This is a study on the electronic reference work of some Swedish university and university college libraries. The purpose of the study has been to find out how the service works at the different libraries, to study the electronic reference interview and to find what is important when you start a new electronic reference service in the light of Brenda Dervin's sense-making theory study. Furthermore, we examine the aims of the electronic services offered and the differences between electronic and traditional reference interviews. In the background to the study we place electronic reference services in a context by describing the role of information technology and electronic mail in the libraries. The electronic reference interview is studied with the help of literature on the traditional reference interview.

This masters thesis shows that the changes in the scientific publishing system have affected the academic libraries. Both technological change and the increased prices on scientific journals have forced academic libraries to take action. Some Swedish academic libraries have started publishing the university s own research material. The issue has in many cases been treated more as a library concern, than as a concern for the university as a whole. Neither has there been a national coordination of these matters in Sweden.

This Masters thesis is a study of the truck-driver profession and their use of libraries located in gas-stations and restaurants along the highways in Sweden. The reason for this interest is the positive trend that has occurred concerning men without any university education and their reading-habits, that is due to their increased interest in listening to audio books. This challenges the general opinion that this group is not particularly interested in reading literature. Questions posed in this study are: How do the truck-drivers relate to the activity of reading literature, what part does the road-libraries play, and how can the services that the road-libraries offer be improved according to the truck-drivers. The method used in the study is interviews made by telephone.

The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to describe how Swedish public libraries use the online social network Facebook and its functions. Our focus of this study lies on how the librarians use the network and what experiences they?ve made. The questions we wanted to answer were:? How do the libraries in this study work with Facebook and its services? ? What do the interviewed librarians think about working with Facebook as an instrument?? What pros and cons can be identified from working with Facebook?The methodology used for this study was qualitative interviews.

The aim of this Master thesis is to study the public libraries' function as a place for people to meet. Four major questions are taken up: + Do the public libraries have the function of a meeting place? + How important do the librarians and the visitors find the libraries possible function as a meeting place? Do they think that this function is important? + What differs the public libraries from other places in society when it comes to the function of a meeting place? + What differences are there between a larger and a smaller library when it comes to the function of a meeting place ? The basis of this study are interviews with employees at a province library in Jönköping and at a smaller library in Sjöbo in Borås municipality. Our study deals with the history of public libraries, its functions as a meeting place, its architecture, culture, and statistics concerning numbers of visitors and loans of books. The conclusions that are drawn are that the public libraries have qualifications to function as a meeting place even if that isn't always the case.

The main purpose of this master thesis is to give the reader a picture of the experience of art and of its room in the public libraries, but above all to examine the phenomenon temporary art exhibitions in public libraries in the county of Östergötland. The study is limited to a specific activity of art, namely temporary exhibitions in libraries. Geographically, the investigation is limited to the public libraries and their branch libraries in Östergötland. Time concentrates on the present situation in 2000 and 2001. Methodologies are partly observations in some libraries, partly qualitative questionnaires to all primary libraries and their affiliates in Östergötland.

The aim of this thesis is to fill a knowledge gap regarding how online players use libraries, their attitude towards libraries and what they want out of future libraries. We see it as a problem that the library world of today does not have much knowledge about an audience that is so prevalent in society.The theory used in the thesis is Henrik Jochumsen, Casper Rasmussen Hvenegaard & Dorte Skot-Hansens model that divides libraries into four functions. The four functions are meetings, knowledge, inspiration and experiences. In the analysis we added a suggested fifth function, a digital space, giving the digital interaction and information needs of today´s society. The method was focus groups on online forums for gamers.

The purpose of this master's thesis is to investigate how the students at Chalmers University of Technology at Lindholmen in Gothenburg use libraries in their schoolwork. The empirical material consists of the answers of questionnaires that were handed out to two classes of students, on the second year of their education. To illustrate the topic there are a theoretical frame and examples of earlier studies. The theoretical frame is Limbergs texts that deal with for example information seeking and how important it is in all education. The earlier studies are about student's different ways of using libraries.

The aim of this study is to deepen the knowledge of how libraryusers, library personnel and the relationship between them are expressed in ?strategicdocuments? of university libraries in Sweden. As used in this study, strategic documentshave the purpose of pointing out focus and strategic planning for an organization. Sixstrategic documents are chosen. The main theory and method used is critical discourseanalysis signed Norman Fairclough.

In this study we have investigated how care users in a nursing home experience their possibilities for influence and treatment from the staff. The study was conducted through focus group interviews with six participants who we met on four occasions. Questions the study departs from are: How do users experience their opportunity to influence? How do the users experience the treatment from the staff? The study has a qualitative approach and has been analyzed by means of symbolic interactionism, with an emphasis on the Self. Our results demonstrate that in situations of good treatment there is also a good influence.

This master thesis is about amateur writing. To understand the writers needs and wishes about writing and access to information I have researched writing in a writing group. To answer my questions I have studied research literature and interviewed six of the members of the writing group. I also participated in their meetings for two years. The result of this study shows that writing had a therapeutic function for all of them in a period of their lives.

The purpose of this Master´s thesis is to examine howchildren?s needs, based on the Convention on the Rights ofthe Child, are provided for by the librarians when they havethe opportunity to create new libraries. We also examine ifchildren have been involved in the process and in that case towhat extent.Our theoretical perspective is based on MarianneAndersson?s and Dorte Skot-Hansen?s model of the fourdifferent functions the library can have for their users. Inorder to illustrate the degree of children?s involvement weuse Roger Hart?s model of participation.The thesis is based on qualitative interviews with seveninformants working at six different libraries.As a result of the thesis we can see that priority have beengiven to the function concerning how to find your way in thelibrary as a user.

The subject of this thesis is the position of the story or activity rooms at the main libraries in Skåne, a province in the south of Sweden. The questions that are asked and answered are: Which of the main libraries has a story room? What do the rooms look like? How are the rooms used? Which is the relation between the form and the function of the rooms? and, finally, How do the libraries themselves present and describe their story rooms?.

The aim of this master?s thesis is to examine libraries which combine the functions of school- and public library and to evaluate the staff?s experience and attitude towards a library profile with the emphasis on children and youth. The purpose of the study is also to examine how the libraries work with several tasks and functions within different target groups with different needs.With new institutionalism and Scandinavian institutional theory the thesis examine the library as an organization and what influences the construction. With a model that describes how the library constitutes four different rooms in the society I investigate the different functions.The methodology is qualitative with interviews of five persons of the staff, four librarians and one library assistant. The study examines how the staff that works at two libraries under similar conditions experiences their tasks.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine a new music downloading service called Musikwebben, which is now available in many Swedish libraries. It focuses on the differences and similarities between this service and illegal music sharing services. The question is raised, whether the appeal of Musikwebben is high enough for it to be able to ?recruit? users from similar, illegal services. To answer this question, a qualitative content analysis is used, to explore various views on what legal downloading services have to offer and how these differ to illegal alternatives.