This thesis investigates young people's (16-21) preferences in reading through a surveyincluding interviews and questionnaires. The groups attitudes towards reading and libraries,their reading and library habits, and to what extent eight libraries had bought the preferredliterature were also examined.Some reports from the 80's were used to find the changes. The result shows that youngstersread and visit libraries somewhat more frequently. Trivial literature is not as dominant, moreteenage-books were read. Popular themes are love, history, reality, fantasy/sf, and detectivestories.

The purpose of this study is to examine escort-business with a focus on sales of BDSM-services (Bondage and Discipline, Dominance and Submission, Sadism and Masochism). The study is based on qualitative interviews with three informants providing BDSM-services, as well as a survey with 96 men who requested domination of escorts (the survey was carried out by an escort in the 1980s). The analysis of this material resulted in the identification of three themes on which the study centers: The personal experiences of the three escorts, the interaction between the escorts and the clients, and the changes over time when it comes to the performance of BDSM-services. The study has a gender perspective. The important conclusions are that there are several differences between prostitution having a focus on BDSM-services and other prostitution.

This thesis aims to study the impact of the transition from communism to democracy on the public libraries in Poland. The central areas of study are changes in: the organisation of the public library system, the role of the public library in society, the librarian's daily work and job situation and collection development. The thesis is based on qualitative interviews with public librarians, public library managers and researchers in Warsaw, Torun and Gdansk. The theoretical background consists of chapters outlining thoughts on democratic and communist library ideas and public libraries' responses to a changing society. The results show that the public library system has been affected by two major decentralisation reforms in Poland, leaving the libraries in the care of local governments.

The aim of this master thesis is to describe some general trends and important steps in the Swedish university libraries user-orientation from the implementation of the university college reform 1977 until today. The aim gave rise to four further questions. Literature studies and empirical studies in the form of focusing interviews have been carried out, in order to answer the questions. Of the entire background material I have made a simple form of general analysis. I found that the libraries, during the years have interacted with the following four interested parties, the government, the mother organization, other libraries and the library users.

In my degree project, I explore the importance of distance and how our perception of distance is affected by our experiences.During my investigatory work I studied the relation between distance and experiences. Among other things I concluded that distance can refer to several different kinds of distances (for example spatial, temporal or social distances) and that experiences are what you?ve learnt of these distances. The importance of distance can be illustrated by highlighting the effects of the distance, i.e. experiences.My degree project resulted in a pair of interactive binoculars which are used for looking at an virtual world of illustrations in 360°; a world of illustrations where distance and the importance of distance is shown..

?Ecosystem services are the ecosystems direct and indirect contributions of ecosystems to human well-being.? In order to reach the generation target and the environmental objectives it is important to increase the awareness of biodiversity and ecosystem services and it?s importance to human welfare and simultaneously highlighting the value of ecosystem services. The value of ecosystem services should be integrated into economic standpoints, political considerations and other decisions in the society. In today?s society there is a problem concerning that the value of ecosystem services are not considered in economic terms, which can result in solutions that are unfavorable for our welfare (Ministry of Environment, 2012).

The work place is becoming more flexible and an increasing number of employees report to a leader in another location or country. The borders between different countries, work places and cultures are diminished to a greater extent than before. Working from a distance means new opportunities in terms of competence development, flexibility in working hours, tasks and resources, a larger platform for various career opportunities and an expanded network. The purpose with this study is to examine how leaders can create a successful virtual team and motivate remotely. The qualitative study is carried out through interviews with leaders and employees within Nielsen Nordic.

The focus of this thesis is the library at the Swedish school in Berlin, Germany. Being a school in a foreign country, and playing a role also as a public library, the conditions for the library are somewhat unusual. Considering those conditions, how should the library be organised and developed to meet the users' needs in the best way possible? To put the library in Berlin into a greater perspective, the first chapters of the thesis are dedicated to the issue of school libraries in Sweden; their historical development, their importance in the school curriculum and their present situation. Swedish research in the field of school libraries is presented and includes descriptions of theoretical analysing models.

The main purpose of this Master?s thesis is to develop an understanding of why non-users do not use public libraries by studying their information and culture habits and their relationship to public libraries. One of the motivating factors behind this choice is the lack of earlier research on the subject, particularly qualitative research. The theoretical framework is stratified into three associated levels with Brenda Dervin?s sense-making theory on an individual level, Marianne Andersson?s and Dorte Skot-Hansen?s model of the roles of public libraries on an institutional level and Pierre Bourdieu?s theoretical apparatus on a social level.

