The aim of this thesis is to compare scholarly articles published in 2009–2019 that have used “information behavior” or “information practices” to denote the research, in order to gain a deeper understanding of how the two concepts have been used in the scientific literature. The research questions are: 1. What journals, countries and subject areas are the most prominent for each concept? 2. Which researchers constitute the research front of each concept? 3. What areas of interest can be distinguished within each concept? 4. What domain analytic similarities and differences can be seen between the two concepts? The study uses the bibliometric methods of author bibliographic coupling and co-occurrence analysis of author keywords, content analysis to determine subject areas and visualizations of networks using VOSviewer to examine the data. The results of the study indicate that information behavior is the dominating concept of the two. There are also indications of two separate research fronts in regard to researchers and their geographic locations. There is an overlap between the areas of interest of each concept. The general nature of the concepts, in addition to the different discourses that exist regarding them seems to be contributing factors to the confusion surrounding the definition, implication and use of each concept.

This paper aims to explore the librarian’s visibility on public library websites. This is done by locating the words “librarian” and “library” on randomly chosen library websites using a search service to contrast the word frequency against each other. To further explore the visibility of the librarian keywords representing competencies will be collected using Ørom’s theory of professional identities as coding scheme. The results show that the word “librarian” is mentioned significantly less frequent than the word “library”. All of Ørom’s professional identities were identified within the examined websites in four different contexts. The difference in word frequency is one that has the prospect to diminish the librarian in relation to the library as a place, thus rendering the profession less significant than the institution itself. While all professional identities were confirmed to exist within the websites it is highly possible that the keywords do not accurately or clearly convey the responsibilities of the librarian. Further research is recommended to better confirm the visibility of the librarian.

The aim of this thesis is to gain knowledge and examine how preschool teachers describe their experience of reading promotion and literacy linked to conditions and obstacles in their daily work. The research is founded on qualitative semi-structured interviews with five preschool teachers in Sweden. Linda B. Gambrell´s “Seven rules of engagement” (2011) about reading motivation and the concepts of Frances Hultgren´s “reading environment” (2016) are the tools to analyze the different methods and approaches that preschool teachers use in their work to promote reading. The results show that all of the preschool teachers that participated in this study are much aware of the importance of reading environment to make children find reading fun and interesting.The concept of reading promoting is shown by both physical and concrete methods but also in an open attitude against other reading materials than traditional children´s books. The children´s interest and joy are in focus of the reading experience. Interaction and interplay are important ways in their way of using books and text. They also put much effort to influence the parents in reading to the children at home. The results also show that the differences between the preschools´ conditions based on the number of children in the group, lack of planning time for the preschool teachers and other structural causes. In order to achieve reading promotion for all children, the preschool needs to become more equal.

The aim of this thesis is to gain knowledge and examine how preschool teachers describe their experience of reading promotion and literacy linked to conditions and obstacles in their daily work. The research is founded on qualitative semi-structured interviews with five preschool teachers in Sweden. Linda B. Gambrell´s “Seven rules of engagement” (2011) about reading motivation and the concepts of Frances Hultgren´s “reading environment” (2016) are the tools to analyze the different methods and approaches that preschool teachers use in their work to promote reading. The results show that all of the preschool teachers that participated in this study are much aware of the importance of reading environment to make children find reading fun and interesting. The concept of reading promoting is shown by both physical and concrete methods but also in an open attitude against other reading materials than traditional children´s books. The children´s interest and joy are in focus of the reading experience. Interaction and interplay are important ways in their way of using books and text. They also put much effort to influence the parents in reading to the children at home. The results also show that the differences between the preschools´ conditions based on the number of children in the group, lack of planning time for the preschool teachers and other structural causes. In order to achieve reading promotion for all children, the preschool needs to become more equal.

Purpose – The notion of neutrality as a core value for public libraries is currently under debate within LIS. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the public libraries' democratic mission is presented in Swedish national library strategy and to examine how different aspects of the mission are affected by notions of neutrality. Design/methodology/approach – The recent proposal for a national strategy for libraries, as well as the previously published draft of the strategy and four referral bodies are examined using discourse analysis. Findings – The findings indicate that the notion of neutrality is widely recognised as a core value for public libraries within the strategic documents analyzed. Ambiguity surrounding the concept is however being manifested in the strategy when notions of libraries' independence, social responsibility and capacity for defending democracy are being expressed as means to attain the goal of democracy. The ambiguity surrounding the concept of neutrality that is present in the text is nevertheless largely unaddressed by the Royal Library of Sweden. Originality/value – This paper is a contribution to the ongoing debate regarding the concept of neutrality and the public libraries' democratic mission. Rather than examining LIS professionals' views on neutrality, this paper addresses the viewpoints expressed on the national strategic level of the swedish library institution, which as of yet rarely have been examined within swedish LIS. Paper type - Bachelor thesis

