(in English): In some libraries, intercultural services are already a regular part of operations. In the Czech environment they appear only sporadically, as confirmed by a questionnaire survey examining library services for people with specific needs. In the survey have participated 625 libraries and it turned out that only 6 % of them offer targeted services to foreigners, migrants or national minorities. Another 30 % of libraries are marginally involved in these groups. A survey of the use of Czech libraries by migrants have tried to discover the view from the other side. It consisted of a questionnaire survey with 122 respondents, and semi-structured interviews with eight respondents. The results showed that most respondents do not regularly use the services of Czech libraries. If migrants use the library, they evaluate their offer positively. Best rated were events in the library, which received an average rating of 1.12 on a scale of one to four. Furthermore, the reasons of non-use of Czech libraries were investigated - the most frequent reason was an other way of obtaining literature. Project Open Library in Madrid was chosen as an example of good international practice. The concept of intercultural mediation in libraries was presented in a case study. The question is whether migrants would...

(anglicky) The aim of the work is describe and evaluate history and present of Municipal Library of Kutná Hora and outline possible prospects of its development. The author of this diploma thesis describes departments of Library, their local and national services and activities. The work emphasizes signification of Library not only in regional viewpoint.

(in English) The aim of master thesis was to describe and asses current state of services offered by libraries of public (i.e. non-private) universities in the Czech Republic to foreign students. The first chapter briefly characterizes university libraries in the Czech Republic and aims at legislative framework, financing, institutional background, users, offered services and information sources typical for university libraries. The second chapter deals with foreign students at universities in the Czech Republic. It presents an overview of works which dealt with the theme of foreign students in the Czech Republic until now, informs about which public universities in the Czech Republic are preferred by foreign students and which countries these students come from. The third chapter presents the principal part of the work. It contains the report on the survey carried out in public university libraries in the Czech Republic to which a questionnaire was sent focusing on services offered to foreign students. This chapter coincides with the former chapter dealing with general characteristics of barriers and describes practical and particular manners through with university libraries try to overcome these barriers between a library and foreign students. The fourth chapter offers a view on the situation in...

This master thesis explores Swedish public libraries and their practices in relation to welcoming Ukrainian refugees following the Russian invasion in 2022. A qualitative study drawing on semi-structured interviews with librarians (n=9) from various parts of Sweden forms the empirical foundation. A theory of practice framework influenced by Kemmis (2011) is then employed to analyze the material using qualitative content analysis, capturing the cultural-discursive, social, and economic-material dimensions of practice, as described by Pilerot and Hultgren (2017).   The results showed that the number of Ukrainian refugees visiting the libraries has been substantially lower than expected. Still, the libraries offered information and literature in Ukrainian alongside with language and children’s activities. The analysis showed that the activities and therefore the practice have been influenced by the dimensions of practice to a high degree The experiences of the refugee crisis in 2015 seem to greatly influence the activities of today, and it is likely that the combined experiences of the refugee crises in 2015 and 2022 will be of value for the future practice.   The importance of competences related to meeting individuals in socially exposed situations, and the importance of language- and cultural competence, are highlighted in the thesis. As is the need for both further research into and political recognition of the work being done by libraries in relation to refugees and social inclusion more general.     This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science. / PubLIB for Refugees: https://sites.google.com/view/publib-for-refugees/home

The purposes of this study are three-fold: 1. To organize and summarize the data concerning library services for the libraries filling out these criteria; (2.) To find the strengths and weaknesses of these libraries; (3.) To point up areas in which improvement needs to be made.

The author presents a case study for the development of an evidence synthesis service serving researchers outside of the health sciences at a large academic library. The purpose of this project was to highlight the importance of integrating existing core services and workflows that create seamless delivery of evidence synthesis support and yield quality service. The paper provides decisions that university libraries must consider as they are planning the implementation of these services. The research-intensive nature of evidence synthesis projects provides liaison librarians with a perfect entry to deliver high-quality and relevant services, especially to graduate students and researchers. Through this work, libraries will demonstrate strong evidence for their engagement and contributions to research on campus. Librarians interested in supporting this latest type of research can use this study to gain a sense of where their own professional strengths fit within this new functional area and plan how to enter this developing research space. This study may be of interest to administrators, reference and instruction librarians, and librarians serving graduate students. Issues are presented in a way that surfaces difficult topics, which will help guide planning conversations between supervisors and librarians regarding workload assignments.

This study investigates the history of the phenomenon illiteracy and the response of the public library in selected countries for about one hundred and fifty years with particular focus on the Republic of south Africa. The influence that this manifestation has on the individual Black urban adult, the society in which the illiterate adult lives and the economy of the country are sharply focused. The principal argument is that public libraries have historically adapted their services to meet new social challenges, and in South Africa illiteracy among Black urban adults constitutes such a challenge. As an extension of its traditional educational function, the public library is beginning to meet this challenge in the role of literacy support. The reasons for the high illiteracy rate among the Black adult urban population are discussed in their historical context. As far as the methodology is concerned, extensive literature studies were undertaken on international as well as local data bases. Correspondence was entered into with overseas research institutes, academics and consultants. Interviews were conducted to ascertain the most recent developments relating to the literacy problem in a well-defined geographical region. Conclusions are made to the effect that there is a historical imperative for the South African public library system to fully discharge its responsibility to Black South Africans. In order to achieve this the public library in South Africa should re-examine, re-interpret and extend its educational function to include the challenge of the role of literacy support. It is further reconunended that the Provincial Library services in south Africa should coordinate disparate efforts and activities in this regard. The marketing of the public library has become more important in the prevailing economic climate. If the public library wishes to remain an indispensable social institution in the lives of the citizens of South Africa and specifically if it takes the role of literacy support seriously, it will of necessity have to market its services. Other organizational implications for public libraries of this new challenge of literacy support are spelled out clearly and areas requiring further research are indicated. / Information Studies / D. Litt. et Phil.

