The purpose of this Master thesis is to investigate issues concerning the role of the public librarian and their work with adult learners. This is done by examining Studiebibliotek Halland, a project initiated and financed by Kulturrådet, with the aim of improving for adult learners to use the public libraries in Halland. The major questions raised in this study are: How do the librarians interviewed experience their role as public librarian since the number of adult learners at the Public Library has increased? In what way do the librarians think they have to change their work in order to meet the demands of the adult learners? How do they feel about the change? Do they think their work will change more as a result of the project? Data was collected through interviews and the study is a qualitative study. The main results are that the librarians have a very positive attitude towards adult learners using the Public Library.

This paper aims to apply a specific architectural theory onto Lund City Library in order to achieve a better understanding of how the physical concept of the library is affecting our knowledge and our production of meaning; and furthermore how it suggests a certain form of usage. This paper discusses the ways in which architecture is affecting us when we use the library. The paper attempts to answer the following question: ? Which one of Koch?s spatial structures could apply to Lund City Library, and in which ways could this spatial structure be a producer of meaning? The specific architectonical theory used is developed by Daniel Koch in his paper Spatial Systems as Producers of Meaning: the Idea of Knowledge in Three Public Libraries. This theory is the method of the paper as well.

The aim of this study is to examine how the adult students in the Adult Education Initiative called Kunskapslyftet, experience their use of the Main Public Library in Linköping and how the librarians experience the change in their working situation after Adult Education Initiative has started in July 1997. Methods used in the survey are interviews with librarians and students in the Adult Education Initiative. I have also distributed questionnaires to some of the adult students and studied literature that describe students use of libraries. The result shows that the students generally are satisfied with the service they get from the librarians at the Main Public Library. It also shows that what the students mostly asked for, are help to search information about a subject and to find literature in the library.

The aim of this essay is to give a picture of the extension work at Partille Public Library, asit is today, as well as to investigate if there is a need to reconsider the way of working at thelibrary.Qualitative interviews have been made with the extensive librarians and certain local governmentpoliticians, borrowers and personnel at hospitals as well as other institutions.The extension work at Partille Public Library corresponds quite well to the intentions whichare stated for the work in certain important investigations made by the Government. Theborrowers and the personnel are quite satisfied with the work and are only pointing out a fewviews on changes. The politicians mean that the aim of the extension work of the library ison one hand to give service to certain more or less neglected groups and on the other handto reach new book readers..

The subject of this thesis is studying how physical libraryenvironments express ideas on the function of the library, asstated in guiding documents. The ?physical library? isdefined as everything inside the library building, andexcludes the library architecture, focusing on things likefurniture, furnishing and the arrangement of physical media.The two questions asked in this thesis are: What aspects ofthe idea of a Public Library?s function, as expressed in theguiding documents of the library, are possible to study in thephysical library environment? In what ways can theseaspects be studied in the physical library environment?The study of the thesis is divided into two parts, a ?prestudy?and a ?main study?. In the pre-study aspects areidentified by reading guiding documents from differentpublic libraries, and analysing the result together withprevious studies on physical library environments. In themain study three Swedish public libraries (located inHelsingborg, Åstorp and Klippan) are visited, and theirenvironments are studied based on theory on what items andmeans of expression can influence the experience of thelibrary function.The four aspects that are identified in the pre-study areculture, education, accessibility, and development.According to the results of the main study, culture isexpressed in the library environment through aesthetics,education through the environment being inviting andstimulating for studies, accessibility by the environmentbeing inviting, functional and democratic, and developmentby modernity.

This study examines the closure of public libraries, and the nonprofit organizations takeover of them as a phenomenon. The aim is to understand why the nonprofit takeover is common and what the takeover symbolizes and if the discourse in media invokes the views on libraries and the profession.Interviews were made with librarians, politicians and representatives of a nonprofit organization to study different sides of the phenomenon. Other empirical data were found in local and national newspapers and media-channels. I discovered that public libraries are highly valued by both politicians and the community. The study also showed that a library in a community makes people feel valued.

The main purpose of this Master?s thesis is to develop an understanding of why non-users do not use public libraries by studying their information and culture habits and their relationship to public libraries. One of the motivating factors behind this choice is the lack of earlier research on the subject, particularly qualitative research. The theoretical framework is stratified into three associated levels with Brenda Dervin?s sense-making theory on an individual level, Marianne Andersson?s and Dorte Skot-Hansen?s model of the roles of public libraries on an institutional level and Pierre Bourdieu?s theoretical apparatus on a social level.

