This study examines the cultural place and status of video and computer games in the Swedish public library. Using works on popular culture and the theories of Pierre Bourdieu, this study employs quantitative methods, as well as textual analysis, to analyze the results of an online questionnaire with 19 questions focusing on selection criteria, shelf placement, perceived competence, as well as reasoning for having or not having these games in the library. 286 out of the 440 libraries contacted is participating in the study, and the libraries consist exclusively of public libraries in Sweden that are found in the database of the Royal Library.The results of this study show that a larger number of libraries than previously indicated have started to provide electronic games to their patrons. At the same time, patterns in the data and comments suggests that these games in many cases still do not enjoy the same level of cultural recognition as other media. Indicative of this is the way most libraries seem to focus on the medium being exclusively for their young patrons, with seem-ingly very little in the way of investment for adults.

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.

In this diploma work we present the results from a study of how adult immigrants utilise the services provided by the public library in Biskopsgården, Gothenburg. A survey encompassing 51 library visitors of foreign origin and an interview with two librarians at the library were performed.The results from the survey show that the majority of the informants were male students inages from 26 to 45 years and that they had been living in Sweden for a maximum of five years. 73% of the informants used the library to borrow literature in Swedish, 53% to read newspapers and periodicals in their native language, 43% to borrow literature in their native language and 43% to read newspapers and periodicals in Swedish.These results were compared with two other related studies with which partial correspondencewas found. In addition, related topics such as multicultural librarianship and the psychological aspects of immigration are discussed..

Many everyday tasks and also many sports require good grip and forearm strength. Everything from carrying boxes and lifting a child to grab the arms and legs in various martial arts, or holding a tennis racket involving the hand and forearm muscles in various ways. It is therefore important to train these muscles to prevent injuries and congestion and to perform well in sport. A well known way to train functional strength in the hand and forearm muscles is weight training with thick handles. The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in muscle activity in the upper arm and forearm muscles as well as the deltoids between two bars of different diameter (28mm and 57mm) in two different weight training exercises using electromyography (EMG).

The main purpose with this MA thesis is to examine how visually impaired, disabled and people with dyslexia define service quality at the public library of Linköping. The method that has been used is focus group interviews. A focus group consists of four to eight people who are joined together, without knowing each other before, to discuss a certain subject. The aim is to get a wide spread of answers. A secondary purpose is to examine how this method works.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to better understanding of the importance of social support for physically active individuals' experiences of training residence following an injury.The physical activity's impact on public health is well known. Increased physical activity also increases the risk of suffering an injury related to physical activity. The importance of social support for those individuals who suffer an injury related to physical activity is where increased knowledge is needed.Four interviews to were conducted using a thematic interview guide with the following themes: The experience of the training break, two sides of social support, several ways of dealing with the experience, the design of the support, Varied support providers relationship changes. The most important property of the individual who gave support was an experience similar to that of the injured individuals underwent. That, combined with the close relationship with the individual who gave support was seen as crucial to the experience of the social support role for the injured individual.The Conclusion was that social support is important for the experience of a break from exercise due to an injury related to physical activity..

The aim of this master?s thesis is to examine the discourses about Malmö public library that can be identified in several documents published by the library, articles, and various WebPages. Furthermore, our intention is to study the relation between the library?s identity, image and profile. The questions posed in the study are: Which identity discourses are Malmö public library giving expression for? What kind of conflicts between these discourses can we find? How is the identity, image and profile of the library in relation to one another? How does Malmö public library profile and market itself as a non-profit organization? Our theoretical and methodological building ground is in the discourse analytical field, with Enesto Laclau?s and Chantal Mouffe?s theories about discourse and society, as a starting-point.

The underlying purpose of this study is to see whether a library focused solely on providing literature in other languages than Swedish serves as a unifying, integrating force, or as an agent for division and exclusion. The study focuses on the International Library in Stockholm. The authors have created a profile of the visitors of the selected library, concerning their characteristics, their library habits and their perceptions of the International library. This profile has then been compared with the staff?s perception of the visitors as a group.

