Our purpose with this study is to examine how the visitors at the public library of Stenungsund find the library service, if they are pleased with it and what they expect from the library in the future. Why they visit the library and what they actually do there? We also wanted to find out if the visitors would be interested in getting more computers and information technology into the library. Since the library has the highest rates of library loans in Sweden we are interested in, if this has anything to do with the library location which is close to the shopping centre of the town. We used questionnaires in our study and received 560 answers out of 580 handed out to the visitors. It is our conclusion that the visitors are more than pleased with the library service, and also that the location of the library is of importance to how frequent the library is being visited.

The aim of this master thesis is to examine the opinions of the students of Linköping University regarding the role of the university library in their learning process. The study addresses the student’s expectations and satisfaction regarding the library services. The questions we seek to answer are: What are the students’ conceptions of Linköping University Library as a part of their learning process? What expectations do the students have regarding Linköping University Library? Does the library fulfil the students’ expectations? In what way has the library’s pedagogical ambition reached the students? What are the students’ opinions about the user education? The study is based on a web survey complemented with interviews. The theoretical framework focuses on different theories on service quality and marketing. The results of the study show that the students’ attitudes towards the library are related to their subjects of study and the pedagogical approaches of the programs. The students within The Health Sciences Faculty use the services more frequently and have more positive expectations compared to the students within The Faculty of Science and Engineering. The students of The Arts and Science Faculty use the library services more frequently than the students within The Faculty of Science and Engineering but more rarely than the students within The Faculty of Health Sciences. Most of the students, who are library users, are satisfied or more than satisfied with the services and have very positive conceptions of the librarians and their professional knowledge. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The present study deals with the usage of the school library for upper secondary school students. Is it a place for working or studying? The questions are:•What do the students say they use their school library for?•Are there any differences between students in theoretical programs and students in practical programs with regard to their use of the school library?•What are the features of the ideal library from a students’ point of view? My study represents a user’s perspective. The investigation is both quantitative and qualitative. Eighty-two inquiries from four different classes, representing two theoretical and two practical programs were carried out. For the qualitative investigations four informants were selected, one from each class. Andersson and Skot-Hansen’s model for a public library has been used for the purpose of examining if the school library has the same complex employment as a public library. Gidden’s structuring theories were applied when observations of how resources, rules, time and the room affect students’ use of their school library. The result shows that the school library has a complex role but varies for various students. The social role is very important. We can see that the majority of the pupils said that the library is the best meeting place at school. Questions at issue then would be whether the school library should be silent or not. The cultural role may be represented by “book talks”, author visits, exhibitions and above all reading of fiction. Swotting and finding facts for school works will be the knowledge role. We can even find the informative role through seeking of information on the computers. There were differences between the use by students from the different programs. The theoretical classes used the school library more than the practical ones and the computers are used mostly for school works by the practical classes but most for leisure-time activities by the theoretic classes. The school library is both a place of work and a meeting place.

This paper discusses the user requirements and user habits of researchers at the faculties of Arts. Theology and Social Science at Lund University. The first step was to make an account of studies dealing with information science and library science which are to analyse the results which are in accordance with a newer change in paradigm. Using this material, the next step was to analyse the results compiled on the information process and the concept of knowledge. The conclusion are as follows: Researchers place great importance on personal research contacts, and informal sources play an important role in both formal and informal contacts. The use of Internet is quite restricted, the communication possibilities  redominating. Researchers are unaware of the competence of library and its resources. This being so, the essence of matter is thereby to clarify and develop a deep-seated relationship between the user and the intennediary in the cognitive information process. There is no sense of antagonism between the social library and the virtual library, but instead a need for both the nearby social library and the endless global library.

The purpose of this study was to find out what kind of fiction 120 borrowers at Sundbyberg'stown library borrow and how they obtain information about the existence of the books theywant to borrow.I have carried out an inquiry among those visiting the fiction area of the library and alsointerviewed three librarians. To be able to compare my results with other more extensivesurveys, I have studied some literature about, e.g. reading and library habits. Furthermore, Ihave read articles about fiction at libraries and culture politics. I came to the conclusion thatcrime novels are the most popular kind of fiction whereas science fiction and fantasy fictionare the least popular ones. As to the way people get ideas about what they want to borrow, themost common way is to browse the shelves and the next common way is to get tips fromfriends.

