The aim of this study is to explain and analyse political steering of public libraries in Swedish municipalities and the roles of politicians and administrators in this process. To fulfil this purpose five municipalities have been studied. It is argued that both politicians and administration have to be included in a study of steering and that the relation between politicians and administrators should be seen as an interplay. Planning and evaluation are discerned as the two main activities in the steering process. The material in this study consists mainly of information collected through interviews with library responsible politicians and library managers in all five municipalities.The results show that libraries are considered politically uncontroversial and that politicians see little need for political interference and steering.

The study explores different aspects of how a social organization is created and maintained in the space between the institution and the individual. Based on fieldwork, participant observation and individual interviews in the housing estate of Hageby, Norrköping, this ethnographic study examines how and why the organization ?Ditt Nya Hageby? was created, as well as the unanimity between the purpose of the organization and the engagement of the members. Two projects within the organization are especially examined, along with the roles of the two members behind them. The study presents three perspectives from which ?Ditt Nya Hageby? can be viewed.

This report gives an overview of applications of the Greenroads rating system whichin turn is an environmental review system for roads. The focus of this report isapplications during the construction phase, ie on solutions which adhere to theentrepreneur's area of responsibility as opposed to the designer's. The study was undertaken in cooperation with Skanska (a global contractor andFortune 500 company) which provided a project suitable for an exemplatory study ofGreenroads. Please note that the project in particular was not specifically designedwith Greenroads in mind. Therefore and because of that the site provided anexcellent opportunity to study effects of application contra non-application. The approach of this study was to first review the system, thereafter to performinterviews with key personel at the site in different roles as to receive different viewsof selected points of application. Selected possibilities of application are cathegorizedand presented with comments and suggestions for adoption. Lastly Greenroads is briefly compared to the rating system which today is the mostwidely used by Skanska, LEED.

The purpose of this Master?s Thesis is to examine and describe how a wiki can be used in the information seeking education. We believe that the preconditions for education and learning are changing; technology and Internet has introduced new tools for the learning situation. To examine this we will describe how the wiki technology can be used in the information seeking education, describe how the goals of the information seeking education are reached when using a wiki and lastly investigate the school librarian?s pedagogical role in wiki-based education.

Although Sweden is considered to be one of the world?s most equal countries, studies show that social work to a large extent is characterised of stereotype conceptions about men and women. This implies that clients with addiction problems are treated by there gender belongings and not from there individual needs. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how aware the social services are regarding gender perspectives and equal opportunities among male and female addicts. The social workers that were interviewed had different opinions about what extent the gender perspective had in the treatment of the clients.

Deliberative democracy theory has been prominent within political science research since the early 1990?s, often applied in studies on postnational democratic constellations, in particular the European Union. Of the main institutions of the union, the European Parliament stands out as somewhat understudied from this point of view, which is why the main aim of this thesis is to study the conditions for deliberative democracy in the European Parliament.From deliberative democratic theory four criteria have been selected to function as methodological framework in analysing the institutional structure and proceedings of the parliament. Each of the criteria is applied separately to the practice and function of the plenary sessions, the parliamentary committees and the political groups. The analysis shows that the conditions for deliberative democracy differ between the three fora, as do their respective roles in parliament, but all in all they supplement each other.

This masters thesis aims to explore the branch libraries in Kalmar municipality and their relation to the Information and communication technology ICTsociety. How do they adapt to and assimilate with, the ICT-society? What are their roles in local social networks and do they make a difference there? To answer these questions, critical discourse analysis, CDA, as founded by Norman Fairclough is applied to four interwievs with branch library managers. Other theorists used are Michel Foucault, Chaïm Perelman and Ludwig Wittgenstein. A solid description of todays society on different levels is also given.

Several surveys indicate that corporate leaders still consider the aligning of IT and business functions as a top management issue. The aim of this thesis is to illustrate how coordination emerges between IT and business departments and how formal structures intended to coordinate are influenced by human action. To deepen the understanding of this phenomenon we seek to analyze IT/business coordination from a perspective based on practice theory. A field study was conducted where observations and informal interviews were carried out at the IT department of a global company. The empirical analysis indicate that coordination problems between IT and business departments is in part affected by embedded factors such as different goals and perspectives on how IT is to be used in the organization or how to design IT related processes.

