With the advent of a range of social networks, librarians all over the world have startedto ask themselves how this new technology can be used as a way to market theirlibraries. Today's information websites and search engines are difficult competitors forlibraries and information centers, and are forcing traditional information institutions tomarket themselves in new ways.Marketing theories have traditionally concerned themselves with money transactionsand marketing of specific services and/or products. Relationship marketing theories, onthe other hand, focus more on the relationship between the customer and the companythat produces the product or service. These two parties are seen as co-producers, andrelationship marketing theories tend to focus more on a win-win situation, than on thecompany gaining power of the customer. The relationship is the important thing, and thetheories concentrate to a great extent on how to nourish these relationships.This paper is a discussion about whether Facebook as a social network is a usable toolfor library marketing.

The aim of this thesis is to study how the recent introduction of video games in Swedish public libraries compares to past introductions of other medias, namely music records, sequential art, manga (Japanese comics), and films on video. In what ways does the introduction of video games differ from the other examples of introductions and in what ways are they alike? In what manner have the medias been introduced? How does the librarians views on video games differ from their views on other medias? The purpose of doing this is that by investigating how new medias have been evaluated in the past, we might gain an understanding of how the introduction of video games links into that tradition. Theoretically, this thesis is grounded in Sanna Talja?s theory of the interpretative repertoires of the music library.

The Internet has played an important role for libraries giving them a means of fulfilling their democratic mission of giving equal access to everyone, including people with disabilities. In order to achieve this it is of the utmost importance that they ensure that their web sites are accessible. In this masters thesis we have examined to what extent the web sites are accessible. The thesis is based on theories of human-computer interaction, information architecture, pedagogy and a checklist. The checklist is derived from established international guidelines from W3C, which has been adapted to, and is used by Swedish public authorities to achieve the mission of a ?24-hour authority?.

The aim of this thesis was to study librarians approach upon reference questions and available resources and also to find out if there is any connection between the nature of the reference question and the choice of resource. The purpose was also to give a deeper understanding of the reference work. Nine librarians were given ten reference questions and their reference work was tape recorded. The study was completed with seven interviews sent by email. Some of the reflections were translated under the headlines of form, subject, time, language and availability.

This thesis deals with questions about competences and qualities that librarians inpublic libraries find that they need to be qualified suppliers of literature (books andmagazines).Our aim is to problematize the competence of the profession in relation to promotingliterature, knowledge in literature and reading habits. We want to know what librariansthemselves think about their own competences when it comes to supplying andpromoting literature. Does it have to be a leisure interest or do they get the possibility toread during working hours?What do librarians think it means to be a qualified promotor of literature and how dothey acquire the right competence? Do they believe that their competence correspondswith the occupational requirements? How much of their knowledge about literature andpromoting literature comes from personal interest and commitment?We primarily used the theories about competence by Per-Erik Ellström. One of thetheories is the one of implicit and explicit knowledge.

This study is about fourteen-year-old boys, who are not interested in reading. It deals with what thoughts and feelings some boys have around books, reading and libraries. Further the study investigates the boys' leisure activities and their making of identities. The study is built on interviews among twelve boys in a secondary school. The result is compared to earlier reports and research.

The subject of this master thesis is the school library and how we find its potential unutilized. We look at this problem in connection to the democratic assignment that the Swedish school has. The purpose is to elucidate what the democratic assignment consists of and to establish the role that the school library ought to have in this assignment. To describe the democratic assignment we examine and interpret the documents that regulate school and library activities today, including UNESCO/IFLA School Library Manifesto and United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. We use critical ideology analysis because we consider democracy to be a sort of ideology and have a critical view of how the school library is used or rather not used in school.

