In the wake of the electronic revolution digital library has become one of the central themes concerning libraries. The present study takes up the question whether digital library can function in the same way as the conventional library. The question can obviously be posed from different perspectives, e.g. technological-, the user-, or the organizational perspective. The study investigates if (and how) digital library can have the same functions as the traditional library.

The purpose of this master´s thesis is to examine how the cultural exchange function of Swedish libraries may be perceived on their websites. A further intention is to examine how the library websites are used at the present. Two quantitative web-based surveys have been sent out to a great number of Swedish public libraries. The first survey was directed to the webmasters of the libraries, in order to review the different services offered by the Swedish library websites of today. The second survey was conducted with library directors, in order to visualise what services they consider ought to be present on their own library website.

Projects to equip every student and teacher with a laptop, with the intention to improve academic results, have rapidly spread through the country. New technology, new contents and new ways of learning have changed the learning envi-ronment. The school library, being a part of this environ-ment, faces the same changes and challenges.The purpose of this thesis is to study how the school library is being affected when a One-to-One project is carried out in a learning environment. The research questions concern how the school library is viewed within the organization and also how the change affects both the school library and the school librarian.The empirical material of the thesis includes five qualitative interviews carried out on location, at a single selected school. The interviews are followed by a study of relevant documents, all produced within the organization.To understand the organization in which the school library operates, as well as the school library itself, I chose to divide the theoretical approach in two: Christensen?s et al.

The present study deals with the usage of the school library for upper secondary school students. Is it a place for working or studying? The questions are:? What do the students say they use their school library for?? Are there any differences between students in theoretical programs and students in practical programs with regard to their use of the school library?? What are the features of the ideal library from a students? point of view? My study represents a user?s perspective. The investigation is both quantitative and qualitative. Eighty-two inquiries from four different classes, representing two theoretical and two practical programs were carried out.

The Purpose of this paper is to illustrate how schoollibrarians work with integration. The study is based on thefollowing questions:1. How does the school library personal look on integration?2. What does the school library personal approach say abouttheir work with integration of persons with a differentbackground then Swedish?The method I chose to study this through is severalqualitative interviews with school library personal as well asearlier related research.The theory I chose to use for this study is Hans Ingvar Rothsmodel of the integration process.The results show that the school library personal does defineintegration even if they do not work with integration rightnow.My study also shows that there are some obstacles to thiswork, which is related to the lack of funds and other issues.And that the school library personal has different view ofwhat integration is..

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine how the introducing of municipal library plans has influenced some compulsory schools in Malmö. I wanted to know if the library plan is a possible way to improve the quality of the school library. Through qualitative interviews with four school librarians and four headmasters, I investigate their knowledge of the library plan and their opinion of the possibilities to realize the directions of the plan. The theoretical framework is based on a model of organizational culture by Bakka, Fivelsdal and Lindkvist.

As the way of communicating and accessing information has changed radically over thepast decade so has the way the public libraries operate to reach the citizens. In thesetimes the demands of what a public library should be and offer the visitors havechanged. One should have the option to access the digital public library at any givenhour of the day, from anywhere in the world and at least have the same possibilities ofinformation as the visitors at the non-digital, "real" library.In this Master's thesis we will analyze and discuss the condition of the Swedish digitalpublic library of today, 2006, and the forward thinking work with the issues ofdevelopment in this matter. In order to do this we set out to examine the attitudetowards the public digital library among the staff at a small number of Swedish publiclibraries and their supporting institution, the county library. Moreover, the attitudesdefined have been compared to the actual status of the services and medias at the publiclibrary websites.In conclusion, we have detected a certain standardization of what the digital publiclibrary consists of today.

The aim of this master?s thesis is to examine how users at four public libraries experience the alternative shelf arrangement in their library. The purpose of introducing an alternative shelf arrangement in a public library is often to facilitate for its users. In each of our chosen libraries, the librarians have arranged the books in the non-fiction section in broad themes, with the Swedish Library Association Classification System as subsections. Using qualitative interviews, we examined a total of 26 users? experience of the shelf arrangement and its accessibility, their methods for seeking information and their opinion about the presentation of the books.

The aim of this master thesis is to examine the attitudes among library staff regarding a music downloading service called Musikwebb, which is available in many Swedish public libraries. It focuses on the impact of Musikwebb on the process of music selection, the relationship between Musikwebb and the digital development in public libraries and what service Musikwebb offers its users. The gathering of material was executed through focus group interviews with library staff in four libraries. This empirical material we divided in three categories: Music selection, The Library and its digital services, and Library services. We use the results of Sanna Talja?s discourse analysis regarding the relationship between Music, Culture and the Library to analyze our material.

In 1911 Valfrid Palmgren founded the Children's Library of Stockholm, the very first in Sweden.She was a well-educated woman, who believed in social and educational equality for all.During a journey to the USA in 1907, she was deeply impressed by the public libraries, andshe put many of the public library ideas to use in the Children's Library of Stockholm. Palmgrenstrongly opposed to the Swedish libraries not allowing admission to children, since shefirmly believed that educating the people had to start with the children.Other reasons for opening a children's library were to give children an alternative to roamingthe streets, to give children a quiet place to read, to give an alternative to the cheap trashliterature that flooded the market and to teach the young ones how to extract information frombooks. Of great importance was that the library should be equal to all classes in society.In 1927 the children's library was taken over by the new public library of Stockholm..

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 purpose of this master?s thesis is to describe and analyse the origin and development of the municipal library of Västervik. There have been four previous libraries and our examination starts in 1859 with the foundation of a parish library. The other forerunners were a working-class movement library and two libraries in the International Orders of Good Templars. Before the merger of the libraries there were discussions in the municipal council, among the working-class movement and in the IOGT.

Little attention has been paid in the literature to libraryassistants in Swedish public libraries. In this bachelor thesis,the professional role, work duties, career prospects and statusof library assistants are examined at two public libraries.Because of a scarcity of published information on thedevelopment of this profession in Swedish public libraries,retired library assistants, as well as currently employedlibrary assistants, librarians and a library head wereinterviewed.Since the ?80s, work duties of library assistants havechanged, with a reduction in some of the more manualaspects of library work, the development of new duties and,overall, an increasing similarity in the duties performed bylibrary assistants and librarians.Additionally, the public perception of library assistants as acategory distinct from librarians was investigated bydistributing questionnaires to library patrons. Contrary toexpectations prompted by statements in the literature, asubstantial portion of visitors was found to be aware of thetwo separate categories.Library assistants at Swedish libraries have no careerprospects, unless they undertake studies in their own freetime and at their own cost, and obtain a librarian degree. Adifference between the situation of library assistants inSweden and corresponding professional categories in a fewother countries is that, at present and for several years, noformal education for library assistants has been available inSweden.

The aim of this master thesis is to investigate the ideas about functions that public libraries have in the local society. We have used the method idea analysis on four municipal library plans, to find out which ideas about library functions that frequented each plan, and what similarities and differences there were between the ideas about functions in each plan. As a theoretic base, we have used a theory about three dynamic spheres in modern society: the state market and civil society, and examined how these three spheres influence and control the library functions. We have extracted six different ideas about library functions: educational, social, economical, entertaining, serving and democratic functions. The most dominating ideas in this study are ideas that the public library should be an educating and formative institution.

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.