The aim of this Master’s thesis is to investigate and increase the understanding of Swedish Public Library Websites and to determinate which activity they mediate. To analyse the Public Library Websites Andersson and Skot-Hansen’s model of roles for the Public Library has been used. This model in¬cludes four roles for the library: the library as a cultural centre, a knowledge centre, as an information centre and as a social centre. The questions examined are: - How do the public libraries occur on their websites? - How do the functions of cultural, knowledge, information and social centre occur on the Library Websites? The Method used for the studies is observation using as a tool a scheme consisting of the four roles in Andersson/Skot-Hansen’s model. The main findings are: - The social aspects of the Web have to be used in order to accomplish what the Library Law demands. - The Public Library Websites focuses on their catalogues and the activity of the physical Public Library. – The Websites is far from realizing the Library 2.0 vision as they offer no or inactive communication. –Websites which does not contain its own material works mainly as an advertisement for the Public Library. -The commitment to the websites of the community is a problem for the public libraries ambition to connect with patrons in new ways. -Even though aspects of all four roles in Anderson/Skot-Hansen’s model can be found on the Websites, these roles are still far from being central for the activity on the Public Library Websites.

The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to examine reviewswritten by users in library online catalogs, online bookstoresand on the web community LibraryThing, in order todetermine whether there are any differences in the way usersreview books, and whether these differences might explainwhy libraries experience difficulties in getting their users toreview books. At the core of web 2.0 and library 2.0concepts lies the thought of user participation, and largerlibraries have sought to implement systems for reviewingand tagging items in the catalog in ways similar to onlinebookstores and other websites.By analyzing the contents of user reviews, however, thisthesis shows that users express themselves differentlydepending on what kinds of literature they review, and inwhat context. Most notably, user reviews of ‘the Classics’ orcanonized literature recognizes the high status of suchliterature, while users reviewing popular fiction expressthemselves in a way that admits that the reviewed titles areconsidered less valuable. There are also signs that booksreviewed at online bookstores are seen as products ormerchandise, while the reviews at the library to a greaterdegree treat the books as works of literature.The conclusion reached in this thesis suggests that there maybe a relation between the image of the library as a defenderof high culture and the perceived status of literary works,causing users to become hesitant to review books, feelingthat they do not have the knowledge to describe or reviewthem ‘correctly’. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this master thesis is to examine readers’ advice in weblogs - frequently modified web pages with a series of archived entries. We have chosen to study a specific kind of entry that contains information about a book of fiction- not for children and young adults - and the bloggers’ comments regarding that same book. The entries are published in ten weblogs that all deal with literature and reading. Five of these are maintained by one or more individuals, and the other five are maintained by employees at six libraries. The research questions focus on the similarities and differences between the entries containing readers’ advice published in the individual and the library weblogs. To be able to answer our questions we have conducted observations of the chosen weblogs, studied the published entries by applying a number of set criteria, and made asynchronous e-mail interviews. Theoretical frames and concepts are derived from research fields of literature, literary sociology and library and information science. The love of reading is the main reason for the selection of books being written about in the individual weblogs. The opportunities to market and highlight the library, the library stocks and the librarian’s knowledge of literature are also important to the staffs who work with the library weblogs. / Program: Bibliotekarie

In the library community there is a continuous discussion about enhancing user interactivity on library websites, according to the principles of Web 2.0, called Library 2.0. The purpose of this thesis is to study how librarians conceive Library 2.0. The focus is on the study of the librarians’ conceptions of user interactivity on the website, and if the librarians conceive that their professional role is affected by Library 2.0. The study is implemented methodologically by interviewing six librarians and using phenomenography as an approach. The result showed several variations of descriptive conceptions that were divided into two conceptive categories. These two categories, A and B, are seen from three perspectives, the library as an institution, the librarians’ professional role and the librarians’ view of the user. Conception category A showed that Library 2.0 influences to a great extent, category B showed that Library 2.0 influences to a small extent. Examples of that influence are that Library 2.0 is a state of mind that permeates all library work. The professional role will be more individualized and that Library 2.0 will affect the relationship between librarian control and user influence. The user perspective shows conceptions that the social interaction will benefit in a democratic manner. The conceptions that Library 2.0 will influence to a small extent are not as prominent. The difference between category A and B indicates that Library 2.0 is conceived as something ideological as opposed to a technical tool. The results exhibit that Library 2.0 influences the library and the librarian. / Uppsatsnivå: D

In this thesis we have examined opinions of the social web in Scandinavian Library journals. Our interest lies in aspects about the social web, and above all about Library 2.0. The central question is how this new technology, a growing digitalization, and a social web that focuses on interactivity and participation affects opinions about libraries. We have investigated opinions about Library 2.0, with respect to three different dimensions: The role of the library in society, power/hierarchy and knowledge. The method used in this thesis is idea analysis using these dimensions as analytical instrument. As theoretical framework we have used Douglas Raber’s (1996) three different strategies for public libraries, and the way in which librarians choose to meet the challenges of a changing society: The conservative response, the populist initiative and the social activism. Our main findings are:- The most enthusiastic Library 2.0-supporters are found in the field of social activism. They have a deeply democratic view, and they believe that “sharing is caring”. “Radical trust” is another important expression as is “the wisdom of the crowd”.- On the other hand, some Library 2.0-supporters are found in the populist initiative. They propose that change is the only constant and want to adapt to the market. For such scholars, the most important word is “usefulness”.- Those included in the conservative response is often sceptical about Library 2.0. They are not principally against new ideas such as interactivity, but they maintain that librarians’ authority should be protected, and they find books and reading to be the most important part of Library services.

