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)..

Information technology (IT) with its enormous capacity involves more and more in our daily activities and public sector is using IT to make their activities more efficient. The government goal with electronic government (e-government) among other things is increasing the availability and service to the public as well as improving the democratic process. Democracy can be strengthened by involving citizens in public decision making process but this goal has not been achieved yet and the development of e-government has mostly been focused on improving efficiency within administration and electronic services (e-services). Promoting the democratic process has been postponed in the development of e-government because of the lack of political commitment and decision. Digital divide is also preventing public sector to promote democracy with the support of IT.

The aim of this study is to examine the services offered by the public libraries in the context of distance learning students. I wanted to examine if there has been any discussion among the public libraries on how the new needs and demands affect them. To get a premonition on the development in Sweden I have focused on the public libraries in the province of Blekinge, which in many ways can be looked upon as precursors. Interviews have taken place with the distance learning students contacts at the local public libraries, the responsible librarian and a distance learning organiser at the local university college, the county library consultant and one of the chief librarians. I have reached the conclusion that no thorough discussion on the far-reaching aspects has taken place.

The subject for this Master's thesis is the mission of the public library concerning target group everybody. Control documents, traditions, norms and trends influence how this is interpreted and how the library's service is being formed. The often very abstract terms used to describe the public library's mission makes it open for different interpretations. We are of the opinion that the public library's service should be formed to reflect the needs, interests, and priorities of the community it services, in order to be more attractive and useful.The aim of our study is to examine how the public librarians define and adjust to the mission to satisfy all citizens needs. Why do they choose to concentrate on certain target groups? And what does that show of how the public libraries reflect their communities? Our investigation includes examining six activities aimed at a certain target group and the six public libraries that carried these out.

This paper describes the development of direct and indirect service at the former Gothen­burg city library. This was during this period of time not the public library of the town, but a scientific library mostly serving the college, although also open to the public. Furthermore the services offered in Gothenburg are compared with those of the two old Swedish university libraries in Uppsala and Lund. The investigated direct serviceforms are "making material available", "guidance", and "localities". The indirect service areas are "the catalogue" and "the personnel and their competence".The conclusion is that the differences weren't that big and that Gothenburg city library was a modern library providing about the same services as you could find in Uppsala and Lund.

Economic changes, globalization and an aging population are phenomena that haveaffected the municipal development in the late 1900s. To address these challenges,cooperation in specific areas between municipalities in the 1990- and 2000's hasincreased. This is referred to in the literature as municipal cooperation. IT is one ofthese areas of collaboration and is seen as a potential solution to streamline municipaloperations. IT implementations are often complex projects involving a large number ofpeople.

In this essay I have tried to come close to a probable answer to the following question: Is there a risk that the trust between the Swedish public and the Swedish medical services staff, including the doctors, will be severely damaged if euthanasia is legalized in Sweden.In order to try to answer that question, and some other relevant questions that has corresponding interest in the context that euthanasia marks, I have done like this: I have investigated experiences from the Netherlands and from Oregon. Since euthanasia is legalized - though partly in different forms - in both these sites. I have then tried to relate the most relevant parts of these experiences to a theoretical frame. This frame had been set up by three concepts: the sanctity of life, autonomy and trust.I have also tried to come close to understanding the impact that demands for autonomy has in this context. And I have tried to understand if the trust that the public has for a country´s medical services staff and the actual doctors is a form of trust that ought to be understood as a form of trust incorporated in social capital.I have come to the conclusion that there is no great risk that the trust between the Swedish public and the Swedish medical services staff, including the doctors, will be severely damaged if euthanasia is legalized in Sweden.

This essay points at the importance of public libraries as arenas of meetings between refugees and the local population, and by this - creating social kapital in the society as a whole. The researchers Aabø, Audunson and Vårheim have created theories about low-intensive meeting places, that means ? neutral, public places where accidential meetings with different strangers can happen, which can create social capital and trust among each other. To complement these theories I also use Vårheim who have implementet social capital-theories to the sphere of public libraries. These two theories complement each other and can help me investigate two public libraries in a rural area in Sweden.

The purpose of this Master?s thesis is to describe how Swedish public libraries use Web 2.0-tools and their experiences of using the tools. Focus of the study lies in the contact between public libraries and their patrons on the Web 2.0-tools. For the purposes of the study, the use of weblogs and MySpace were chosen for examination. The methodology used for this study was qualitative interviews.

The public service within health and care has changed remarkably during the last 30 years. It has been inspired by management ideas from profit-making businesses. Those thoughts are an umbrella term called Nex public management. In what way has New public management influenced the public service in Sweden? Important concepts in the change of public service are quality, effektivity and goals.

This study examines how the local rescue services relate to the brand of the rescue service and the concept of brand management. To understand the attitudes against the brand and brand management, empirical data, theoretical modelling of brand and current laws have been discussed together in a try to get an overview how the rescue services practically works with the brand. The study results are based on a questionnaire survey and qualitative semi-structured interviews. The survey was sent to employees working with the communication of the rescue service. The interviews were held with two employees working with the communication of the rescue service and two fire chiefs.

Social enterprises make up one of the groups of participants that provide welfare services financed by public funding. The object of this study is to describe and analyze from a theoretical point of view which conditions, in what fields, by which division of responsibility and finally through what decisions these social enterprises are allocated a place in the market for social welfare services. The company that has been the object of study offers services in the field of social welfare and in employment. In the study a triangulation of qualitative methods has been used: studies of literature on the subject, recurrent interviews and observations and also reviews of documents. The results have been analyzed from theories on the space available on the market for social services, on social economy and on social capital in the form of strong, weak and bridging bonds.

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to examine what needs and expectations the patrons have on the local public library services for adult students. With increased knowledge of these matters the library will be able to support and improve the service for users. The focus is on adult students with immigrant background who study Swedish as second language in a municipal adult education school. The main questions are: How do adult students use the library at present? What do they consider to be most important when using the public library for their studies? How do these expectations correspond to their experience of the library services? Two focusgroups and one in-depth interview were carried out.

Social enterprises make up one of the groups of participants that provide welfare services financed by public funding. The object of this study is to describe and analyze from a theoretical point of view which conditions, in what fields, by which division of responsibility and finally through what decisions these social enterprises are allocated a place in the market for social welfare services. The company that has been the object of study offers services in the field of social welfare and in employment. In the study a triangulation of qualitative methods has been used: studies of literature on the subject, recurrent interviews and observations and also reviews of documents. The results have been analyzed from theories on the space available on the market for social services, on social economy and on social capital in the form of strong, weak and bridging bonds.

Customer information is to be seen as an essential part in service development. The company should be aware of how their customers experience their services. The company can get access to customer information through complaints from their customers. All information obtained from the customers is not possible to use when developing new and existing services. The information has to be analysed before it is possible to use it for service development.This paper describes if Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) uses their customers as a source of knowledge when developing new and existing services and in that case how.