The web is a constantly growing medium that presumably plays an increasing role in public library reference services. In order to provide high quality reference service the librarians need to be able to master this medium. Therefore it is interesting to get an understanding of how librarians actually use the web. The aim of this Master s thesis is to investigate what web search tools are used by public librarians in reference service. Furthermore, the aim is to get an understanding of how the librarians think about those tools and what background factors influence their selection of tools.

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, Ã…storp 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 thesis is about the bookmobile service in Sweden of today. The purpose is to examine how the staff motivate the existence of the bookmobile. Other purposes are to study the goals of the service, to describe ?daily life? of the bookmobile, examine the changes of the service during the years and discuss possible changes in the future. The study is based on interviews with thirteen staff members from six Swedish communities, of both rural and urban character.

This study has been executed at the Public Employment Office, an institution that has beensubject for much debate during the last couple of years. The government has instructed theLabour Market Board to change the Public Employment Office toward a more effectiveorganization. This study examines one of the Public Employment Offices that are included in apilot project that aims to improve and develop work methods with the objective to become amore service minded organization. From this starting point we have investigated which effect thisorganizational change has had on the employee within this organization and within the pilotproject. In addition we investigate whether attitudes of the unemployed has an effect on thestaff´s work situation.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine which role public libraries play or could play within bibliotherapy. The study is based on qualitative interviews with five librarians who, in one way or another have experienced bibliotherapy activities. Further, we have interviewed two treatment assistants and one counsellor, who have cooperated with the librarians, to get their view. We have used the following research questions: Which bibliotherapeutic activities, if any, are pursued in public libraries in Sweden, and how do they look upon bibliotherapy? What role do public libraries play/could play within bibliotherapy? Ever since the term bibliotherapy was coined in the beginning of the twentieth century, the definition has been under debate. We have identified four main subjects of discussion.

The purpose of this thesis is to discuss how a Swedish public library approaches their costumers. I will show how a library interacts with their costumers compared to a business, which has a different economic work frame, a building materials supplier. My aim is to pinpoint differences and explore new methods for the library in order to improve their service.The theoretical frame of the thesis is based on Richard Norman's notion the Moment of truth. The moment of truth is the moment when a business has to convince their customer that they offer both the product, proficiency and service that the customer needs. Service encounters at two organizations have been observed and their differences and similarities compared.

Den offentliga sektorn i Sverige har under de senaste decennierna påverkats av stora reformvågor. De bakomliggande idéströmningarna har kommit att gå under samlingsnamnet New Public Management där ekonomiska värden starkt betonas. Man menar att det inte bör göras någon skillnad mellan privata företag och offentliga organisationer i valet av organisationsstruktur och förspråkar att den offentliga sektorn närmar sig den privata sektorns organisationsstrukturer. Samtidigt har röster höjts kring att den offentligt-rättsliga public service-televisionen, SVT, kommit under starkt inflytande av dessa ekonomiska värden på bekostnad av de demokratiska och att detta är problematiskt.Studien tar utgångspunkt i dessa fenomen och undersöker med hjälp av diskursteoretiska utgångspunkter huruvida SVTs ledning agerar med utgångspunkt i en New Public Management-diskurs.Våra resultat visar att kritiken är befogad i det avseendet att det finns en tydlig NPM-prägel på den diskurs som ledningen brukar. Även när hänsyn tas till omkringliggande relevanta förändringar ter sig de förändringar som ägt rum inom SVT som utmärkande då man istället för att fokusera på sitt ursprungliga uppdrag och söka problematisera sitt förhållande till demokratin har kommit att prioritera dessa ekonomiska värden..

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine attitudes and standpoints amongst librarians at the Swedish public library towards literary awards and awarded literature. The questions posed in the study are: What attitudes are expressed amongst these librarians towards the Nobel Prize in literature, the August Prize and literary awards and awarded literature in general? What significance do the Nobel Prize in literature, the August Prize and other literary awards have concerning purchase and display at these public libraries? How is awarded literature perceived and how do they talk about it concerning quality and are questions of quality significant? Qualitative interviews with seven librarians at four different public libraries have been done. Theories regarding J?rgen Habermas the bourgeois public sphere and Pierre Bourdieu?s terms habitus, field and capital have been used as to explain the library as a public sphere.

Journalists´ role in society has traditionally been of representative nature with a task to distribute news and scrutinize those in power. But technological changes have created a new publishing world outside the traditional media institutions. In today?s redactional society anyone can become a publisher in a blog or through other channels on online. This process can be seen as contributing to increased democratization giving everyone the opportunity to publish.

The purpose of this study is to see how five different local radio stations, P4, within the public service organization Sveriges Radio communicate with their listeners through Facebook and how they differ from each other.We have also studied how the radio stations follow Sveriges Radios? policies for socialmedia usage and how the communication through Facebook can benefit thetraditional radio. Our study contains a combination of quantitative content analysis with qualitative interviews. We studied the five stations? Facebook pages from for the quantitative content analysis and interviewed those who were responsible for the social media pages, such as web editors and channel managers.Our conclusions are that the P4-stations communicate through Facebook to create a dialogue with the listeners and to reach two-way communication; the stations published mostly written updates that encouraged interactivity.

Den här utvärderingen undersöker vilken typ av folkbibliotek användare vill ha idag. Den inriktar sig främst på tre teman; miljö, öppettider och utbud. Utvärderingsobjektet är Skellefteå stadsbibliotek och till viss del även närbiblioteken i Skellefteå. Jag använde mig av en kvantitativ metod i form av webbenkäter, för att få reda på svaren på mina frågeställningar. Jag tog även hjälp av litteratur som redan fanns skrivet om ämnet.

My purpose is to describe and analyse how care managers experience their position as middle managers in the public sector. I have used a qualitative interview method to answer this question and also to capture my six interview persons opinion and understanding of their own position as middle managers. From my six interviews I noticed some difference in their opinions about how it is being a care manger. The results show that the role as care managers have challenges such as to intertwine their own notion how the caring of the elder should be with strict politic decisions. Other challenges are the limitation of economic recourses and reorganisations.

The first aim of this study is to examine what the differences are between the Classic directive (directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts) and the Revised Classic directive (directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the council of 26 February 2014 on public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC) when it comes to social considerations in public procurement. The second aim is to examine if the revision of the directive has solved the prior existing problems regarding social considerations in public procurement. In this paper a traditional European legal method is used. The examinations show a number of things, including the Revised Classic directive involving codification of case law, references to other sources of law and some clarified rules as well as new provisions. The regulations regarding reserved contracts, technical specifications, and selection criterion are satisfied in the Revised Classic directive.

This paper aims to shine a light on the challenges connected to the implementation of a process focused way of thinking in a public service organization. To this we have conducted a series of qualitative interviews, primarily from participants of a university driven project. The project aims to teach decision making employees of public service organizations how to use process modeling techniques to increase their efficiency. We have also interviewed the teachers who have taught the courses included in the project. As a final point of view we have also interviewed a researcher and IT consultants to compare novice users with experienced users of process modeling techniques.

The aim of this Master's thesis is to explore the function of public libraries as arenas for young people's artistic creations. It examines how the public library makes activities based on independent creativity visible, and what activities of this sort imply to the public library. The thesis also relates this to the public library's task in society. The main object of examination is Demoteket, an on-going project in the south-eastern parts of Sweden. In this project Länsbibliotek Sydost co-operates with Reaktor Sydost, a centre of resource in the fields of young communication and filmmaking.