This essay covers the importance of information architecture principles and the study of usability of a governmental mobile version of its website. This study is directed for users with vision impairments and elders who use the website during the corona pandemic. The main problem in the area of usability lies within the design principles of usability which are described under this investigation study. By using a qualitative study this investigation tries to find out the behaviors of chosen target groups and find out how they interact with the mobile website and finding the information needed. The conclusion of this study was that the authority’s website is well designed but still has some issues that can be solved. For example, some symbols, multimedia screen reading quality and enhanced navigational descriptions for the chosen target audience with visual impairments and elder users. However, this essay contains a small target audience during investigation. For better results the further study may include a larger target audience and a mix method in both qualitative and quantitative studies of the investigation problem.

Previous studies of library display have mostly focused on the librarian’s point of view. This study aims to examine library display from the users’ perspective. We wanted to find out if users found library display to be helpful, and whether it was possible to connect their thoughts on display to their thoughts on the librarian’s work. A questionnaire was distributed to users exiting a public library. It included questions on the users’ reaction to the displays they had encountered and their thoughts as to how librarians choose the books to be displayed. The users were also asked whether they approved of displaying books in general and their reasons for doing so or not. The results were interpreted in the light of a model proposed by Raber (1996) and developed by Sandin (2011), which divides librarians into three categories: social activist/emancipatory, traditionalist/conservative, and populist/pragmatic. In this study, the model was used to define and categorise users’ views on librarians and display. The results suggest that users tend to view library display as helpful in the library. The users’ views on display could largely be divided according to Raber’s/Sandin’s model. The dominant perspectives among the users were the social activist/emancipatory perspective and the populist/pragmatic perspective. The traditionalist/conservative perspective was expressed by a significant minority of users.

This thesis aims to examine school librarians’ work with gender roles and gender norms in a single municipality in Sweden. The two main focuses of the study are the use of pronouns when speaking to and about the students, and the work with the selection of books concerning gender in the physical library.Five school librarians were interviewed using a semi-structured method. The interviews lasted between 30 and 50 minutes and took place at the librarians’ respective schools.The theoretical base comes from queer theory in general and Karin Salmson’s ideas in particular. Salmson uses two concepts called norm criticism and norm creativity, which this thesis leans on. Norm criticism is explained as seeing a repressed group and working to include them in the normative group, while norm creativity is seeing beyond norms as a whole and only seeing the individuals.The conclusion of the study is that the school librarians do consider gender norms in their day to day work and that they consider it an important part of their profession. It also shows, however, that their ways of implementing this work varies depending on the state of their schools and their own personal backgrounds. One librarian might work to include girls and nonbinary students in a male dominated environment (norm criticism), while another’s main concern is not to focus on the students’ genders at all (norm creativity).

he purpose of this bachelor’s thesis has been to gain a further understanding of children’s librarians development of and view of their competence and the way it is shown during their work with book clubs for children. The study is based on the following questions: how do children’s librarians define their competence during their work with book clubs for children? Which mediation roles do they express during their work with book clubs for children? How do they develop their competence during their work with book clubs for children? Semi-structured interviews with four children’s librarians were conducted. The analysis was carried out within a thematic framework based on Jofrid Karner Smidt’s (1994) mediation roles and Etienne Wenger’s (1998) theory of communities of practice. The key findings are that children’s librarians define their competence by describing words such as creativity, flexibility and empathy. The ability to build relationships and a true interest in children and children’s literature is also defined as key competences in their work. The result also shows that children’s librarians do express each one of Karner Smidts five mediation roles. The last finding in this study is that they develop these competences and skills mainly by joining the community of practice which is constituted by children’s librarians profession. Our ambition with this study has been to contribute to the research that distinguishes children’s librarians competence, an area which we believe is in need of further investigation.

The purpose of this bachelor’s thesis is to examine which skills Swedish public librarians consider necessary for their work with e-books regarding the acquisition and handling of e-books, as well as the meeting with the user. This study also examines how the librarian’s role as mediator has changed due to e-books, according to librarians. The method used to collect the data was a digital survey that was distributed to 75 public libraries in Sweden and Lundmark’s “skill flower” and Abbotts theory of professions were used to analyze the results. The survey received answers from 132 respondents that showed that it is important for librarians to have technological skills in order to assist users with problems regarding e-books. Librarians should also have a good understanding of how the relationship between the library and the e-book provider works in order to understand why there are certain limitations surrounding e-books. It is also important for librarians to be able to communicate and listen to the users’ problems, as well as inform the users of e-book services at the library. The biggest change for librarians role as mediator is that there are new things that needs to be mediated to the users and librarians need new skills, such as technological skills, to be able to do this. Other skills such as pedagogical skills and literature knowledge the librarians already possess, they simply need to adapt them to newer technologies.