The purpose of this Master thesis is to examine whether the term elasticity is relevant and functional to apply to public library organisations. Another aim of the thesis is to relate the term elasticity to public library organisations in a network society. Sociologist Manuel Castells provide the theoretical framework on the network society. Three investigations (meant to complement each other) in two Swedish public libraries seek to give answers to these questions.To be able to examine which areas of public library activity are elastic, I make a rough definition of what public library organisations consist of ? nine activity fields are identified using IFLA?s guidelines in combination with Swedish law of public libraries.

The purpose of this study is to examine immigrants' experiences of social services' treatmentand their expectations of social services. In this study we have used the following questions:how immigrants have experienced the treatment of the social service, the way in whichimmigrants would like to be treated by social services as well as what kind of beliefs andexpectations immigrants have concerning the social services' duties and powers. We haveused a qualitative method in the study that consists of ten semi-structured interviews. Thetheoretical concepts we have used are culture, ethnicity, cultural competence, professionalismand social psychology. The survey reveals a majority of negative experiences, such as afeeling of being ?tossed around?, suspicion and discrimination by the caseworkers due to theethnicity of the respondents.

The thesis had its starting point in the first paragraph of the eleventh chapter in the Swedish social services act, which discusses the immediate risk assessments that has to be made when the social services receive a report about a child. The thesis highlights an area that has received a lot of attention in media since the spring of 2014, when an eight year old girl was fatally abused by her legal guardians. The social services had at the time received a report about the girl but it was left unread. This tragic case has brought attention to the routines used by the social services for dealing with reports and risk assessments. This thesis was conducted through individual interviews with social workers working with children and families in the social services, with the aim to acquire an enhanced understanding of how social workers perform immediate risk assessments and what these assessments are based on.

The aim of this paper is to spread some light over contract treatment from the perspective of the District Courts, Social Services and Probation Services, and understand the reason for local variation of the number of people sentenced to contractual treatment.Essential questions asked in this paper are; What advantages and disadvantages are known by the cooperating parties regarding contract treatment in comparison to prison? What parameters are considered when the cooperating parties decide upon contract treatment? What impact does the shared responsibility of cost have? What do the respondents think is the reason for the local variation?In order to answer the essential questions a qualitative and descriptive method has been used to highlight the main question of our study; What is the reason for the local variation in number of contract treatment sentences in Halmstad and Ystads district courts?The paper shows that the local variation between the Probation Services districts is dependent on the conditions to propose a contract treatment. In Halmstad it is not conditioned for the Probation Services to have a responsibility agreement with the Social Services to the same extent as for the Probation Services in Ystad..

The focus of the thesis is to examine the regional branding ofpublic libraries in Norrbotten, with the main focus on Piteå public library, in order to find trends that indicate a successful branding based on Hariff & Rowley?s (2011) identified key factors.The empirical data has been collected through a triangulation of interviews and documents. The findings show that they have done a proficient preparatory work prior to the regional branding of the public libraries, and that the libraries have worked together with a communication bureau in their marketing strategies since the beginning of the public library cooperation. The results also show that Piteå public library, through branding efforts, received another relationship with the media where the media now occasionally contact the library.The conclusion of the thesis is that Piteå public library promoted the library through campaigns that provide the opportunity for activities and experiences, and that they want to convey the image of itself as a venue for social interaction. The marketing of the libraries fulfill the most of the criteria, but there are still areas of branding that needs to be further explored..

Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary scientific subject which connects biology, biomedicine and information science. Bioinformatics generates new biological knowledge by using computer methods and biological databases and can thereby play an important role for the understanding of diseases and be used for development of new medicines. The appearance of bioinformatics has thereby had a big impact on biomedical research.In this study, I have examined bioscientists' use of bibliographical databases, bioinformatic databases/web sites and bioinformatic tools and their needs of support concerning these resources. I have also examined which support the scientific libraries offer their users concerning bibliographical databases, bioinformatic databases/web sites and bioinformatic tools and have compared it with the needs the libraries think that the users have and the needs the users state that they have.The results from the study show that there is a wish for library support concerning bibliographical databases, bioinformatic databases/web sites and bioinformatic tools. The wishes of the respondents are in contrast to the libraries' view about bioscientists interest concerning bioinformatic databases/web sites and bioinformatic tools.