The aim of this master?s thesis is to examine how managers in some public libraries are using performance measurements and to what extent decision making is based on the results. The main questions posed are:??What performance measurements and indicators are used in the libraries examined???What is the attitude towards performance measurements among library managers???How and to what extent are performance measurements and indicators used in the process of decision making???What improvement would library managers wish regarding the development of performance measurements in public libraries?The theory is based on a model of evaluation of the public sector in addition to general steps of evaluation of quality and performance measurement results. The investigation is based on qualitative interviews with seven managers of public libraries in Sweden.

The increased popularity of e-books in the Swedish publiclibraries started a debate in newspapers and library journalsbecause of the increase in costs, which this popularity hadled to. The main subject of the debate was the businessmodel provided by the e-book vendor Elib, which accordingto some ruins the libraries financially. In this thesis, opinionarticles have been analyzed using a theoretical model ofcultural politics by the Danish Library and Informationscience researcher Dorthe Skot-Hansen. The results of thestudy showed that people from the library field, publishersand authors were the ones contributing to the debate. Theanalysis of the articles showed that the model of culturalpolitics which consists of four general motives: socialchange, education, economic growth and entertainment wasvisible in the articles.

The purpose of this thesis is to see how the Swedish public libraries present e-books on their website. This study has tried to answer the following questions:1. How do the public libraries construct their definitions of the word e-book, and what patterns are there in the definitions?2. How is the e-book definition presented in the context of the public library websites?This study has formulated its own theoretical framework in regards to how you can categorize definitions in four different categories to help see the way a definition is constructed.

This study examines the closure of public libraries, and the nonprofit organizations takeover of them as a phenomenon. The aim is to understand why the nonprofit takeover is common and what the takeover symbolizes and if the discourse in media invokes the views on libraries and the profession.Interviews were made with librarians, politicians and representatives of a nonprofit organization to study different sides of the phenomenon. Other empirical data were found in local and national newspapers and media-channels. I discovered that public libraries are highly valued by both politicians and the community. The study also showed that a library in a community makes people feel valued.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how acquisition of film for children and young adults in public libraries is carried out. The aim is to investigate why the librarians think a library should have film, if the librarians are bound by acquisition policies and where they retrieve information about films. We also want to know where the films are bought, how the distributors are perceived and how the librarians see their own sphere of competence. The thesis is a qualitative study and is based on interviews with children?s librarians in six public libraries.

The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to accomplish an understanding for how librarians purchase fiction literature in public libraries. To answer these questions, we have performed four qualitative interviews with librarians in three Swedish municipalities. We have also performed a smaller document study to give us an overview of the used guidelines at the selected libraries. The results of our survey have been analyzed on the basis of our revised version of Sanna Talja?s model The Interpretative Repertoires of the Music Library.

In 2003 the libraries of ten municipalities in the northern part of Sweden were each given 10 000 (SEK) by the BIN-project to purchase books on demand instead of making inter-library loans. This attempt was called Köpa på efterfrågan (Purchasing on demand). The purpose of this master thesis is to evalutate Köpa på efterfrågan. The results of the evaluation show that the books purchased on demand were quite popular. Almost all the purchased books were non-fictional with most books being bought within the field of medicin.

The aim of this paper is to study if implementation of a school library management system called FreeLib has created favourable conditions for the school librarians to cooperate with other professions and become a more forward working place. I have studied relevant literature about school libraries, organisation, digital libraries and documents that regulate school and library activities today as well in the past. In order to fulfil my purpose I have done a qualitative survey with six school librarians from Swedish primary schools with pupils at the age of 6 -16 years old. To identify strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities I found in the material I used a method called SWOT analysis. According to this study the use of the digital FreeLib system has developed a better teamwork between school librarians at different schools.

