This bachelor thesis analyses the role and identities of the prison librarian in three Swedish prisons in order to see how the librarians themselves understand their role and their different conditions. After interviewing and recording the three librarians I analyzed the material with the identities created by the researchers Anders Ørom and Trine Schreiber. Ørom mentions three identities which focus on the content both from the librarians´ perspective but also from the users´ perspective. A fourth one discusses the more practical work, for example cataloguing and classification. Two other ones stress the technological aspects of the librarians´ work tasks. Finally an identity is described by Schreiber which focuses on the experience the library is able to create which in some way competes with other media. It also stresses the information technology aspect of intermediation. The study shows that the more content-focused identities are mostly used by the respondents. Time and restrictions are two existent conditions which affect the possibilities to use the identities. Technology is discussed as an important part of preparing the inmates to a life after release, but is not a major focus for the respondents at the moment. The most important role according to the respondents seems to be the needs of the inmates.

The research of this Bachelor‟s thesis examines classifieds for librarians, and makes use of Ørom‟s theory of sixlibrarian identities plus Schreiber‟s complementary seventh identity. The main focus of the thesis was to examine what qualities and skills are presented and what identities are manifested in the classifieds. A third issue was to explore how relevant Ørom‟s theory is to examine and understand the profession today.The data was analysed by the use of content analysisand a hermeneutics approach was taken. We found that theskills and qualities that are considered important in the spring of 2014 were both classic librarian tasks, but that there was also a high demand for skills in pedagogy and IT. We found that personal characteristics were important in comparison to education requirements. All seven of Ørom‟s and Schreiber‟s identities were manifested in the classifieds, but the library profession has evolved beyond Ørom‟sdescription of the ideal librarian. The theory is therefore not applicable to today‟s description of the librarian professional identity. / Program: Bibliotekarie

Due to the fact that worrisome geopolitical conditions and rapid technological development may have changed the tasks performed in public libraries, the purpose of this survey has been to investigate the professional identities demanded on the Swedish library market today. In order to achieve this, a qualitative content analysis - based on the seven librarian identities recorded by Ørom and Schreiber - was conducted by recently published job advertisements. The result shows that all seven identities are present, and that the so-called social worker identity is the most frequent one. This could be due to the fact that some of the public libraries have been forced to assume more outward and socially conscious social roles as a result of the aforementioned geopolitical conditions. The study also shows that there are differences between which of the identities can be said to belong to the various general library types. The breakdown could be due to the fact that some of the profession specialized in the technical parts of the profession, while another assumed a more general intermediary role.

The aim of this bachelor’s thesis is to gain deeper knowledge about how librarians in public libraries in Sweden view theirprofessional role with regard to the last decades of change in the library field. Especially concerning the technical evolution and towards a higher user orientation and market mindset, and in which ways this has influenced the librarians everyday working tasks. A particular focus has been placed towards the reference transaction, the use of computers and e-media, and the stock development. We believe that there currently is a changeover, from the libraries traditional line of function, towards them as more of service institutions.The method used in this study for answering the research questions and to gather empirical information is semi-structuredinterviews. The division is three more experienced librarians, with twenty years or more from the field, and three newlygraduated with less than five years as active librarians. We seek to compare if there are any differences in views between these two categories. The theory used for analyzing the results is Anders Ørom’sabout different librarian identities together with Trine Schreiber’s development of the model. Conclusions drawn from this study are that there is a similarview on the librarianship; the traditional role and the information intermediate roles has earlier been considered incompatible. Now they seem to come together in a “traditional tasks in new packaging”-thinking. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The problem of today’s public librarians is that no one really knows their identity, they try to be everything for everyone, which makes their identity fuzzy and confusing for both librarians but also for the librarian visitors. The purpose of this paper named “A profession in change? A qualitative text analysis of the identity of the public librarians on today’s public libraries”, was to investigate the current identity of the public librarian at the public libraries today in order to have a better understanding of what their identity is.  In order to achieve this, a qualitative text analysis – based on Ørom’s and Schreiber’s seven librarian identities – was conducted on online job advertisements. The result showed that the public librarian have nine different identities. In addition to the seven roles, two other roles were found in the job advertisements. It also showed that all seven roles were present in the advertisements and that the so called “culture intermediary” was the most frequent one. When it comes to the qualifications, academic degree was the most important one and was found in all job advertisements, followed by “teamwork”. The result also showed that the public librarian can have many different kinds of titles and that the title “librarian” was the most used one. This result can be due to the fact that the public librarian has many different kinds of identities and that the public libraries are supposed to be for everyone in the society. This is exactly the problem with public libraries. They try to please everyone and by doing so risking to lose their identity as a democratic place for culture and literature.

This essay explores and analyzes how public librarians in Kronoberg, Sweden understands their work and their profession. With these understandings the author wants to approach an empirical description of the professional practices and self-images of public librarians. The method has been based on seven interviews, where the librarians have discussed their professional practice, their knowledge and their education, and reflecting on how they are perceived by a wider public. Empirically, this gives us a self-image of librarians who is perceived to be cultural and intellectual professionals who works with social promotion and stands up for democratic values. Culture-oriented librarians use this self-image as an ideal type in their professional practice and focus on reading and culture intermediation, while information and technology-oriented librarians use this self-image as a prototype, and sees the library profession as a practice that also contains many kinds of social aspects, and here choose to focus on service and information intermediation. To give a theoretical understanding of the empirical material the author has used a theoretical framework based on theories about eight librarian-identities from the scientists Anders Ørom, Trine Schreiber and Olof Sundin. The author has identified four of these identities in the material. Theoretically, this gives us four different kinds of identities: The intermediary of culture, the social worker, the intermediary of information and the information organizer. Together, the four identities represents the multifaceted contents in public librarians professional practices. The occupational content that formed the identities since the beginning of the 1990s has in relation to the study’s empirical findings been modified and made more nuanced by the author. This essay therefore presents four librarian-identities that serves to constitute a conceptual apparatus for public librarians to engage in their identity creation. They can also use them to describe what makes public librarians to what they are.