There is a need for examining the accessibility of public web sites and for several reasons. First, public organizations possess considerable amounts information of interest to its citizens and which ought to be easily accessible. Secondly, international and national guidelines for web publishing support the different types of requirements experienced by web users and, in particular, with regard to accessibility for people with disabilities. The thesis examines the design of public web sites from two different aspects. Web sites can be built up and structured from the management view of the public organization, or, they can be constructed with a view to user needs and requirements.

This is a study of how emotional engagement can be measured and be taken into account in the development of websites. We believe that emotions become relevant only when viewed in correlation to how users experiencing a webpage. In this study, we developed a tool for use together with user tests where the information about the user's emotional engagement can add new value to the evaluation. The tool allows the user to mark, on the website, his/her emotions and level of engagement represented by colored circles, generating quantiative data on how users feel about the website. The tool is part of a method for evaluating the emotional engagement that we have developed which consists of user testing supported by the tool and accompanied by interviews..

Within system development users have rarely been involved or received much attention during the development. Most of the times, the primary focus within system development lies on insuring functionality, rather than making the system usable. The literature specifies that a non user-centered approach can contribute to a product with low usability, which can lead to an ineffective and unsatisfactory experience for the end users.The purpose of this thesis is to begin an investigation to see if the use of non user-oriented system development methods is a possible cause of low usability in the final system.To achieve the purpose of this thesis, we have conducted a case study. Within the case study we examined the usability of a time reporting system. The case study included seven minor studies; an investigation concerning the development of the system, an expert evaluation of the system, interviews and observations of users, developed paper prototypes and executable prototypes, both which user testing was performed on.The result of this study shows that by working with user-entered methods, the usability in the time reporting system increased after the design had been revised.

The aim of this master thesis is to investigate how the OPACs Online Public Access Catalogue used by public libraries have adapted the features and possibilities offered by online catalogues, for the purpose of searching for fiction. This is done by comparing five OPACs to Amazon.com, an online bookstore. The questions investigated are: Have the OPACs developed from the principles of the card catalogue and adapted to the features and possibilities offered by online catalogues, when searching for fiction? Can the library catalogue provide the same features as Amazon.com, when searching for fiction? How do the OPACs use the resources that online catalogues provide when searching for fiction, compared with Amazon.com? The thesis is based on two qualitative studies. The first study presents five OPACs from different library systems and examines which features they have in common with Amazon.com.

The aim of this master's thesis is to study how the design of the music library space affects how it is used and its role as an arena for culture. This is done in form of a case study of Library 10 in Helsinki, a public library branch that specializes in music and information technology. The backdrop to the study is the changing context for cultural activity in the information society and the role of public libraries as public space and meeting place. By analyzing the distribution of space in the library, the distribution of functions and artefacts and the spatial use of the room, I interpret the ways in which this distributional logic produces a unique place for music and culture. I discuss the music library design in a space and place perspective, utilizing theoretical tools from cultural geography and the space theories of Henri Lefebvre.

Library 2.0 is a term which emerged a few years ago and is frequently discussed. There is no uniform definition of the term but the central aspect of the concept is to encourage increased participation from library users.The aim of this Master's thesis is to investigate if and if so, how the professional role of the librarian is affected by Library 2.0. To do that, we have conducted a case study at the public library in Umeå. Their homepage minabibliotek.se is a practical example of Library 2.0. The homepage is based on interactivity and the library users can participate in various ways.We thougt that qualitive interviews was the best way to gain an understanding for how the librarians at the public library in Umeå experience how the work with minabibliotek.se affect their professional role.

Internet is the future and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is growing in use. Companies are starting to realise the benefits with VoIP. Skype is the number one soft phone on the market but it doesn't satisfy the needs of companies (e.g. transfer calls, redirects calls and so forth) and leaves therefore a gap. The purpose of this master thesis is to provide Objektor AB (thesis initiator) with tips on how to design a usable soft phone that they know is based on relevant human computer interaction research.The method used in the thesis has been iterative development.

The main thing we wanted to find out with this thesis was, can reading aloud help the natural language development. We also wanted to know how libraries in Sweden work with reading aloud and if children with reading and writing problems are being helped by being read to. We also wanted to find out what authoritarians on literature think a good reading-aloud novel should contain. To find this out we decided to do a literature study, we have taken part of a number of authoritarian opinions on this matter and we also studied some theories on this subject. We also decided to do a couple of interviews to exemplify how regular libraries work with reading aloud.

