their increased knowledge in their daily work..

Consumers don´t buy products, they buy brands. To create a succesful brand, you need a clear identity,and it will be strengthened by for instance a graphic profile. This project includes a theoretical partabout corporate identity and graphic profiling, and a description of the work with the graphic profile ofEM-loppet. The aim with this project is to strengthen the identity of EM-loppet, by making a clear andunified profile. The project has been accomplished by studying literature, searching information on theInternet and via personal contacts.

For my advanced degree in archival science, I have organized and catalogued the Blomqvist family archive.  The Blomqvist family archive consists of records from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 21th century. The records in the archive depict and describe different aspect of the Blomqvist familys life and work. Specific problems and theoretical questions that appeared during the cataloguing of the Blomqvist archive were related to the great presence of objects and photographs in the archive. A discussion concerning the role of objects in archives and within archive institution took place. The problem with cataloguing photographs as well as the problem of searching for photographs in archives, were also discussed.       .