This case study examines the new media presentation system in Alby public library. The aim is to explore if the contemporary Zeitgeist, wich according to the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, could be described as liquid modernity, has affected how the system was formed. The purpose is to find out how that would affect users and staff of public libaries of the contemporary. Interviews were conducted with the library staff, and plans and documents concerning the media presentation system was examined.The empirical part of this thesis starts with a study of the process that resulted in the new presentation system while the second part examines the system as such. I discovered that both the media presentation system, and the process which preceded it, contained aspects that could be traced to liquid modernity.

The aim of this master thesis is to examine which criteria are generally used to guide pub­lic librarians in their acquisitions' decision. The study went ahead in France, principally at La Bibliotheque municipale de Lyon. It also includes a view of some special library services in the social field.Twenty persons were interviewed and an attempt was made to divide their answers into three sections: acquisition routines and criteria for media purchase, how to receive the library visi­tors and their influence on the acquisitions, and, finally, the librarians' own opinions on the matter. One important question was whether censorship is applied and in that case, would it be a deliberately way of acting or rather a spontaneous reaction, more or less unconscious.Censorship in real or manifested through a self-preservative reaction turned out to be a factor closely dependant on the library's financial situation. Many librarians affirmed they would find useful some kind of a written practical library acquisition policy..

This is a two years master?s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies, which purpose is to find out what ideas there are about school libraries and to get an idea of how informants interpret the new Education Act, which requires all students to have access to school libraries. Another intention of this paper is to highlight the potential rural-related attitudes of the responents. The study includes the sparsely populated municipality of Krokom and is based on interviews with librarians, the school director, principals and politicians who work there. The theoretical basis for this paper is Loertscher?s model för school libraries and a centerperiphery perspective.

Randomness is a complex area of computer science, where only pseudo random numbers are possible to generate algorithmically.This report presents established algorithms for random number generation by conducting a basic study of relevant literature, while testing distribution and speed of the algorithms contained within the C++11 Random library. The results are compared to the algorithm XORShift and a modified version of it. The study shows that the modified algorithm passes all tests in Small Crush, andthat the run time is shorter than for those in the Random library. The conclusion is that it is possible to, with simple means, modify an algorithm to outperform the algorithms of the C++11 Random library..

This thesis is a discourse analysis analyzing public library librarians' talk on the subject of public library meeting places. Within the field of Library and Information Science the public libraries' functions as social meeting places have been scrutinized for more than a decade. Researchers in the Nordic countries in particular have looked at library users' use of the library space and have highlighted the sociologic dimensions of the public library and the meeting place functions. Few however have paid much attention to the library personnel's point of view. The discourse analysis perspective is about language use and how people construct the reality.

Eight libraries, seven public libraries and one college library, in the northeast of Skåne serve as foundation in a collaboration where students and adult learners are placed in the center of attention. The aim of this Master's thesis in library and information science was to study how the students and adult learners in the northeast of Skåne perceive the library services that are developed with their needs in mind.Our method for this thesis was a quantitative interview study. We aimed to conduct interviews with users at the public libraries within the cooperation and thereby find out whether or not users within the target group were aware of the services that are developed and established within the northeast Skåne collaboration.The results showed that only a few respondents in the key target group did in fact know about certain parts of the library services especially developed for the northeast of Skåne-collaboration. The majority of the key target group also thought that study-related literature and reading rooms were the most important means that the libraries have to offer them in their studies. The northeast of Skåne-collaboration had many ideas concerning library services.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the view on the personal encounter between staff and visitors in public libraries in order to detect possible differences between the two groups in order to see if the personal encounter as such could be used in order to market libraries. We believe that social competence must interact with the initial personal encounter in order for the visitor to experience the visit as positive. We have based the theoretical framework on Erving Goffman?s theory on social interaction, as well as on Christian Grönroos? theory on quality of service and marketing. We use the following questions: How do library staff view the personal encounter? How do library visitors view the personal encounter? How does the library staff?s treatment affect the visitor?s view of the library?Are there any differences in view between visitors and staff concerning the personal encounter? If so, what kind of differences are they? Using qualitative interviews, we have interviewed nine visitors and six staff members at two public libraries.