The Internet has played an important role for libraries giving them a means of fulfilling their democratic mission of giving equal access to everyone, including people with disabilities. In order to achieve this it is of the utmost importance that they ensure that their web sites are Accessible. In this masters thesis we have examined to what extent the web sites are Accessible. The thesis is based on theories of human-computer interaction, information architecture, pedagogy and a checklist. The checklist is derived from established international guidelines from W3C, which has been adapted to, and is used by Swedish public authorities to achieve the mission of a ?24-hour authority?.

This thesis studies if public libraries in Sweden have taken part ofinformation regarding the Swedish government policy that publicareas are to be made Accessible by 2010. Also studied is thesignificance of information and resources on the execution ofaccessibility adaptations at public libraries.The analysis uses Lennart Lundquist?s theory of implementation ofpublic policies, that the person executing the policy needs tounderstand, be able to and want to in order for the policy to besuccessfully executed. The study was carried out through a surveyand the thesis focuses on the factors of understanding and beingable to.The survey was sent by email to all 290 municipal libraries inSweden with an answering frequency of 65%. The results arepresented in table format with explanations.The thesis finds that a clear majority of respondents have hadaccess to information about accessibility adaptations, but thatmuch fewer consider the information clear enough.

The aim of this master thesis is to study if the websites of the Swedish public libraries are Accessible to all people. According to the library law all people must have access to the public libraries and their information services. Today, when the Internet is one of the largest sources of information, it is important that all people, including those with different kind of disabilities, children, elderly, immigrants and people with old technical equipment, have access to the public libraries websites.We have in this study considered the graphic user interface, the language, the structure and the navigation possibilities at ten public library websites. We have from a checklist of our own, based upon the opinion of different experts such as Jacob Nielsen and Tommy Sundström, investigated the websites.The main finding of our study is that the websites are generally Accessible even thou we found a lack of Accessible for immigrants. Most of the websites had some pages in English, but none hade all pages in this language.

This report is about accessibility in a station environment. Studies have been made about how an Accessible building should be designed. Accessibility is an important issue when striving for a society with equality as the foundation. Sweden is one of the most Accessible countries when speaking about the built environment. A result of prosperity and a well-managed democracy.

The rapid change within digital medias has increased the possibilities to make information Accessible through network. Therefore the European Union EU considers a harmonization within the Union, in order to strengthen the rights of the originator. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate how the EUs directive 2001/29/EG regarding copyright is to be implemented into Swedish legislation and assess the common opinion in the public libraries on this matter. The basic methodology of this thesis is a democratic perspective, concerning the public libraries democratic role and the right of the citizens to have access to information. The thesis first part is a study of documents.

The initiative for this project was taken by Benteler Engineering Services, as a result of having identified areas of improvement, in designated Accessible areas like the wheelchair spot onboard buses. Depending on a wheelchair to be able to move around can understandably be challenging.Public transport is a common good in today`s society, however despite the measures taken towards adjusting to Accessible needs, the majority of those being disabled chose different alternatives of transportation. This is due to reasons such as the drivers' poor attitude, furthermore the limitations of the space allocated to Accessible needs, as people with strollers also use these spots onboard. Also, some wheelchair users find the rides unsafe, as they could easily fall over during without the appropriate space for them onboard the buses etc. These are only a few reasons why other options are sought out, i.e.

This graduate thesis deals with the challenges facing us as we gradually make our urban environments withtheir many public buildings, such as shops, cafés and cinemas, more Accessible for disabled people. Theperspective taken is that of the conservationist, who in her or his profession looks to the cultural andhistorical characteristics in buildings and building environments. In order to gain better accessibility, changesin the physical fabric need to be made, with consideration for the cultural and historical characteristics.The introduction presents the subject of considarate accessibility. The second chapter deals with the legalaspects concerning the protection of buildings as well as the accessibility for disabled people. Severalinterviews with different participants are presented here, aiming to tie the legislation to the reality of theconservationist, the disabled, the civil servant working with accessibility issues and the property owner,whose responsibility it is to make the adjustments necessary to improve accessibility.

This paper accounts for the work with a website for a company whose real name will not be disclosed in the text of this paper. Instead, they have been assigned the fictitious name Larmbolaget, which can be translated as ?The Alarm Company?.During our work with Larmbolaget?s website, we consulted a selection of accessibility guidelines from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, developed by a working group within the World Wide Web Consortium, as well as a number of design principles and heuristics outlined in this paper. We also conducted several usability tests on users from our intended target group. All the measures taken were an effort to ensure that Larmbolaget?s website be as Accessible and usable as possible.Our conclusion is that the resulting website does comply with the accessibility guidelines and design principles described in this paper, and thus we consider it to be Accessible and usable to a wide range of users, including those with disabilities..