In 2008 the National Library of Sweden decided to give upClassification system for Swedish libraries and start using DDC(Dewey Decimal Classification) from January 1 2011. Thisdecision has influenced the whole Swedish library system and longbefore the National Library of Sweden took this decision thequestion had been thoroughly discussed and debated in Librariancircles.The aim of this thesis is to find out which arguments have beenintroduced in the debate, if the discussion has changed from beforethe decision to go over to DDC was taken to after wards, and if sohow it has changed. My thesis will discuss the following threequestions:? Which arguments were brought forward in the debate,both for and against a transition?? How has the debate about the Swedish libraries?transition from Classification system for Swedishlibraries to DDC changed from before the decision ofthe Royal Library was taken to after?? What conclusions can you draw from the debatewhich has been led about the transition to DDC?The empirical material consists of six articles dealing with thetransition to DDC and in the analysis of this material I have used atext analyses, analysis of. The analysis shows that more or less thesame arguments for and against have been used in practically allthe articles, and the debate has not changed very much.

The aim of this master thesis is to study electronic publishing, and our main purpose is to examine different strategies of publishing such as: markup languages and page description formats. We examine in what context these strategies are used for publishing, when it comes to scholarly documents produced by Swedish universities and university colleges during the spring of 2002. We apply a sociological perspective as the theoretical framework for to identify the main purposes for scientists to publish their work. We also discuss properties belonging to the different formats: XML, HTML, PDF and PostScript. By doing a content based survey of the websites at Borås University College and at Gothenburg University, we have found that the most common form of electronic publishing, regarding scholarly documents, are lists with bibliographical information on publications and presentations of current research.

This thesis investigates all aspects of quality and evaluation issues concerning collections of Internet links in public libraries today and in the future. We have studied central theories concerning quality in general as well as quality aspects regarding the Internet and Internet links. In addition to this we have made three case-studies involving the development of collections of Internet links in public libraries of different sizes. The case-studies were made as interviews with professionals responsible for selection, quality assurance and evaluation of electronic information for inclusion in the libraries collections of Internet links. In addition to this we made an e-mail interview with a librarian responsible for one of the most advanced collections of Internet links among Swedish´ public libraries.

The present study examined high school students? attitudes to higher education at university/college and their study engagement in an industrial town in klarälvdalen in the county of Värmland. The main research question was whether there are any differences between students in vocational and theoretically oriented programs regarding their attitude to higher education and study engagement. The results was also compared with a study with the same research question conducted in Countryside town in fryksdalen, Värmland county to see whether attitude and student engagement differ between high school students in different parts of Värmland. The method used was quantitative with data collected by using questionnaires.

This master?s thesis concerns the performance of professional children?s theatre in public libraries. With qualitative interviews I have looked into how four children?s librarians and two theatre consultants appreciate professional children?s theatre, and furthermore I have looked into their view on the importance of theatre for children. My intentions have also been to investigate their views on the function and status of children?s theatre in public libraries and also the relationship between library and theatre activities for children.

The purpose of this Master?s thesis is to describe and analyse the development of the public and the study circle libraries in the district of Kolbäck during the period of 1913-1954. The factors important for the library development described in sub-questions are: financing, locality, staffing, stock of books, book-lending level and uniting district effects. I use a hermeneutic interpretation model of interaction between the parts and the wholes, between reasons and results. This research leans mainly upon material which is sent to be deposited in archives in Hallstahammar, Västerås and Grängesberg.

The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to study, describe andimprove the understanding of voluntary driven libraries. How doesthe library staff view their role? How is the library operationworking in respect of economy, organization structure and systemsof rules? Research methods I used were semistructured interviewsand document research.The theoretical framework was based on Joacim Hansson´sdiscussion about libraries in a local community, Henning Bang´sdiscussion about organization culture and the Swedishgovernment´s non- profit advisory group`s discussion aboutvoluntary work.The results of this study shows that the library staff are enthusiastsmotivated by a wish to spread literature to people who find itdifficult to visit municipal libraries. Other motives for theirvoluntary work is the opportunity for being a part of a socialcommunity, to be surrounded by books and to activate body andsenses. The results of this study also shows that the voluntarylibrary system differ from the traditional, municipal library systemconcerning economy, organization structure and set of rules..