The purpose of this study is to examine the physical space of children’s libraries in Sweden, and also to see which influences there are in the literature about the same subject. What ideas exist in the literature about the physical room of children’s libraries? We have studied how and if these influences can be seen in a selected number of children’s libraries. Our theoretical perspective is based on Anthony Gidden’s theory of construction. To answer our questions we have chosen a number of public libraries, which we have observed. After reading literature and making observations, we made a comprehension. The conclusion of this study shows that there are several parts in the physical room that must cooperate to create a whole library room that works for the user. If one of these parts is missing, there are things that the user can not profit from. / Uppsatsnivå: C

The aim of this thesis is to examine whether the youth section, named ‘Young adults’, in the library in our study is justified or not. We will do this by examining connections between society’s and the library’s views on youth and youth culture. In our study we examine the purpose of the young adult-department and which measures are taken to reach the purposes. Furthermore our intention is to study which fields of use the young adult-department offers and how they correlate to the users needs. To gather information we have used a qualitative method based on interviews with the librarian responsible for the department and with 15 users. We have also taken notes and made observations to complement the interviews. We have analysed our material by using Ove Sernhede’s theories of society’s view on youths as a threat and Marianne Andersson’s and Dorte Skot-Hansen’s theories on the possible areas of use that a library offers. Our study shows that there are clear connections between society’s and the library’s view on young adults. In our material we notice a change in the way young adults are viewed; society and libraries are moving towards seeing youth culture as something positive and creative. However, this change of view does not include all youth cultures. A provocative collection that is built on requests from users is part of the aim to attract more young adults to the library. We come to the conclusion that the use of the department is mostly cultural and to some extent social.The department shows consideration regarding the requests of their users, and are tolerant towards different kinds of youth cultures. A majority of the books and other types of media in the department bring up subjects that are of interest and concern to the users. Therefore we consider the Young adult-department to be justified. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyse the development of the public library in the district of Österåker during a period of 1958-1983. The main goals have been to identify the crucial events in the history of the library within their historical context and to analyse the factors that have been important for the development: financing, location, staffing, stock of books, book-lending level and different activities for children, youngsters and adults. The consideration has been taken to reasons and consequences of these events. The hermeneutic interpretation model of interaction between parts and wholes, between reasons and results is the basic method in this research which leans mainly upon local archives in Österåker. The public library in Österåker was established in 1952 as a fusion of previously existing small libraries: the parish library in Östra Ryd, the Labour Movement’s library and the temperance movement’s library. This public library, which was small and neglected in the fifties, developed to a relative big and modern cultural community centre in the seventies. The most important milestones in the development were: moving to Municipal Hall in 1955, employment of the very first professionally skilled librarian in1969, receiving of a Government subsidy for developing of regional libraries in 1970, moving to the larger premises in 1971 and moving to the permanent location in Folkets hus in 1978. The library fortune depended on the local conditions and the national politics, both constituting the framework for possibilities to grow and develop. The research shows that a good economy together with appropriate premises and skilled staff provides a good base for a successful development. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of the thesis is to describe the developing of the branch libraries of the public library of Kristianstad between the years of 1967 and 1977. The municipality of Kristianstad was grounded by a unification of the city of Kristianstad and ten small municipalities. The fusion takes place in three different stages during the years of 1967, 1971 and 1974. The first stage included the city of Kristianstad and the municipalities of Araslöv, Nosaby, Träne and Vä. The municipality of Araslöv got free small villages and village of Färlöv was the biggest one. The public library in municipality of Araslöv included one main library and three branch libraries. The main library was located in the village of Färlöv. When the municipality of Kristianstad was grounded in the 1967 the public libraries of the city of Kristianstad and of the teen small municipalities was unite. The public library of the city of Kristianstad became the main library and the library in the municipality became branch library. In the year of 1965 a new residential area was built in Näsby a district in the city of Kristianstad. Two years later a branch library was found in Gamlegården that became popular to the inhabitants in the residential area. Both the branch library of Färlöv and of Gamlegården got new halls in 1970`s and their activities were growing. In the year of 1972 the public library of Kristianstad got their first mobile library that could give better service to the thinly populated area in the big municipality. The librarians at the branch libraries was working part-time and that was not until in the end of 1970`s that a librarian with higher education was employed at the branch libraries. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this Master’s thesis is to investigate what kinds of writing activities that are offered to children and young people in Sweden and if, how and why libraries are involved with them. The issues illuminated in this thesis are how children and youth can be motivated and advance in their writing, what the purpose of writing activities can be, and if writing activities can be suitable as a part of the work in libraries. The theory is based on a study with writing youth made by Catharina Nyström. In order to study the issues six interviews have been completed with persons who all have played a part in writing activities for children and youth. The answers from the interviews were compared with the theory, former research and other literature relevant for the subject. The conclusions are that the informants along with opinions in parts of the literature apprehend that the participating children feel motivated to write with a free kind of creative writing where the children get to make their own choices in their writing work without demands and grading from adults. A different point of view among the literature and the theory state the importance of process writing as a teaching method, and that young people identify themselves with writers in order to develop and motivate their writing. The ambitions of writing activities emphasised by the informants are that the children and youth will improve linguistic abilities and feel a greater interest in reading. As a result of these activities the informants have noticed that their aspirations have been fulfilled. Since these positive effects correspond to the library’s aim to offer children and youth cultural activities, the means to develop their linguistic usage and to encourage them to read, it suggests that writing very well can be encompassed within the libraries children and youth activities. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the content in Swedish library weblogs. We want to examine what the posts contain, especially on the subject knowledge organization. Which themes do the weblogs have in common? How the weblog authors categorize their posts and how the readers use the comment function, are other questions we seek answers to in the thesis. We have performed content analysis where we created the code units during the process. Regarding the content in the analyzed weblogs we have come to the conclusion that it is not as closely tied to the specific libraries as we had thought. We can also see that the themes are reoccurring with minor variations. The number of categories differs between the analyzed weblogs. In many cases the category names are very similar. When it comes to the readers’ usage of the comment function it is clear that the posts seldom end up being commented. We have seen that the library weblog often is perceived as an excellent communication channel where the library can interact with their patrons. At the same time we feel that the potential of the library weblog is not fully used. The future of library weblogs is yet unknown and there are still many functions of the library weblogs left to explore. We believe that the most important thing for the survival of the library weblog is to get readers to the blog and to encourage them to interact. For what is a weblog without its readers? / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this essay is to examine how a newly built library and an old library from the sixties work out of an experience and feeling oriented view. Are the fundamental conditions of an old library compatible with the library standards of today? To be able to carry out this examination we have chosen two rather small Swedish libraries. One is the public library of Hässleholm, which opened in the year 2000, and the other is the public library of Kristianstad opened in 1965. The material used to attain the purpose of the study consists of literature studies and qualitative observations and interviews. The first main chapters of this essay are an overview of literature found on the subject. This is followed by a chapter including empirical material, were our libraries are introduced. In the discussion we reason about what we found from our literature studies and combine this with our findings from our empirical studies. Our conclusion is that both our two libraries succeed in satisfying the demands of a library today. The library in Kristianstad has, due to age and shortage of space, problems with operating the library. In Hässleholm the localities are furnished more from an ornamental than a functional point of view. This leads to a suboptimal utilization of the premises. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this thesis is library work in exile, more specifically The Kurdish library in Stockholm (”Kurdiska biblioteket”). The Kurds have a long history of exile, forming a part of their national and cultural identity. I have therefore chosen in the analysis three concepts: nationalism, ethnicity and culture. The Kurdish library is unique and is different from a traditional library in many ways. I will therefore analyse acquisition, catalogue, and information work in a broader perspective. The method I have chosen is a Cultural sociology method (”cultural studies”), derived from theories by Karl Mannheim and Anthony Giddens. I will also, for a broader perspective, use theories from the Sociology of literature-field, by Johan Svedjedal and Lars Furuland. My thesis will also include a historical exposé over the Kurds and Kurdistan, related to the questions about the library work. Part of the thesis deals with publishing, press and writing in Kurdistan. Many of the Kurdish immigrants in Sweden are working in these fields (Mehmed Tayfun names circa 50 authors in his book). There are no sharp lines between authorship, publishing, press, or library. I discuss what this means to the Kurdish library. Also what the Internet can mean for the library’s future. My thesis tries to show and exemplify what a library in the Diaspora can be, but also what makes it so special. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The role-playing game attracts a growing number of practisers. The aim of this master’s thesis is to examine role-playing literature as phenomenon in libraries through librarians´ attitudes. The paper is based on qualitative interviews with eight librarians: one personal interview with two librarians and six e-mail interviews with six librarians at different libraries. The paper starts with a definition of the term ”role-playing game”, its different categories and genres and a description of its background. We also discuss the debate about role-playing games and their position in society. We use Pierre Bourdieu’s theories about habitus, capital and taste and apply them to the librarians’ attitude towards users and literature. We place role-playing literature at the same level as popular literature. We describe the history of popular literature and the criticism against it and focus on fantasy literature. The scientific aspect of popular literature, in which we place role-play literature as well, has become more acceptable during the latest decades. The result of this paper shows that the librarians have a positive attitude towards role-playing literature at libraries and they feel that it can stimulate creativity and traditional reading as well as own writing. It can also attract people who don’t visit libraries regularly. The future of role-playing literature depends on the librarians’ willingness to familiarize themselves with the benefits and drawbacks of role-playing games and also how they market the games to their colleagues and the market of users. / Uppsatsnivå: D

This paper aims to apply a specific architectural theory onto Lund City Library in order to achieve a better understanding of how the physical concept of the library is affecting our knowledge and our production of meaning; and furthermore how it suggests a certain form of usage. This paper discusses the ways in which architecture is affecting us when we use the library. The paper attempts to answer the following question: – Which one of Koch’s spatial structures could apply to Lund City Library, and in which ways could this spatial structure be a producer of meaning? The specific architectonical theory used is developed by Daniel Koch in his paper Spatial Systems as Producers of Meaning: the Idea of Knowledge in Three Public Libraries. This theory is the method of the paper as well. In order to answer the main question certain parts have been chosen and analyzed. The distribution of space in the building as well as some of the functions in the library, such as the seating, the system of the bookshelves, placement of public computers, and the social interaction, are in focus. The analysis shows that the spatial structure in Lund City Library is of the network type. The library is focusing on supporting the social interaction, which is an important producer of meaning for our own part in society. The collections and the functions are well integrated in the library, the seating and the placement of public computers supports the social interaction as well. Their construction and placement agrees with and encourages human interaction.