Biblioteksrummet som miljöupplevelse
The aim of this study is to understand how the library environment affects the experiences and feelings of public library users. In order to concretise this, the study sets out from the public library in Bollebygd. We wanted to find out how the library users experience the library environment. Does the library environment affect the meeting between library users? How does the environment affect their moving patterns inside the library? Which environmental factors influence the users' experiences? Our questions were: how do users experience the library environment - as a mediating space for information and culture? - as a social room and meeting place? The material used to attain the purpose of the study consists of qualitative observations and interviews, and literature studies. The qualitative analysis was based upon interdisciplinary theories mainly from environmental psychology, architectural history and mediation theory. We found that the library environment in Bollebygd functioned very well as a mediating space for information and culture. The users we interviewed appeared to be content, especially with the library staff and collections: both considered as evident parts of the library environment. As a social room and meeting place the library environment functioned less well. The library was not used for discussions or as a meeting place. However, this seemed not to be due to the library environment, but to the attitudes towards libraries in general showed by our interviewees. Visiting libraries and information searching appeared to be an activity preferably performed in solitude. In addition, the library was a place associated with silence.