This study investigates the history of the phenomenon illiteracy and the response of the public library in selected countries for about one hundred and fifty years with particular focus on the Republic of south Africa. The influence that this manifestation has on the individual Black urban adult, the society in which the illiterate adult lives and the economy of the country are sharply focused. The principal argument is that public libraries have historically adapted their services to meet new social challenges, and in South Africa illiteracy among Black urban adults constitutes such a challenge. As an extension of its traditional educational function, the public library is beginning to meet this challenge in the role of literacy support. The reasons for the high illiteracy rate among the Black adult urban population are discussed in their historical context. As far as the methodology is concerned, extensive literature studies were undertaken on international as well as local data bases. Correspondence was entered into with overseas research institutes, academics and consultants. Interviews were conducted to ascertain the most recent developments relating to the literacy problem in a well-defined geographical region. Conclusions are made to the effect that there is a historical imperative for the South African public library system to fully discharge its responsibility to Black South Africans. In order to achieve this the public library in South Africa should re-examine, re-interpret and extend its educational function to include the challenge of the role of literacy support. It is further reconunended that the Provincial Library services in south Africa should coordinate disparate efforts and activities in this regard. The marketing of the public library has become more important in the prevailing economic climate. If the public library wishes to remain an indispensable social institution in the lives of the citizens of South Africa and specifically if it takes the role of literacy support seriously, it will of necessity have to market its services. Other organizational implications for public libraries of this new challenge of literacy support are spelled out clearly and areas requiring further research are indicated. / Information Studies / D. Litt. et Phil.

In this study, research was conducted on the information needs of Unisa students. Most distance students do not personally visit the library, which makes it difficult for librarians to determine whether or not they are meeting their needs. The library plays an important support role in any university, especially in the open distance learning context. It is therefore important for librarians serving distance learners to continually evaluate their services in order to see if they are still meeting their client’s needs. The aim of this study was to determine if students are aware of the library services to which they are entitled, and if the library is successfully reaching and assisting remote students, and how its services can be improved. Questionnaires were posted to students, and interviews were conducted with on-campus students and staff. Chapter 1 covers the orientation and background to the study. Chapter 2 discusses the research methods used to collect information. In Chapter 3, the library needs of distance learners were discussed, while Chapter 4 presented a discussion of the findings drawn from the questionnaires and interviews, and Chapter 5 makes recommendations based upon these findings. It was found that some of the students surveyed were not aware of their library privileges. It is recommended that the Unisa library employ better strategies to market the library services available to students. Furthermore, the library needs to find better ways to reach out to remote students who have no access to information and communications technology upon which the modern library is so reliant.

This study investigated the contribution of staff training and development programmes to effective library and information services in selected university libraries in Ghana. The rationale of the study was to establish the relationship between training and development of library staff and work performance of individual library staff, university libraries and the institutions as a whole, which should reflect in effective and efficient provision of library and information services. The researcher reviewed extensively literature on relevant subject areas related to staff training and development including: the concept of training and development, training needs analysis and assessment, staff training and development, monitoring and evaluation of training, effects of training on job performance, measuring return on investment in training and effectiveness of library and information services. The researcher adopted a survey research method because of the large geographical areas over which the university libraries are located and therefore dispersed population. The researcher adopted mixed methods research approach and thus data was collected using interviews, observations and questionnaires. The researcher also used a mixed sampling method where the researcher combined both probability and non-probability sampling methods in sampling the population. The population for the study comprised library staff, faculty and students from five selected universities in Ghana. The total population from the five universities was 139,463 based on which a sample of 860 was chosen. Thematic content analysis technique was use to analyse qualitative data, while statistical package for service solution was used to analyse quantitative data. The main findings of the study were that staff training and development programmes contributed to the improvement of the knowledge, skills, abilities and experiences of library staff in the universities in Ghana, thereby made university library staff in Ghana more effective and efficient in the provision of library and information services to the university community. However staff development practices alone did not contribute to job performance. Staff development practices were supported with human resource management strategies such as rewards, promotions, bonuses, salary increase and other motivational strategies. Finally the study identified inadequate funding and short falls in the training policies as some of the challenges facing the implementation of staff training and development initiatives in the university libraries in Ghana. It recommends the establishment of training units within the university libraries and adequate budgetary provisions to invest in staff training and development programmes for library staff as well as the adoption of train the trainer concept where staff who participated in training and development programmes are asked to train colleagues and submit a report for the benefit of colleagues as a way of improving staff development practices in the university libraries in Ghana. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge on staff training and development and work performance in university libraries. / Information Science