This essay is about the hamlets´ older boundaries, i.e. boundary lines (?rågångar?) and boundary markers in the form of rocks, and an own survey of two hamlet boundaries in southeast Sweden. Many of the boundary rocks were subjected to unintentional damage or destruction that arose during forestry activities, the excavation of ditches, or road construction. Boundaries between hamlets sparsely populated areas were not clearly defined from the beginning, but were established initially in the form of boundary zones, that often consisted of wetlands, watercourses, or mountain heights.

Following paper deals with the questions about prehistorian and medieval settlements in the Mälar Valley and their relations to the historically known hamlets or single farmsteads from the 17th- and 18th-century cadastral maps. Models over settlement development through the period A.D 200 to 1700 done by geographers Ulf Sporrong and Dan Carlsson are tested and compared to the knowledge won by recent archaeological excavations. Is there a connection between the older settlements linked together by dry-stone walls and the late Iron Age settlements? Does the picture differ from the one presented for the Gotland region? How well are the general theories about different settlement development depending on basic natural conditions as for the potentials for cultivation and topography, corresponding to the physical remains?  Are there other factors involved when the settlement structure takes its form?The methods that are used here constitutes mainly of a comparison between different locations in the Mälar Valley that has got a well known prehistory thanks to extensive archaeological excavations. Cadastral maps, soilmaps, topography maps and maps over ancient monuments are intertwined to the same map and analyzed through works in Geographical information systems.The results of this study reveal an interesting suspicion in the continuity-question through the Iron Age.

The aim of this master thesis is to study how the development of a public library by means of ideas and methods from the private sector can be related to traditional core values. We base our study on institutional theory, which focuses on norms and values in an organisation, and new institutional theory, which focuses on how organisations are influenced by changes in the environment. We also use New Public Management with a market focus to analyze the implications of a development towards a more market oriented view.The method used is that of a case study of a new library concept, Idea Stores in London. Idea Stores are a number of new public libraries in Tower Hamlets developed from the results of a major opinion survey about libraries. The Idea Stores combine traditional library services with elements of adult education and lifelong learning in a partnership with local learning centres.