The purpose of this master thesis is to investigate if the mobile library has a similar role as the public library. To study this further we intend to examine the value and function of the mobile library. Answers are sought to the following questions: Can the mobile library be seen as a public library in a smaller scale? How do the users experience the value and function of the mobile library? What does the library staff think of the value and function of the mobile library for the users? What would the consequences be if the service of the mobile libraries would not exist? The method used was qualitative interviews. The groups of respondents are mobile library users and library staff. The theories used include Anderson and Skot-Hansen’s model of the public library’s local profile. This model is used to analyze the results. The result of the study shows that all groups of respondents are of the opinion that the mobile library has a significant value and function in many ways.

This thesis is about the bookmobile service in Sweden of today. The purpose is to examine how the staff motivate the existence of the bookmobile. Other purposes are to study the goals of the service, to describe “daily life” of the bookmobile, examine the changes of the service during the years and discuss possible changes in the future. The study is based on interviews with thirteen staff members from six Swedish communities, of both rural and urban character. The chosen theories are based on an organization theory and a theory about different roles of a public library. The study shows that one distinguishing characteristic of the bookmobile service is its social emphasis. It also shows that the bookmobile’s basic function is to give library service in the form of book borrowing. The activity with bookmobiles justifies on the basis of democracy aspects. The goals are usually informal and have been created by the staff members’ specific work procedures that have been established through the years. This organizational culture influences the service of the bookmobile. One conclusion is that it is desirable that the objective of the bookmobile service will be written and also specified in some way. Another conclusion is that in order to secure its future, the bookmobile needs to develop. In the future the bookmobile service possibly will decrease due to changes within the structure of the population or other reasons. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this Bachelor thesis is to gain insight into themeaning of the mobile library for its users by investigatingwho the users are, how they use the mobile library, why theyuse the mobile library and what the users want from the bookbus service. The methods used are observations, surveystudy and qualitative interviews.The theoretical framework of the study is based onAndersson’s and Skot-Hansen’s model of the public librarywith its four different library profiles, together with PierreBourdieu´s lifestyle theory where habitus and the concept ofcultural capital are used to analyze the role of the book busin people’s lives.My conclusion is that the mobile library is very important toits users since reading is an important part of their lives andit gives them easy access to books of several genres. Themobile library also functions as a meeting place in the localcommunity and creates a link between urban and rural areas. / Program: Bibliotekarie

This Bachelor ́s thesis is about the conversations and meetings that take place in the mobile library. The research questions will try to answer: What do the staff talk about with each other, what conversations do the staff engage in with their users and what do the users talk about amongst themselves? The thesis main question is trying to answer of what is characteristic for the mobile library ́s conversations and meetings. Is the mobile library as a meetingplace any different in comparison with the city library? Focus lies on the eveningtours of the mobile library and excludes those tours that service schools and learning-centers. The intent is to capture the users that take advantage of the mobile library ́s services in their leisuretime. Methods used are observations on the eveningtours of the bus and qualitative interviews with the staff of the mobile library. The theoretical framework is Andersson and Skot-Hansens model of the public library ́s four different profiles. The authors have distinguished areas of use in libraries containing of a cultural-center, a knowledge-center, an information-center and a social center. The result of the study shows that the mobile library is an important meetingplace for it ́s users. The conversations and meetings that occur are not merely those of service to their users but also meetings and conversations on a more personal level. The mobile library is a place where users can socialize with the staff but also meet their neighbours and friends. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The Sami mobile libraries in Norway hold a unique position as both indigenous libraries and conveyors of minority culture. This thesis aims to identify the professional identities found in these mobile libraries. The way to reach this goal will be through a systematic analysis of public documents and interviews with two decision makers employed at mobile libraries. The collected documents and interview transcriptions have been subjected to a directed qualitative content analysis based on the professional identities defined by Anders Ørom and Trine Schreiber. The additional goal is to uncover which, if any, unique identities exist in Sami mobile libraries. A main finding in this thesis was that of a new professional identity; the culture and language curator. This identity is connected to tasks concerning the preservation, revitalisation and highlighting of the Sami language and culture. This identity is also applicable for librarians working with other indigenous or minority languages around the world.

