The aim of this bachelor?s thesis is to investigate what role the Public Library in Sweden may have when it comes to gender equality issues. The questions at issue that were asked, in order to give an answer to the aim, was how the librarians defined and saw work with equality, how much the steering documents for the library impact and what they are doing in their practice to weaken the dichotomies between the sexes. The theoretical starting point used for this study is three concepts, the gender system, the stereotypes and the gender contract described by the Swedish historian Yvonne Hirdman. The purpose of the three concepts is that gender is a social construction which produces gender stereotypes and a gender order in society, which the library is a part of.

The purpose of this masters thesis is to examine how managers in public libraries are managing financial cuts. Questions posed are: What strategies are used by the library manager to handle the cuts and how are the strategies being worked out? What are the consequences of the cuts? How do the managers use their library plans in the work with the cuts and how do the plans change as a consequence of the cuts? Library managers in eleven communities are interviewed about their financial cuts in 2003 and/or 2004. The result shows that cuts are made in different ways. The study analysed the managers statements with a model about strategies created by Oulton.

My purpose with the study is to investigate if it is possible to argue in favor of organizing public libraries according to the client based theory. To create a base to argue from I have studied UFO, a department focused on young adults at the age between 15 and 25 at the Public Library of Malmö. This case study, performed by investigating the documentation of UFO as well as conducting an interview with the project leader, is the base from which I then can argue for or against the idea of organizing public libraries according to the client based theory. Public libraries should always reflect the communities they serve. This challenges the staff of different libraries in different regions to arrange their organizations accordingly to their local population and to be flexible enough to follow the changes of this population.

This thesis explores the opinion of different participants in the music business regarding music being made available at the public libraries. The aim of the thesis is to answer the following questions; which are the most important issues concerning the distribution of music? How do the informants perceive the public libraries mission and activity in regard to make recorded music available? Which are the benefits/disadvantages with music being made available at public libraries? Seven qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives from the following organisations; SKAP (The Swedish Society of Popular Music Composers), FST (Society of Swedish Composers), SAMI (Swedish Artists and Musicians Interest Organisation) SMF (The Swedish Society of Musicians), SOM (Swedish Independent Musicproducers), IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) and EMI Music Sweden. A study of literature and articles generated nine themes, which constitutes the frame of reference for the thesis. The result shows that several of the informants have not reflected upon the Public Library as an important actor when it comes to the distribution of music.

The aim of this study is to describe and analyse the creation and the design of a new Public Library. In order to concretize this, the study sets out from two examples, the public libraries in Simrishamn and Landskrona. The material used to attain the purpose of the study consists partly of interviews, partly of literature on the subject. To be able to put these two libraries in their historical context, the essay also provides a short overview of the development of Public Library buildings in Sweden during the 20th century. Another aspect that is discussed is the actual procedure of planning a Public Library from scratch.

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to investigate children?s access to specific children?s activities at Swedish public libraries 2005. The thesis is based on literature studies and qualitative interviews with children?s librarians, library directors and local politicians at two demographically different libraries in Gothenburg.The sub questions are: What measures exist to promote children?s access to public libraries and children?s activities when it comes to: law and other political statements: different efforts on the state level and different efforts on the municipal level in the direct activity with children at public libraries? What driving forces and needs justify activities for children at public libraries? How will the responsible persons judge that the efforts are sufficient? The result of the study shows that children?s access to library activity has increased in the last couple of years due to reorganization, economic savings with closing down of library affiliates and because libraries have given priority to other things, like IT and new media. Children?s librarians have got new assignments and less time for children?s activity.The conclusion of our investigation is that children?s librarians are ambitious in their work, but unfortunately don?t give children?s library activity adequate resources.

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to examine how some university students, who are using the libraries extensively, use and experience the public and the university library and what they expect from the two different library types. I also compare their expectations with the different tasks and aims of the two library types. To answer this I have interviewed seven students at the department of history of literature at Göteborg University. I have also studied some literature and research related to this subject, for example user studies about students and libraries and the information behaviour of distance students.

The main focal point of this study is about public libraries and its possible roles in today's society. Going from having had a clear educational orientation, public libraries has with time amassed several other roles, which all need to relate to the swedish law regarding libraries and other governing documents, as well as business plans. This thesis focus on a qualitative investigation, which was conducted through in-depth interviews with librarians and other staff at a Public Library in Stockholm, named bibliotek Plattan, to ascertain the prevailing opinions within this facility about the role of libraries and librarians. The choice of examine this particular library was based on the fact that bibliotek Plattan differs from the Public Library in general and only offers material for adults. Their collection of litterature is primarily based on fiction novels.

