The aim of this master’s thesis is to examine how managers in some public libraries are using performance measurements and to what extent decision making is based on the results. The main questions posed are:•What performance measurements and indicators are used in the libraries examined?•What is the attitude towards performance measurements among library managers?•How and to what extent are performance measurements and indicators used in the process of decision making?•What improvement would library managers wish regarding the development of performance measurements in public libraries?The theory is based on a model of evaluation of the public sector in addition to general steps of evaluation of quality and performance measurement results. The investigation is based on qualitative interviews with seven managers of public libraries in Sweden. The analysis has shown that even though the managers consider performance measurements important, they find them problematic to apply. Setting clearly definable goals is difficult. The mission of the library consists of a number of goals that have to be adhered to. Major goals are often vague. Favouring one goal might mean neglecting another. Relevant measures cannot be applied without defined goals, and without measures quality and performance assessment becomes impossible. Consequently, abstract goals have to be split and transformed into manageable goals, and the goals transformed into measurable ones. The measures used by the managers in this study could largely be categorized as measures of input and output, but no measure of outcome is used. To assess to what extent the library contributes to user need and community goals, outcome measurements could be an important and useful tool. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to see why there seem to be little interest in the management position at the public libraries. Since librarianship is a field that are proportionally dominated by women we chose to approach the study with a gender perspective. This study has excluded men and our main interest is the women’s point of view. It aims to see how librarians and chief librarians recognize management from bottom-up and what kind of restrictions we can find for women that make them unwilling to aspire for the position of management. Our theoretical choice fell upon Hirdman’s gender system and Westberg-Wohlgemuth’s theory of the sex marking process. The method used to collect the empirical facts consists of eight qualitative interviews executed on three different public libraries. The conclusions drawn are based upon literature and the empirical material gathered from the interviews. The result of this thesis is that the chief librarian position is marked as a male position from the women’s point of view. Additional findings are that women in the librarian profession don’t seem to be interested in becoming chief librarians for a number of reasons; the most prominent reason is the solitude of the position. The results also show that the women themselves tend to recognize the position as male and derive this view from a historical perspective. The conclusions reached in this thesis are that there seem to be too few incentives for women librarians to be interested in the management position. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this Bachelor´s thesis is to investigate how library statistics, performance measurement and indicators represent the modern public library activity. During the last decades the public library has gone through a lot of changes. Information overall has increased and new technology has been introduced into the library. This new development has had effects on the library users. The statistics reported to the Statens kulturråd (National Arts Council) has not changed in the same way. My aim is to find out if the performance measurement and indicators are up to date, and to what extent. Through qualitative interviews with two library managers and a small study of documents my aim is to answer the main questions of this thesis: • What performance measurement and indicators are used in the libraries examined?• To what extent do performance measurement and indicators relate to development and decision making? • How useful do library managers think that performance measurement and indicators are? The theoretical framework consists of Library and Information science literature address performance measurement and evaluation in public libraries. The analysis has shown that it is difficult to evaluate the public library purpose and goals, due to the difficult task of setting clearly definable goals in public libraries. Result shows that present library statistics collected by the Statens kulturråd (National Arts Council) is not up to date. Present library statistics do not represent the modern public library activity.

The aim of this bachelor thesis is to investigate the lending of video games at the public libraries in Sweden. The thesis focused around a web survey, which was sent out to all public library directors, as its research material. The results were compared with those found in a master thesis by Olle Berg and Thomas Nyström from 2008. This was done to gain a better understanding of why the libraries provided video games. The other results of the survey were analyzed with a quantitative method.The results indicate that half of the responding libraries provide video games for borrowing. Larger libraries seemed to more often provide the service. When it came to problems; most respondents did experience problems related to the cost of the medium. The other problem that stood out was the frustration around the unstandardised formats that video games have. Both respondents who lent video games and those who did not had a similar view of the problems related to the medium. The reasons for lending video games seemed to be a combination of several reasons with an emphasis on the topics culture, democracy/equality, advertising and social aspects. This thesis did overall confirm the results found in previous studies. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this thesis is to study the expressions of Swedish Library managers about the use of volunteers in public libraries: 1, their views on advantages and disadvantages with volunteers, 2, what tasks they think can be placed on volunteers. 3, how the volunteers work is organized, 4, how library operations are affected by the use of volunteers. The purpose is to understand the impact volunteers has on public libraries and through Michnik´s modification of Coblentz’ tree aspects of sustainable organizations discuss how this can affect the public library as an organization. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three Library Managers and recorded in Zoom. The data were analyzed with qualitative data analysis and then discussed based on the concept of sustainable organization. The study shows that the Library Managers have both positive and negative attitudes towards volunteers. According to the Library Managers volunteers can both strengthen the relationship between the public library and the local community and the citizens' engagement in their library. The Library Managers finds that volunteers contribute with competence and new perspectives to the public library. But according to the Library Managers the public and some politicians have a very shallow understanding of what the public library is and what librarians do. This makes the Library Managers fear that librarians in the future might be replaced by volunteers to cut costs. The thesis shows that volunteers can contribute to – but also undermine – the sustainability of the public library as an organization.