This report gives an overview of applications of the Greenroads rating system whichin turn is an environmental review system for roads. The focus of this report isapplications during the construction phase, ie on solutions which adhere to theentrepreneur's area of responsibility as opposed to the designer's. The study was undertaken in cooperation with Skanska (a global contractor andFortune 500 company) which provided a project suitable for an exemplatory study ofGreenroads. Please note that the project in particular was not specifically designedwith Greenroads in mind. Therefore and because of that the site provided anexcellent opportunity to study effects of application contra non-application. The approach of this study was to first review the system, thereafter to performinterviews with key personel at the site in different roles as to receive different viewsof selected points of application. Selected possibilities of application are cathegorizedand presented with comments and suggestions for adoption. Lastly Greenroads is briefly compared to the rating system which today is the mostwidely used by Skanska, LEED.

This paper discusses some concerns about Japanese gender identity as a construct and the subversive means to overthrow it. In my paper I claim that the eastern influences on Japan has created a gap between old and new gender- traditions and norms. This interspace is what the philosopher Judith Butler claims as the site for a possible gender transformation. As Butler claims gender identity to be a construct, I use her methods of understanding and subsequently queertheory, to investigate the construct of Japanese gender identity and also the norms that constitute a national identity. As I elaborate on this theory I use specific artworks from Morimura Yasumasa, Yoshiko Shimada and Bubu de la Madeleine and also the all-male theatre kabuki vs.

The purpose of our master thesis was to investigate how a multicultural society is reflected in childrens books picture books, books for children and young people, published in 2002. We found this issue interesting since children of today experience a change in society, where people of many ethnicities, cultures and religions live together to a greater extent than before. Since children in their everyday life are exposed to these different cultures, we think they also should be exposed to them in the books they read. In order to enhance an understanding of why such books are important to children, especially immigrant children, we have in our thesis included a passage with childrens linguistic development, identification and stereotypes. Other passages concern libraries and their roles in a multicultural society.

In this Bachelor thesis, we examine how the work of the librarian has changed over the past three decades. The research questions focus on the changes in librarians´ roles and working tasks regarding factors like technique, meetings between librarians and visitors and also how to give service to visitors.We have conducted interviews with librarians at university libraries as well as public libraries. In all, there were four interviews. We have also compared the two types of libraries.We have looked closely at these factors: the tasks of the librarians, the skills needed, how the library has been used as a democratic arena, and what kinds of meetings there are among librarians and users of the library. From these themes we have created interview questions, and our analysis is structured according to the themes.We have worked from a theory on different kinds of identities within the profession.

In this study we have investigated who is debating on Sveriges Television. For this study we have chosen the program Debatt which is the biggest debate program in the Swedish television based on the audience. Debatt is broadcasted on Sveriges Television which is a public service broadcaster. In a quantitative content analysis, we examined the proportion of women and men participating in the program and what role they play in the debate. We chose to examine all programs of Debatt over an entire season which deals with one subject.

In order to be a good teacher according to preferences from outside the school area, there are many different voices to listen to. The different roles that are assigned for teachers are colliding with the latest research from the pedagogical institutions and therefore the role as a teacher of today is in a complex state of mind. Somewhere, between the traditional role of teaching and the moderating ideal image, reality is revealed in the ambivalent role of the teacher of today. In this pedagogical essay on advanced level we are focusing on obstacles that are hindering the moderating teacher?s role, to be fully developed in the classroom.

The aim of this paper is to perform a comparative study between France and Sweden analyzing the veil debate that took place in 2003 and 2004. This debate has been one of the central features of the renewed conflict between the West and Islam post 9/11, and has the presumed oppression of the Muslim veil in focus. With help of critical theory and a differentiated citizenship theory, including gender and post-colonial perspectives, I analyse the veil in a Western context in the arguments presented and the actions taken. Through that I try to distinguish the potential problems posed for the Muslim minorities living in the two countries.Three main areas are covered: the different political actions in the two countries, the consequences for this sidestep in liberal citizenship theory and in what way the view on equality splits the two parties. I conclude: that the French secularism and the Swedish equality have played key roles; the ideal of liberal citizenship is being abandoned for a more partial state; and the view of the veil as simply oppressive is part of a colonial heritage that can be challenged..