The point of departure for this thesis was an article written by Christer Hermansson (2008). He thinks that librarians, following the development of Library 2.0 and the change of public libraries, have strayed away from what he believes should be the focus of the library: Literature. The aim of this thesis is to study how librarians in six Swedish libraries perceive their occupational roles. How does the increased user control, which is seen as part of Library 2.0, affect the tasks of libraries and librarians? The material used in this study was acquired using a qualitative interview technique in which six librarians working in public libraries with experience of IT, mediation and purchase of literature partook. The interviews were analyzed by comparing the empirical material to theories of librarian models (Klasson 1991) respectively Community of practices (Sundin 2003). The results showed that there are different conceptions among the participating librarians regarding whether their occupation roles and the public library activity has changed/been affected by Library 2.0. Some librarians thought that the occupation role has changed, but not because of 2.0. Others meant that the core of the occupation role has not been changed; they use old working methods in new ways. It´s still too early to tell how the development of Library 2.0 will affect libraries and the tasks of librarians, the technology has not developed far enough yet in most Swedish public libraries.

The public library´s overall purpose and legitimacy is analways relevant subject for discussion in Library andInformation Science and in public debate on libraries.Libraries are a part of a bigger societal context and are thusinevitably influenced by societal changes. In this thesis wehave studied different roles and functions of the publiclibrary, as seen from documents published by one specificpublic library in Malmö - Garaget. As basis we have usedan analysis model of the library in the knowledge andexperience society made by Jochumsen, HvenegaaardRasmussen och Skot-Hansen (2010). Our purpose has beento examine which ideas and notions on the functions of thepublic library that can be found in Garaget’s documents andin the model – and to discuss them from a discoursive pointof view. In our understanding of discourse and powerstructures within the discourse we were influenced byFoucault. We found that what is said in Garaget’sdocuments, in many ways, can be considered coherent withthe ideas expressed in Jochumsen et al:s model. Among themore central themes we found examples of how the publiclibrary’s functions are becoming broader, and also thatlibrary users are allowed (and expected) to play anincreasingly central part in defining the actitivites of thelibrary. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this bachelor thesis is to study and analyze the impact of LibraryThing's tagmoderation process and tag cloud limits in the library catalog, and assess the differencesbetween tags on their web page and tags in “LibraryThing for Libraries”.Communication with personnel on LibraryThing regarding their moderation processwas established, and the results were then compared with the collected data in thisstudy. Tags from 20 different books, collected from 2 different library catalogs, onewith a tag limit of 15 and one with 25, and from LibraryThing's web page werecollected and analyzed. The theoretical framework of the thesis was based on J. T.Tennis, and the data were organized using a modified version of Golder & Huberman'sseven different functions found in tags (2006).The results show that LibraryThing's claim that they only remove the inherentlypersonal tags are only partially true, since some other kinds of tags have disappeared aswell. In some cases a certain concept has been included in one book and excluded inanother. Tags concerning opinions or attributes of a book, have often been excluded,these could however serve as valuable forms of recommendations to other people,despite their personal context. The comparison between the library tag clouds limited toeither 15 or 25 tags suggested that tag clouds with an increased number of tags gave amore pronounced picture regarding the contents of the book. However, the number ofproblematic tags with synonymous or redundant information also increased when thesize of the library tag cloud grew.

The aim of this master’s thesis is to create an updated image of why and how staff at public libraries in Sweden work with social media in 2019 and what challenges they experience in this work. The study is based on interviews with nine persons who are working with social media in public libraries. The results were analyzed through the theoretical framework Relationship Marketing, developed by Evert Gummesson. The result of the study shows that the primary purpose of the libraries' use of social media is to spread different types of information concerning the libraries and their activities. To communicate with the users is another purpose, but not as prominent as the information part. All libraries in the study use Facebook and all but one uses Instagram. At most of the libraries, one seems to mainly value the followers one has, while at other libraries one wants to reach new followers and attract new library visitors. Lack of time and resources, unclear strategies and the GDPR-law are the challenges that the respondents experience in the work with social media, as well as the difficulty in standing and reaching out in the information society we live in today.

This thesis describes the introduction of Web 2.0 education into Swedish LIS education with emphasis on the driving forces and obstacles in the process. It also discusses the possibilities of estimating the appropriate time for the start of new educational courses introducing new technologies, when it is uncertain if the technologies in question will sustain for a long enough period of time to make the educational effort worthwhile. The data on the Web 2.0 education was collected during the spring of 2010 from the Web pages of the five LIS departments in Sweden, namely Borås, Lund, Umeå, Uppsala and Växjö, as well as by 10 interviews during November and December 2010 with two representatives from each LIS department..The key finding is that Web 2.0 is covered in Swedish LIS education and embracing both practical and theoretical issues. The main driving forces have been both the needs of the profession and an academic research interest. It is concluded that Rogers’“S-curves” as described in “Diffusion of Innovation” can be used as a tool in order to improve the understanding of when to introduce education in new technologies. Departments with no research in the new technology will probably start education in the new technology later due to the lack of scientific literature, while departments with research in the new field will have the potential to start earlier. / Program: Bibliotekarie