This survey examines how a regional archive, Värmland Archives, interprets and works from the departure point of national cultural accessibility goal ?Everyone should have the opportunity to participate in cultural life?. And it is also a comporative study of discourse regarding accessibility between Värmland Archives and some other actors in the archival cultural system. Critical discourse analysis, according to Norman Fairclough, is used as a theory method. A discourse analysis is made on empirical data based on document study and qualitative research interviews. My conclusion is that if the term Accessibility is seen as a focal point the accessibility discourse in the documents of Värmland Archives and of the other actors studied can not be clearly discerned. Värmland Archives´s interpretation of terms regarding accessibility analyzed in the survey, varies among the staff regarding how the archives and its services should be Accessible, and what accessibility means in the context of the archives.

The built environment should be Accessible for everyone. A residence shall be functional without creating a handicap for people who have a disability from birth, caused by an accident or of old age. A residence that is Accessible creates equal conditions for everyone.In this report the accessibility of newly built blocks of flats in Uddevalla city from 1990 until today are interpreted. One project that is yet to be built is interpreted and compared with the already existing projects. The apartments of seven projects have been analyzed according to today?s regulations of accessibility.

The title of this thesis is ?Accessible Landscape - boardwalks in nature areas?. The main purpose of this thesis is to show how you can increase the accessibility for disabled people by constructing boardwalks in nature areas. The platform for the thesis is a study of litterature on boardwalks, accessibility and disabilities. After defining these terms I made three excursions to three different locations in the south of Sweden. During the excursions I evaluated the boardwalks situated in each of the areas through preferences such as the construction of the boardwalk, its design and the accessibility. After the excursions I interviewed managers of the areas I visited, and people working with disability questions in the municipalities where the excursions took place. To know how to make a boardwalk Accessible you need to have knowledge about certain concepts, rules and recommendations. My thesis deals with aspects such as: *Accessibility *Disability *Rules and recommendations when building boardwalks *Real life - evaluation from the excursions and interviews with the managers The result shows that accessibility is a hot topic in Sweden and a lot of improvement is being done with fi nancial support from the European Union.

National libraries hold large, valuable repositories of often unique materials. How can we ensure that the knowledge is Accessible without endangering the materials that hold the knowledge? Digital preservation is meant to solve this problem. With more and more material being Accessible digitally, users are expected to do more and more of the finding on their own, instead of being guided by librarians. What kind of knowledge do the librarians have, that cannot be mediated through a system? How is the knowledge of experienced librarians passed on to new librarians? What is the difference between physical and digital materials? I have interviewed senior and junior librarians of Det Kongelige Bibliotek in Copenhagen, Nasjonalbiblioteket in Oslo, the National Library in Helsinki, and Kungliga Biblioteket in Stockholm to learn about their journey to knowledge of their collections.

This master thesis is about access to literature translated into Swedish sign language for deaf at the public libraries. It is by now a well-known fact that there is produced very little literature in sign language for deaf. This is so even though the policies for the library nationally and internationally, and the public law for libraries in Sweden says there should be literature available for all groups of disadvantaged people. People who have problem reading ordinary ink books have the right to get the book adapted into a medium Accessible for them. The goal of the Swedish law for disadvantaged says that in 2010 Sweden should be Accessible for all irrespective of weather you are deaf or not.

The landscape is a great asset for Göteborg as a city and places in the landscape are much used by the public. This diploma work deals with the question of how nature in Göteborg can become more Accessible and how a place in it can be supplemented with new landscape elements. It is a proposal for a new urban park at Björlanda peninsula in the western part of Hisingen, Göteborg, which today belongs to the Swedish Armed Forces and is a part of the Nature-2000 area "Nordre älvs estuarium". The reason for choosing this place is that it is the only area around the costal area in Göteborg that has not been built on and that it contains a very varied landscape. The proposal is presented as three different broschures, dated 10-20 years ahead: A map of a possible system of urban parks including a detail of such a park, Västra Hisingen (the western parts of Hisingen) The idea with a system of urban parks is to make the landscape generally more Accessible and maybe open it for people that do not use it today. A broschure of the central area Välkommen, with my design proposal for an urban park at Björlanda peninsula The design aims to utilize the landscape elements water, mountains, vegetation and sky and to intensify the experience of them. A flora for Välkommen that shows a selection of plants for the design proposal.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to do a brand survey of Metro in Karlstad. The study will originate from the terms ?brand identity? and ?brand associations?, where the brand identity is the organization?s desired view of the brand, and the brand associations define the associations held by the consumers.Issues: What is Metro?s brand identity? What are the brand associsations of Metro in Karlstad? How well do the brand identity and the brand associations correspond?Theoretical framework: The study is done from the perspective of media and communication studies, where the theoretical terms are defined from literature regarding brands.Method: The study is carried out using a qualitative document analysis, interviews, and a quantitative survey. The document analysis was made on Metro?s own documents regarding values and target audience.