The topic of this study is the relationship between municipal politicians and library managers. By tradition this relationship has been guided by the arm’s length principle which has given the managers ample autonomy. Recent events from 2018 and onward suggest that this relationship is changing. The aim of this study has been to determine the current relationship between local politicians and library managers as perceived by the library managers. Questions posed are: How do library managers perceive their administrative role? How does that administrative role relate to political control? Are these perceptions influenced by the political orientation of the ruling municipal politician, and if so how? The theoretical starting-point is the typological model developed by the american political scientist James Svara. Semistructured interviews with library managers were conducted, and the results show that while the managers perceive their administrative role as subordinated to the municipal politicians their attitude towards political control is that libraries should hold a high degree of autonomy. The conclusion is that there is a gap between the perceived administrative role and the actual administrative role. The library administrators perceive that a relationship between municipal politicians and library managers should be guided by the arm’s length principle and use various arguments and strategies to emphasize this in the day-to-day working relationship with the municipal politicians.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka svenska folkbiblioteks relation till lokalpolitiken. Genom att närstudera fyra bibliotekschefer från lika många kommuner så kan vi analysera hur cheferna upplever relationen till lokalpolitiken. Vårt empiriska material har analyserats med hjälp av Margaret Archers teori om den inre konversationen och Petra Svenssons användning av begreppet situerat agentskap. Våra forskningsfrågor är hur bibliotekscheferna upplever politikernas inblandning i bibliotekets arbete och hur detta kan analyseras utifrån Margaret Archers teori om den inre konversationen och teorin om det situerade agentskapet. I vår analys framkommer att bibliotekscheferna behöver reflektera över sitt uppdrag för att hantera svåra frågor och relationen till de lokala politikerna. Dessutom framkommer att de flesta bibliotekschefer anser sig ha en god relation till politikerna, men att det förekommer att politiker vill blanda sig i på ett sätt som upplevs som att gå över gränsen för armlängds avstånd. Studien visar på en relation som innefattar en del spänningar och där det ibland kan finnas olika syn på biblioteksverksamhet och olika värderingar. Studien visar också att bibliotekscheferna känner en oro inför Sverigedemokraternas framgångar och deras syn på bibliotek.

The work at Swedish public libraries today is multifaceted and covers many conceivable areas. As a librarian, you are expected to take on many different roles. To look for a job is a complicated process which is not facilitated by the complex picture and difficulty in defining the professional role of a librarian. The purpose of this thesis is to reach new knowledge about the competence requirements that library managers have for job-seeking librarians, both for the recently graduated librarians but also for those who already have work experience within the profession. To answer these questions 154 job ads were analyzed by quantitative content analysis and five library managers were interviewed. The results of the interviews were analyzed by qualitative content analysis and also by using Annika Lundmark´s(1998) definition of competence. The hope is that this study can contribute to creating a clearer understanding for what is demanded of public librarians today. The study concluded that a librarian should be able to work independently as well as in a group, must be aware of the mission of the library operations but also be able to innovate the library operations. To be structured and at the same time flexible, have an academic competence as well as a social competence are all important parts of what the library managers sees as relevant competencies for librarians at public libraries.

The aim of this Master´s thesis is to examine how public library managers reflect on readers´ advisory and promotion of adult literature, and how they view and discuss the governmental proposition Läsa för livet (prop. 2013/14:3). Questions posed in this study are: What matters do public library managers think fiction have on adults? How do public library managers reflect on promotion of adult literature? What are public library managers´ views on the governmental proposition Läsa för livet and how it will affect the public library?The theoretical starting-points used in this study are views on literature by Magnus Persson and Gitte Balling, and views on literature promotion by Rasmus Grøn. Method chosen was semi-structured interviews with six library managers in public libraries. This empirical material was analyzed according to the questions above. The results show strong emphasis on patron acquisition in collection management and literary promotion, according to the respondents in this study. It also shows their lack of high expectations of the governmental proposition Läsa för livet. / Program: Masterprogram: Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap, Digitala bibliotek och informationstjänster

The study investigate the challenges of recruiting managers for public library operations and whether there are any long-term strategies for appointing library managers. The aim of the study is based on examining the public libraries' supply of skills and strategies for employees who want to develop into leaders and future managers within the public libraries' operations. The theory used in the study is based on systems theory and the three phases of the competence supply process. The method for collecting empirical material has been done through semi-structured interviews with six library managers at different public libraries in southern parts of Sweden. The findings in the study are that libraries use strategies such as external and internal recruitment to appoint managers. It also appears that various conditions such as access to education, the manager's leadership and the organizational structure can create opportunities for employees to develop towards leadership as a path to sustainable management.