The main purpose of this master's thesis is to investigate to what extent municipal politicians govern a selected Public Library. This means to clarify who determines the direction of the library and its services and in what way. It also involves examining the relationship between library staff and local politicians in the decision-making process. Which decisions are made by the politicians and which are left to the employees? The study is based on an investigation of a Public Library in a municipality over a period of ten years the 1990s.

The purpose of the master thesis was to reflect and analyze music library activities and policies in the public libraries in the area around the city of Borås, in the south-western part of Sweden. With this thesis I also wanted to look at the interaction between the public libraries, the music school and the music associations in the same area. To investigate these matters, qualitative method was used in the form of interviews with seven librarians from seven different libraries and five representatives of different local music organizations. Other methods used were observations and source studies. The literature used discusses the role of the music department of public libraries as well as that of a music librarian working in a Public Library.

This Master thesis aims to study the relation between Swedish governmental cultural policy and cultural events at two Swedish public libraries. The Masters thesis demonstrates how national cultural policy regulates every part of the Public Library. This demonstration is a result based upon national cultural policy documents and interviews with employees at two public libraries in Sweden. The conclusion that national cultural policy regulates this part of the Public Library is drawn with help of the circle of culture as applied in Culture Studies and Michel Foucault theories of power. The thesis contains the answer of four questions, two involving cultural policy and the other two events at the library.

The aim of this Master´s thesis is to examine how Public Library managers reflect on readers´ advisory and promotion of adult literature, and how they view and discuss the governmental proposition Läsa för livet (prop. 2013/14:3). Questions posed in this study are: What matters do Public Library managers think fiction have on adults? How do Public Library managers reflect on promotion of adult literature? What are Public Library managers´ views on the governmental proposition Läsa för livet and how it will affect the Public Library?The theoretical starting-points used in this study are views on literature by Magnus Persson and Gitte Balling, and views on literature promotion by Rasmus Grøn. Method chosen was semi-structured interviews with six library managers in public libraries.

The aim of this master?s study is to examine the function of the Public Library in the local community at present. I have searched for the answers to the following questions: Which position has the Public Library in the local cultural policy? What characterizes each library and which are the priorities? What is the local profile of the Public Library? What cooperation partners does the Public Library have and what do they mean to the library? Does the Public Library intensify the local community in any way? To answer this, I have made three qualitative case studies. Interviews and collection of documents were carried out in three different communities.

The history of books and libraries in the Philippines starts after the arrival of the Spaniards in 1521. During the Spanish era, most of the libraries were established through the religious orders to support their own religious mission. The Americans came in the beginning of the 20th century and have had a decisive influence on the education system and the development of libraries in the Philippines. For the analysis, I have used the models of Michael H. Harris and Magnus Torstensson in their studies of library development.

The aim of this Master thesis is to delineate the ideology behind the Public Library politics in Gothenburg, during 1945-50. The study is an archive survey. To be able to account for the Public Library politics in Gothenburg during the period, the author has studied documents in the archive of the Public Library board in Gothenburg. The description of the politics is the source for the research papers analysis. The thesis principal issue, is on what ideological basis the Public Library politics has been formulated in Gothenburg, during the period of interest? The concept of ideology is defined as a coherent system of norms and values.

The purpose of this paper is to examine different attitudes regarding freedom of information and how libraries should fulfil their information-task represented by four organisations. The organisations are important in shaping the Swedish public libraries in different ways. The purpose is to examine in what ways their definition of information freedom may differ from one another and what that means in defining the Public Library. For the survey the qualitative textual analysis has been used for examining the documents and websites that are part of the debate about the Public Library and information freedom. We chose to interview representatives of four organisations that in different ways influence the shaping of the Public Library.

This master's thesis deals with the Public Library project called the GÖK-project, whichconcerned three Swedish public libraries: Linnestaden (Göteborg), Örnskoldsvik and Kalmar.The general outlines for the project were: reconsideration of the conception of the literaryquality, improvement of the library services, adjustment to the library user and reconsiderationof the conception of adult education to the public libraries of the 90s. The projectcaused a big national debate with effort put on the conception of the literary quality.The topic of this master's thesis is partly the GÖK-project and its general outlines, partly theaccomplishment of the project, the main point put on the Public Library in Linnestaden(Göteborg)..

The purpose of the thesis is to describe the developing of the branch libraries of the Public Library of Kristianstad between the years of 1967 and 1977. The municipality of Kristianstad was grounded by a unification of the city of Kristianstad and ten small municipalities. The fusion takes place in three different stages during the years of 1967, 1971 and 1974. The first stage included the city of Kristianstad and the municipalities of Araslöv, Nosaby, Träne and Vä. The municipality of Araslöv got free small villages and village of Färlöv was the biggest one.

The aim of this master thesis?s is to examine what functions writing activities can have in the Public Library. Some public libraries offer their visitors writing activities, for example courses and camps. The Public Library is an institution with a particular identity, with special norms and properties which participants within the institution construct and reproduce. The main question of this thesis is to investigate how writing activities can be a part of the Public Library?s institutional identity and what functions writing activities in the Public Library can have.

This study aims mainly to investigate what kind of role the Public Library plays in the regional and local development. The aim is also to investigate how the Public Library can strengthen the role as a factor of regional and local development. To explore the subject, the study is focused on the Swedish region of Västra Götaland. Three officials along with two policy documents, are included in the study as representatives of the region. Four Public Library managers are also interviewed but as representatives of the local perspective.

Allocation of funds to public libraries is uneven and this study will try to explain the reasons and clarify why the allocations of funds are distributed like they are and what calculations influenced the financial apportionment. This master thesis accounts for allocation in seven public libraries in Uppsala. The study shows that one reason for uneven allocations is demographic. Another reason is that the library has come into a good or bad circle. There are no models for allocation of funds to public libraries in Uppsala, thats why their allocations are given after a percentage increase of earlier years allocations, and that leads to a good or bad circle.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the functions of the Public Library for parents of infants and how they see the ideal library. The research questions are: How do parents of infants use the library and what are their experience of it? What opinions and wishes do parents of infants have regarding the library? How can library services be developed to better match the needs of the parents of infants? The theoretical approach is based on Marianne Andersson and Dorte Skot-Hansen?s model of the Public Library?s functions and the model of classification by Ellen-Merete Duvold and Gunnar Sæbø. To answer my research questions I have carried out three focus-group interviews with parents of infants. The study revealed that the Public Library functions as a cultural centre, a social centre, a knowledge centre and, to a certain extent, an information centre for the parents.

The aim of this Master's thesis was to examine the political and cultural reasons for making music materials compulsory at Danish public libraries by the new library act of 2000. The aim was also to examine how the public libraries have responded to this reform. To answer these questions a literature study was conducted as well as interviews. The results of the literature study indicated that the main reason for making music materials compulsory is to increase the influence of the library users. The study of the debate concerning the new library act showed that a majority of the Danish political parties as well as the Danish library organizations had a positive attitude towards the new obligation.