The main purpose of this Master thesis is to illuminate the understanding of local politicians regarding the public libraries and the librarians. We argue that the local politicians´ opinions regarding public libraries and librarians influence the way they act and react in their roles as politicians.In order to achieve the aim of this thesis we focused on following questions:What are the opinions of the politicians:- regarding themselves in relation to the Public Library?- concerning public libraries in general and its functions especially in the municipalities of their own?- concerning the librarians and their work in a public function?What are the conclusions to be drawn regarding the politicians´ interest and commitment to public libraries in the politic daily-life of the municipalities? Our empiric material consists of qualitative interviews with six politicians elected in two municipalities in the interior of Västerbotten, a northern sparsely populated district. In order to distinguish the various opinions that emerge from the material, we apply a phenomenographic approach. The analysis result we present in three conceivable categories in order to express the different opinions.In general our study points at a positive and favourable attitude to the Public Library, and all the respondents assume that the municipality ought to offer this service.

This bachelor thesis is a study and an evaluation of the planning and implementation of the targeted marketing campaign "Småbarnsföräldern" at a Public Library. The analysis is based on the following questions:? What goals does the library have with the marketing campaign "Småbarnsföräldern"?? How has the library chosen to plan and implement the marketing campaign "Småbarnsföräldern" and what role have the users had in this process?? What is the internal result of the library?s marketing campaign ? how did the staff experience the marketing campaign "Småbarnsföräldern"?? What is the external result ? how did the target group, the parents of young children, experience the marketing campaign "Småbarnsföräldern"?The method is based on a case study of a single library with a series of interviews and document analysis. The study reveals that it´s difficult to plan a marketing campaign against a target group. The target group, the parents of young children, didn?t observe the marketing campaign, two informants had noticed the poster but didn?t pay much attention to it.

The main purpose of this Masters thesis is to examine gender division in public libraries by reviewing literature and interviewing eight public librarians and two chief librarians. The reason why we decided to investigate this topic is the lack of research concerning sex-segregation in library and information science. By choosing this subject we intend to deepen the understanding of the significance of gender both within the Public Library and of the occupation in general. Some researchers claim that the low status of librarianship is a result of the large proportion of women in the profession. We want to find out how our informants view the relation between professional status and female domination.

The thesis treats how the German public libraries originated and how they were affected by the Nazi era. It deals with how the library system began to cover the whole nation, and describes the struggle between public libraries and commercial and religious ditto. It also treats the weedings out and what happened to the staff and the stocks between 1933 and 1945.Furthermore it gives a picture of what books one could find in a German Public Library,and how these volumes were catalogued and classified. Moreover it describes how thelibraries managed during the Second World War, and ends by giving some topics fordiscussion and asks questions that additional research might be able to answer..

The purpose of this Master's thesis is to investigate the role of the Public Library when the local government in the municipality arranges distance education at university level. The thesis has two main areas of questioning and these are goals and resources. In the study it is examined if the local goals have changed during the period 2000 until 2005, due to the development of distance education. It is investigated if change actually has occurred and if it has, in what way the goals have changed. It is also examined if and how the goals correspond with the work that is being performed in the Public Library.

In the last few years there has been an ongoing debate concerning the methods of assessing the quality of public libraries and their services. This study investigates the opinions and needs of the users at four different public libraries in Malm : the local libraries in Bellevueg rden, Limhamn, and Kirseberg, and the main library in central Malm . The purpose was to find out whether different user groups display different patterns in their library use and, in addition, to identify what library services they prefer. The data were collected through interviews with users and librarians, and by means of a user survey ccarried out at the four libraries. The results indicate that certain differences in the usage patterns do exist between the main library and the local libraries.

The web sites of libraries are to a large extent their public face and to help market their services, the web sites must have interesting and regularly renewed content. They must also be visually attractive and easily used, and thus be well structured and have a well functioning navigational system. The web masters' awareness of the ability of web sites to attract users to the site and also to the library, as well as their knowledge of suitable content and site construction, is crucial for how successful the web site actually is at marketing the library. The research question is: How do the studied web sites function as marketing sources and service providers for the libraries, and are the web masters aware of the importance of the web site? The purpose is to investigate how the library personnel looks upon the web site as a possible way to increase the popularity of the library among the public, and to study the construction and content of the library web sites to find out how well these serve their purpose.