The public libraries in Sweden has an obligation to serve all of its citizens, but despite of this they often fail to include their LGBTQ-patrons. Since the year of 2008 RFSL (the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights) have arranged a specially designed certification-process based on normcritical criterias that a chosen institution should fulfill to make their work more inclusive for LGBTQ-people. Sollentuna is the first municipal in Sweden to certificate all of their libraries. This study aims to examine what the certification have meant for the public library in Sollentuna and how a normcritical view can contribute to include LGBTQ-patrons at the library. As a method we used a qualitative interview-study to get a full picture of the certification-process and its influence on the public library of Sollentuna.

The purpose of this study is to examine the view of Swedish language teachers on the role of fiction and of school libraries within the compulsory school?s teaching of Swedish of form 6-9. The questions to be answered are:? What part do Swedish language teachers (hereafter called teachers) think fiction is playing regarding the pupils inclination to read and reading promotion?? What is the attitude of teachers regarding the function of fiction in the Swedish subject?? What do teachers consider being the role of the school library in education, and can this be related to the local school library resources?To answer the questions a questionnaire was sent out to thirty-five teachers. Four qualitative interviews were also carried out among the fourteen teachers that answered the questionnaire.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the classification,shelf arrangement and display of documents in antiquarianbookshops and see the reasons behind these. The results willbe compared with previous reviews of alternative shelfarrangement in Swedish public libraries, to see whatdifferences and similarities there are in the classification andshelf arrangement between antiquarian booksellers andlibraries. The questions to be answered were: (1)What formsof classification and shelf arrangement are used inantiquarian bookshops and how does it differ from theclassification and shelf arrangement made in libraries withan alternative shelf arrangement? (2)What exposure ofdocuments are there in the various antiquarian bookshops? Isthere anything regarding the exposure that differs betweenthe antiquarian bookshops and the libraries? An idea andideology analysis of various dimensions is used as atheoretical tool during the work. The dimensions were: (1)Shelf arrangement: It is important that customers/borrowerscan find themselves - it is important that staff know wherethe documents are.

The purpose of this thesis was to figure out the feelings that librarians felt towards the e-books at the library. And if it affects their work at the library, especially from a financial point of view. The reason I decided to do this study is because the subject of e-books has become bigger in the last couple of years, and that I got the feeling that the librarians didn?t like them that much. So I did six interviews with six different librarians from different libraries to see if they felt the same thing or if they are in fact positive towards them.The results I received from my study were that the librarians are positive to the e-book.

The aim of this thesis is to research if and in that case how, marketing of Swedish public libraries is used as a possible work method in a time when they are marked by changes in the form of cut backs and technical innovations. With a strive to get an overview by the possible debate I have chosen to do a closer exam of 20 texts published in five of the biggest Swedish library publications during a period of 20 years. My research is based mainly upon Philip Kotler?s marketing theories regarding non-profit organization as well as Eileen Elliot de Saéz interpretations of these to a library context. The first part of the essay therefore consists of an introduction of these, as well as a rendering of their method of work, which shows the width of the conception of marketing.

The Swedish public library was founded in the years when the society in Sweden went from being a society of agriculture to industrialism. Modernism was sweeping over the country, everything was possible, which influenced the new society that was built. Now Sweden was going to be a true democracy with responsible and empathic citizens. One of the main tools in this process was to educate people, to get them to read and write and the public library fitted very well into these new ideas. It represented a place, free of charge, where everyone could go to take part of the knowledge and cultural learning that they needed in order to become the citizen that the society required.

This thesis is about how the library can help immigrants integrate into theswedish society. By studying leading documents of the libraries in Malmö,Stockholm and Umeå in search for how the relate to work consideringimmigrants and integration I have studied the library as a bridge betweenbeing included and excluded in the society. The thought is that the libraryopens the door to new worlds both for immigrants and born swedes toobtain knowledge about a culture different from their own.In my thesis I reached the conclusion that library on a day to day basisworks with the integrationprocess for immigrants. Although the leadingdocuments should evolve since they show gaps and seem somewhatmisguiding in their presentation of the libraries function. The librariesshould work more with analysis of the environment that they are active in sothat they are more individualized for the people around it.