The aim of this Bachelor´s thesis is to investigate how library statistics, performance measurement and indicators represent the modern public library activity. During the last decades the public library has gone through a lot of changes. Information overall has increased and new technology has been introduced into the library. This new development has had effects on the library users. The statistics reported to the Statens kulturråd (National Arts Council) has not changed in the same way.

This study is performed as an Archive, Library and museum master?s thesis in two years studies. The overall aim is to investigate and analyze what the term Manga means in a library and information science context. The concept of Manga has different meanings depending on whether we start from a Japanese or a Swedish context. Manga is integrated in the Japanese society while Manga often is associated with youth culture or a separate genre in Sweden.

This master?s thesis investigates how six Swedish public libraries integrate equality aspects in their user oriented activity. The theoretical starting point for the study is that Sweden is a part of a gender system characterized by gender separation and male superiority, as described by the Swedish historian Yvonne Hirdman and theories that argue that femininity and masculinity are social constructions. Another starting point is that the library sphere cannot be separated from the gender inequality in society. Since the library is part of a gender system that value individuals who are seen as males and separates men and women, some of the library users may be neglected.

The object of this bachelor thesis is to examine how publiclibraries are working to reach out to boys in their early teens,and from a relationship marketing perspective see howlibraries are using marketing as a tool in creating long-termrelationships with this user group. The following questionsare asked: How do public libraries market themselves toboys in their early teens? How are children?s and youthlibrarians working to create long-term relationships with thisuser group? How do children?s and youth librarians viewmarketing as a way to create long-term relationships with theuser group? The theoretical framework of the study is EvertGummesson?s model of relationship marketing. Interviewswith five children?s and youth librarians make up theempirical data.

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.

The digital era has led to technical advances that have transformed the role of the public library from being a place that is used only through physical visits and material, into also being a virtual space that can be accessed by users from outside the library through Internet-based access to e-media such as e-books and streamed or downloadable audiobooks.The aim of this study is to examine how the role of public libraries in Stockholm County has changed in the process of developing into digital libraries: how this has affected their organisation, work methods and strate- gies, as well as their accessibility. The theoretical framework of the study draws on Michael K. Bucklands theory of information accessibility, which is based on six factors of access that are determined by different types of barriers. The methodology is based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. Primary data was gathered through an empirical survey, which consisted of a structured questionnaire distributed to most of the public libraries in Stockholm County and semi-structured interviews with selected librarians and experts for further in-depth understanding.

The main purpose of this Masters thesis is to examine three Swedish librarians views on their role regarding their local learning centre and its adult students. The thesis also tries to find out whether the persons responsible for the local learning centres in these municipalities regard the libraries as a resource in this context and if the municipalities express the importance of such a cooperation in documents. Previous research in information seeking and learning is presented and a survey of lifelong learning, local learning centres and libraries is made. Relevant theories, such as Loertschers taxonomy, Kuhlthaus approaches of library skills instruction and levels of mediation as well as Bruces categories of information literacy, are presented and later used in the analysis. A qualitative method was found to be most appropriate for this study, as the majority of the empirical material has been collected through interviews.

The purpose of this thesis is to shed light on how evidence-based librarian and information practice (EBLIP) is understood and practised at some Swedish hospital libraries, and also to analyze how EBLIP functions as a strategy to bridge the gap between research and practice as described by Haddow & Klobas. The theoretical framework for the study is partly based on Haddow & Klobas description of the gap between research and practice in the field of LIS and partly a description of the EBP-process which plays a key role in the use of EBLIP. Interviews have been done with four people, three librarians, all with management experience, and an academic development officer, active at three different hospital libraries where EBLIP is practiced. All informants believed that it is important to make use of research results in order to improve services and practice. In their efforts to apply the research findings the informants face a number of hindrances, which indicates a gap between research and practice.

The subject of this thesis is to ascertain the task of the public library in Swedish society today according to the employer, that is the State and the municipalities, and according to the public library itself. The thesis also tries to establish as to what extent these different actors share the same view of the task. To this purpose I have studied the library law, the target reports of municipal authorities and public libraries, and made interviews with public library representatives during the autumn of 2001. The particular consideration of this paper is whether the task is being described in active, culture making terms or in passive, service functionary terms. Initially, I describe the task according to the library law.

In November 2008 the National Library of Sweden decidedto switch classification system from SAB to Dewey decimalclassification. SAB had then been the main classificationsystem in the whole of the Swedish library field for 87 years.Included into the decision was not just the nationalbibliography but also the research libraries of Sweden. Thisdecision was in alignment with a West European tendency tochange in favor of the internationally well-spreadclassification system Dewey in order to co-operate more inthe cataloguing process. The purpose of this study takenplace in the autumn and winter of 2013 is to examine howlibrarians involved in the transition feel about what differentways the implementation has affected the research libraryorganizations. We also aim to study the librarians? view onthe involvement of the research libraries into the decision ofthe changeover.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine the use of IT, that is the Internet and other applications of personal computers, among seniors 65+. It also deals with issues of access to IT for seniors in public libraries. The theoretical background of the study consists of Rogers "Diffusion of innovations", Hektors categories of information activities, and the Swedish IT-commissions categories of motives and prerequisites for the use of IT. The research questions focus on factors motivating the use of IT, the extent and the purposes of IT use, the consequences and the barriers that IT-users experience, and views on IT in public libraries and IT courses, respectively. Qualitative interviews were carried out with nine senior IT-users.

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.