Studies of the information needs of library patrons are necessary in order for the library to serve the community. Alas, studies of non-heterosexual persons are rare in the field of Library and Information Science in Sweden. This study aims at examining the information situation of women in same-sexed parenthood by means of analysing their situation as norm-breaking. The study is done through examining the specific information needs of this group, how they seek and receive information, what barriers they encounter and what function the library has in this information situation. A queer theoretical approach to heteronormativity in combination with McKenzie’s two-dimensional model of information seeking is used to perform a qualitative analysis of the material. The material consists of semi-structured interviews of eight women in same-sexed parenthood. The empirical material is divided first in four categories: Information need, Information source, Information barrier and The library. The results show that the women have a great need for information, because of their norm-breaking family constellation. They need information which is not entirely heteronormative. In order to find this kind of information many different information sources are used, both formal and informal, though the sources intended for parents in general often are inadequate. The barriers the women encounter are a result of heteronormativity and their situation as non-heterosexuals. These barriers are also a problem in the library. They don’t use the library to find information about same-sexed parenthood partly because of the lack of non-heterosexual material, and refrain from asking the librarian for help. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to examine how some university students, who are using the libraries extensively, use and experience the public and the university library and what they expect from the two different library types. I also compare their expectations with the different tasks and aims of the two library types. To answer this I have interviewed seven students at the department of history of literature at Göteborg University. I have also studied some literature and research related to this subject, for example user studies about students and libraries and the information behaviour of distance students. In addition to this I have studied the description of the aims of four public and four university libraries. In my empirical study I have used the qualitative interview as a method. To find the informants I wanted to interview I made a short questionnaire study within the students of history of literature at Göteborg University. From the answers of the questionnaires, I chose seven students who I interviewed. The results of the interviews show, among other things, that the informants use the university library entirely for study purposes. The public library is also used for other purposes, such as a meeting place or a cultural centre. The results of the study also show that in the description of aims of the public libraries the university students as a group only are mentioned in one of these documents. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to examine what role the new city library in Halmstad has for its users. The questions posed in this study are: What do the users actually do at the library? What roles are the most significant according to the users? Have the politicians succeeded in their intention of realizing a modern library according to the users? The theoretical starting point is Andersson’s and Skot-Hansen’s theory of four different roles of public libraries. In order to extend the model we added a fifth function; the one of aesthetical experience. We used a qualitative method and received 504 questionnaires. The empirical data indicates that the most important role is the one as cultural centre, i.e. traditional use of the library as borrowing of books and other media, reading newspapers and magazines and so forth. The roles of knowledge centre, information centre, social centre and the aesthetical function are also important to the users. Our conclusions are that the original idea of realizing a modern library has been a great success. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this thesis is to study the usage of and attitudes towards electronic books among graduate and PhD students at Karlstad University. The main questions are: How do graduate and PhD students use electronic books? To what extent are electronic books used compared to printed books? To find the answers, a user study was carried out at Karlstad University library. The results show that a majority of the respondents are aware of the possibility to use electronic books but prefer to use printed ones if they have to choose. Many respondents also complained about difficulties reading a text on the computer screen. However, 60% of the respondents are of the opinion that the library should continue to purchase electronic books. / Program: Bibliotekarie

<p>Den här uppsatsen behandlar frågor om hur individer söker skönlitteratur. Hur väljer människor att läsa det de läser? Vilka strategier använder de sig av för att söka skönlitteratur? Hur söker man skönlitteratur på biblioteket? Är de verktyg som finns att tillgå en tillräcklig resurs för låntagare när de söker litteratur på biblioteken? I den kvalitativa intervjustudien framkommer att indexering och katalogisering är verktyg av underordnad roll vid sökning av skönlitteratur. I slutdiskussionen presenteras idéer om hur biblioteken kan använda sig av andra vägar för att presentera läsare med böcker som passar deras behov.</p>