Since reading difficulties is a growing problem in Society and a problem that hinders Children to take an active part in every day life, I wanted to investigate how the School Library can be an educational resource for students with reading difficulties. Using qualitative interviews, I have gained insight into how three school librarians and two teachers work with Students with reading difficulties at two different Schools.The Respondents feel that they have the Knowledge necessary to work with students with reading difficulties, but Wish they had more Resources in terms of Time and Staff to help Students achieve School Goals even better. There are always new assistive technology for Students with Reading Difficulties, and an important part of the Educational work of the School Library, is to be informed of the Facilities available and how they work. I show, in my Research the importance of cooperation between school libraries and teachers to provide the students with reading difficulties the love of reading and work to promote reading. It is important that the School Librarian is an integral part of the School's Team to take full advantage of every opportunity to help the Reading Impaired Students with Information and finding the right Reading Level.

Projects to equip every student and teacher with a laptop, with the intention to improve academic results, have rapidly spread through the country. New technology, new contents and new ways of learning have changed the learning envi-ronment. The school library, being a part of this environ-ment, faces the same changes and challenges.The purpose of this thesis is to study how the school library is being affected when a One-to-One project is carried out in a learning environment. The research questions concern how the school library is viewed within the organization and also how the change affects both the school library and the school librarian.The empirical material of the thesis includes five qualitative interviews carried out on location, at a single selected school. The interviews are followed by a study of relevant documents, all produced within the organization.To understand the organization in which the school library operates, as well as the school library itself, I chose to divide the theoretical approach in two: Christensen?s et al.

The main purpose of this Master?s thesis is to examine what librarians in seven public libraries experience as major change in their work tasks. We are also interested in exploring how these changes influence librarians? ways of working. In addition to this we want to explore if librarians have experienced change in relation to user?s expectations and demands and if so, how they are met.

The Swedish institute of racial biology was the first of its kind in the world. The purpose of their activity was to gather information about the different kind of racial characters of the Swedish population. They did this by traveling around the country gathering pictures and statistic information. In 1958 it was decided that the institute was going to get integrated with the University of Uppsala and change its research focus to a more medical genetic. Most of the research material also got integrated into the university?s library.The purpose of this paper is to find out how the institutes collection has been handled through the ages and if there have been any controversy or debate about it.

The purpose of this Master?s thesis is to study how the comics have been evaluated and debated in the Swedish library press from 1960 to 1999. Have they been seen as something good or something bad? What arguments have been put forward against them or in their defense? What kinds of development can be seen over time? The point of doing this, is of course that evaluation always plays a crucial part in library work. By studying how a "new" medium or art form has been evaluated in the past, we can hopefully gain a greater understanding of how today?s newcomers should best be treated.

This evaluational study has been initiated by the County Council of Gävleborg (LandstingetGävleborg), politically responsible (and the main economical) authority of BibliotekGävleborg, the regional library institution in the county of Gävleborg, Sweden.The aim of the study is threefolded:1. to evaluate the organization of Bibliotek Gävleborg during the 1990's as we11 as theeffects of a reorganization carried out in 1990, and, through the use of interviews and a questionnaire, to ascertain the attitudes of Bibliotek Gävleborg's branch users (mainlythe municipal libraries in the county) towards the organizational development.2. to evaluate and compare regional library activities in Gävleborg prior to and duringthe 1990's, and to investigate the attitudes of the afore-mentioned branch users towardsBibliotek Gävleborg's activities.3. to investigate and discuss possible future directions of regional library development in Sweden in general, and in Gävleborg in particular.The closing, debating chapter in the study also'contains a few suggestions of measures to enhance regional library activity in Gävleborg..

Adolescence is a turbulent time in life and gives rise to new information needs for young people. Information needs related to school subjects have been relatively well researched but few studies have focused on information needs and use related to life concerns. The purpose of this Master's thesis is to examine the information needs of a number of teenage girls in relation to their life concerns and how they meet these needs. The sample consists of twenty-one girls aged thirteen and fourteen. The research is based on literature studies and qualitative interviews combined with a questionnaire.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine a new music downloading service called Musikwebben, which is now available in many Swedish libraries. It focuses on the differences and similarities between this service and illegal music sharing services. The question is raised, whether the appeal of Musikwebben is high enough for it to be able to ?recruit? users from similar, illegal services. To answer this question, a qualitative content analysis is used, to explore various views on what legal downloading services have to offer and how these differ to illegal alternatives.