The purpose of this study is to describe and analyzes how the bookmobile librarians approach to purchase and selection and the range of views that may exist. The study is based on a qualitative method using a document study and three interviews included. The document study looking closely at public libraries library plans in Vastra Gotalands county. The qualitative interviews gets a closer look at librarians´approach regarding the purchase and selection and also if there are any similarities or differences between mobile library activities versus the main library.The theoretical framework is based on Sanna Taljas study where she has identified three different perspectives on the library´s music department. These are categorized as the interpretative repertoires and involves three categories of approach to quality. These are the general education repertoire, the alternative repertoire and the demand repertoire.The result of this study shows that librarians have a strong user focus when it comes to purchase and selection. They assume and takes into account all three perspectives of which the demand-driven approach seems to be the most dominant in the mobile library. The bookmobile and the main library seem to complement each other in a good way. The document study shows that mobile library activities is rarely highlighted in library plans. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this master’s thesis is to investigate a possible connection between the development of mobile library services in Sweden and the development of cultural policy during 1945-2006. Our main question is: is there a connection between the development of the mobile library services in Sweden, as described in Biblioteksbladet, and the development of cultural policy as portrayed by Anders Frenander and Dorte Skot-Hansen? In order to answer this question, we formulated two secondary questions: - How are the mobile library services described in Biblioteksbladet between 1945 and 2006? - Are there any similarities or dissimilarities between the development of the mobile library services and the development cultural policy as described in our theoretical models? If so, in what way? Our study covers the entire time period since the start of the mobile library services in Sweden in the late 1940s. The final year for our investigation is 2006. Our theoretical framework contains Dorte Skot-Hansen’s model of the development of western European cultural policy in the post-war period, and Anders Frenander’s discourse analysis of the Swedish cultural policy during the 20th century. The methodological approach in this study is a descriptive analysis of ideas based on a number of questions, partly based on Skot-Hansen’s model. The result of our investigation shows that there is a tangible relation between the development of the mobile library services and the development of cultural policy. This connection diminishes during the 1980’s, by the time that the cultural practices become more instrumental. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this Bachelor thesis is to investigate which rolesthe mobile library has to its users in a small community in Sweden.To reach this purpose I have focused on the following two researchquestions:• Which are the different functions, social, cultural, educational orinformation-based, that the mobile library offers its users andwhich of these are used in reality?• What purposes are there for the mobile library and how it is usedby it’s visitors?To answer these questions I have interviewed four users of amobile library and I have held e-mail interviews with librarians incharge of a mobile library as well as the head of the department ofculture and peoples health in the community. As a base for myanalyse I have also used a pilot study which I performed earlier inthe spring of 2011.My theoretical framework is based on the model of the publiclibrary’s different roles made by Marianne Andersson and DorteSkot-Hansen.The result of this study show’s that a mobile library isn’t verydifferent from a permanently located public library. The fourdifferent functions all exist, wholly or partly, in the mobile library. / Program: Bibliotekarie

This essay is about the mobile library in three communities of a district. Interviews with the help of research questions are used as a data collection method to gather information on how the mobile library works, which possibilities for evolution it has to better satisfy their users’ needs and which place the mobile library occupies in its context to the main library and its branches. As a theoretical background the work of Andersson & Skot-Hansen is used to illuminate the mobile library’s different usages, determined by four centres, the centre of culture, the centre of knowledge, the centre of information and the centre of social interaction. Two of three communities will be buying new bookmobiles for the mobile library in 2018 and with the new equipment the mobile library will be able to offer additional services. The mobile library is no longer only an instrument to deliver books and other media, it grows to a multiroom with multiple opportunities, able to host cultural and educational events while offering digital services, information and a meeting place. Faced with closing down library branches the mobile library is either part of the centralisation process of the main library or part of the decentralisation process of the main library filling its own roll in the work towards its users. As part of the decentralisation process the mobile library is considered a library branch, not stationary but mobile, one of its many advantages in the work to deliver its services directly to users anywhere.

Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka i vilken mån en bokbuss kan verka som skolbibliotek för glesbygdens skolor. Problemställningen i uppsatsen har ursprung i statens utredning Skolbibliotek för bildning och utbildning (SOU 2021:3) och frågar sig om skolor som inte har möjlighet att skapa ändamålsenliga skolbibliotek kan ta hjälp av bokbussen. Den teoretiska inramningen är baserad på Loertschers (2000) taxonomi för skolbibliotek. Inspirerad av taxonomin och tidigare forskning om skolbibliotek har tre teman identifierats. Dessa är Samarbete, Bibliotekarien som pedagog, och Läsfrämjande. Ett fjärde tema som är relevant för denna studie är bokbussens värde.Genom intervjuer och observationer har bokbussens verksamhet analyserats utifrån de tidigare nämnda temana. Studien visar att bokbussen kan verka som ett slags skolbibliotekoch uppnår till stor del de nivåer som beskrivs i Loertschers taxonomi. Utmaningen till att verka som ett ändamålsenligt skolbibliotek som statens utredning efterlyser är att bokbussen inte kan befinna på plats under större delen av läsåret. Det finns dock flera indikationer i studien på att bokbussen faktiskt kan fungera som ett skolbibliotek för glesbygdens skolor med de medel som finns att tillgå.