The aim of this thesis is to study different aspects of the public libraries' investment in public access computers connected to the Internet. What level of accessibility can be found at the surveyed libraries concerning the number of computers open to the public, as well as chat and email services? What activities have been taking place with the computers in focus, and what have the goals of these activities been? Is there any control of content, and what aspects of the Internet are, if that is the case, subject to censorship. And how do the governmental policies relate to the surveyed libraries' intentions and activities regarding the Internet? In order to answer these questions, each main library in the 42 largest towns of Sweden was surveyed response rate: 100 %.

Mediation of fiction for adult users in Swedish public libraries is a subject which has been little studied from a theoretical perspective. The motivation for this thesis was based on this realization, and the opinion that actual library users too seldom get their voices heard in library and information science-research. The thesis analyzes interviews with seven library users in which they have been asked to talk about the librarys work with mediating fiction. The answers are analyzed using a discourse analytic approach to see how the librarys work with mediating fiction is constructed in the users talk.Two main discourses are identified, one authoritative and one neutral. In the authoritative discourse librarians are talked of as experts who have the knowledge to guide users to the ?right? literature.

The structure of the Swedish Public Library field has been evolving during the last decades. The traditional mission of educating the citizens to become responsible, democratic and knowledgeable members of society has in a way led to the integration between public and school libraries. Lately new co-operational models have been under debate and a sense of resistance has arisen because of the economical and market influences. In parallel with closure of library branches new libraries have evolved in malls and wash houses and some with self-service with no use of librarians. This work shows how co-operation in rural areas finds the common goals for the people living there who are concerned about keeping the service needed including the Public Library and thus using existing means and crossing borders of commercial thinking.

Mediation of fiction has always been one of the main tasks of the Public Library. The focus on information technology is often seen as a threat and competitor to this task. But technology can also offer new ways to mediate fiction, and the aim of this thesis is to examine how library websites and blogs can be used for this purpose. The research questions are:? What forms of fiction mediating material exist on library websites and blogs?? How is the fiction mediating material presented?? Are there any differences between the fiction mediating working methods on websites and blogs compared with those in physical libraries?The thesis is based on a qualitative content analysis of eight Swedish Public Library websites and three blogs, and on a theoretical frame work including literature and research on mediation of fiction, library websites and blogs, web design and usability.

The focus of this two year master?s thesis in Library- and Information science is the study of two Swedish Public Library buildings with the examples Lomma and Halmstad. The main goal and purpose of the thesis is to try to uncover which views and values of the Public Library are expressed in the examined libraries; and to what extent these views manifests are shown in its architecture.The theoretical framework is based on Raymond Williams?s cultural concepts of effective, dominant culture and the two extremities of this culture, called residual and emergent cultures. A second aspect is Yi-Fu Tuans concepts of Space and Place.

The view on which kind of fiction that should be mediated to the public through the Swedish Public Library system has since the late 60´s been dominated by what in this Master?s thesis is called: ´the discourse on quality of literary fiction´. The aim of this thesis is to examine to which extent this discourse still plays an active role in the Swedish Public Library system or if that discourse has been replaced by a more market-led, demand responsive view, where the features of ´quality´ and ´culture´ have been downplayed and replaced by a ´customer?s service view´ on how and why fiction should be mediated to the public. The methodological and theoretical perspective in this thesis is led by the understanding of the discourse analysis in Michel Foucault?s ´The Archaeology of Knowledge´.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine the accessibility in public libraries for persons with dyslexia and visually impaired persons. In order to do this, library services, information and attitudes have been studied. Data have been collected through interviews and studies of documents, in particular guidelines for library service to disabled persons. The theoretical starting point of the analysis is Professor Michael Bucklands different aspects of access to information. He discusses six types of barriers that must be overcome if access is to be achieved.

Library 2.0 is a term which emerged a few years ago and is frequently discussed. There is no uniform definition of the term but the central aspect of the concept is to encourage increased participation from library users.The aim of this Master's thesis is to investigate if and if so, how the professional role of the librarian is affected by Library 2.0. To do that, we have conducted a case study at the Public Library in Umeå. Their homepage minabibliotek.se is a practical example of Library 2.0. The homepage is based on interactivity and the library users can participate in various ways.We thougt that qualitive interviews was the best way to gain an understanding for how the librarians at the Public Library in Umeå experience how the work with minabibliotek.se affect their professional role.