Foreign visitors to libraries often face cultural barriers when using the library. This study shows how librarians see the library as a meeting place in terms of intercultural and multicultural aspects. In previous studies, the focus has mostly been on library users, but there is a need to complete the gap regarding the role of library employees. The findings presented in the article are the result of a qualitative study. The empirical data was collected from semi-structured interviews with six library employees with experience in the multicultural and intercultural field. Putnam´s concepts of social capital and oldenburg´s concept of third place were used when analyzing and coding the material. The library as a third place and social capital was also used as a theoretical framework. The result shows that the library is both a multi- and intercultural place where the reception and activities of people with a different cultural background are important. At the state level, the results show that the working method is not written verbatim in the library plans and their described tasks are affected by this. Despite various differences in the libraries, the informants describe that they have cultural competence and some believe that they can always develop their competence further. They also believe that we live in a multicultural country where the library needs to be inclusive for all groups. The information obtained can be used for further research and consideration as to whether it reflects changes in the role of public libraries.

A city hall is a building for the inhabitants, a building where the administration of inhabitants is being held but also where the people are encouraged to take part in public space and give it their form. The city hall is a room for social interactions and architecture’s interaction with local democracy. Tensta was built in the late 1960s, an area characterized by quickly built concrete slabs and a city plan based on traffic separation. The defined level differences are interesting to the project, and the city hall became a way to break up the determined levels. The building connects Tensta's walk to a submerged, somewhat forgotten square, and becomes a link through Tensta. An extension of the public spaces, as a living room to the district. The city hall program is an interaction between open and closed, in its way to interact with people and conduct business. The public encounters enclosed departments and walls of privacy, which become characterizing to the architectural design. Closed rooms to open halls, and durable concrete construction to bare wood tones and agile glass panes. / Ett stadshus är en byggnad för folket, en byggnad där folkets administration tar plats och där folket uppmuntras att ta del i det publika rummet och ge det sin egen form. Stadshuset är ett rum för sociala interaktioner och arkitekturens interaktion med den lokala demokratin. Tensta byggdes under det sena 60-talet, ett område präglat av snabbt byggda betonglameller och en stadsplan baserad på trafikseparering. Nivåskillnaderna är intressanta varpå stadshuset blev ett sätt att bryta upp de bestämda nivåerna. Byggnaden kopplar Tenstas promenadstråk till ett nedsänkt, någorlunda bortglömt torg och blir en länk genom Tensta. En förlängning av Tenstas offentliga platser, likt ett vardagsrum till stadsdelen. Stadshusets program är ett samspel mellan öppet och slutet i sitt sätt att möta folk och föra verksamheter. Den publika prägeln möter slutna avdelningar och sekretessväggar vilket fick prägla den arkitektoniska gestaltningen. Slutna rum mot öppna hallar, och en beständig betongstomme möter nakna trätoner och nätta glaspartier.

För att skapa en sammanbindning mellan järna glesbygd och stad måste ett fokus ligga på vad som nu finns på platsen. Genom att fokusera på redan existerande vägar som sammankopplar och tillgängliggör för befintliga hushåll och andra viktiga stråk har placeringen på Järna Komplex valts. Drygt 3 km söderut från Järna centrum finns trafiksepareringen som skiljer åt järnvägsspåren från riksväg 57. Vid denna separering upphör promenad och cykelstråket som går från Järna centrum och det blir därför här, enligt mig, ett tydligt signum för var staden slutar och landsbygden startar. Denna plats är tillgänglig för både besökare som kommer från mer centrala delar av järna samt från mindre centrala och det går att nå platsen med bil, cykel eller till fots.  Platsen idag kan liknas en vändpunkt eftersom gångstråket upphör och omgivningen endast består av åker, skog, privat mark och vägar. Platsen är tillgänglig men utan ett lockande innehåll. Genom Järna Komplex skapas ett offentligt rum som blir ett socialt möte för olika människor. Det är anpassat för en bred målgrupp genom att vara multifunktionellt med olika aktiviteter och aktörer på plats. Programmet har ett fokus på kultur och bildning och byggts upp utifrån målet att samla olika funktioner i en och samma byggnad för att säkerställa aktivitet, sociala möten och hållbar utveckling. / Jarna Complex is a multifunctional building that combines infrastructural qualities with a detailed programme, giving it's visitors a choice to either enter the Folketshus part (the house of people) or the education center.  It is located approximately 2.5 km outside Järna which is a small village next to the city Södertälje. In Jarna Complex everyone is welcomed by it's well planned position on a traffic separation which divides a car road and the train into two different roads going on top of each other. You can visit the complex by car, bicycle or by walking. The main purpose of the building is to combine all kind of people in one space and make this space something good for the environment. Therefor half of Jarna Complex is an educational center for renewable energy. The whole building is supported by it's 1500 kvm sun roof sun panels. The other half of the programme is more of an community house which consists of meeting rooms, conferences and other rooms that contributes to a good working and meeting environment.

Titel Moderna och framtidens kontorslösningarFörfattare Johan Ivarson, Erik Grönlund, Rikard GustafssonAvdelning Urbana studier ‐ Malmö HögskolaHandledare Jan HenrichsénSyftet med examensarbetet är att ge en bild över hur det moderna kontoret utformas och även hur trenderna mot framtiden kan komma att bli. Störst vikt med examensarbetet ligger på att kartlägga trenderna mot framtiden för att kunna utreda den optimala kontorslösningen. Till examensarbetet har följande frågeställningar använts:• Vad är ett modernt kontor och vilka är trenderna?• I vilken kontorslösning vill de anställda helst arbeta och vilka krav har de på kontoret?• Hur kan framtidens kontor komma att bli? Den första och tredje frågeställningen undersöktes med hjälp av kvalitativ forskningsmetod som bestod av intervjuer med Johan Örneberg som är projektansvarig på NCC – Property Development, Alexander Simittchiev som är arkitekt på Metro Arkitekterna och Anders Östling som är VD på Struktur AB. Den andra frågeställningen undersöktes med kvantitativ forskningsmetod i form av en webbaserad enkät av de anställda som arbetar i Kaggen. Enkäten skickades ut till cirka 150 personer och 75 svar kom in.Det moderna kontoret är en öppen, ljus och luftig kontorslokal med gemensamhetsutrymmen ämnade för interaktion och samarbete. En trend går mot att förmedla företagets image med kontoret som redskap. Undersökningen har visat att de anställda önskar att få arbeta i en cellkontorslösning som skall kännas inspirerande. Deras egna rum skall vara ergonomiskt utformade med möjlighet till att påverka klimatet på arbetsplatsen. Det framtida kontoret skall bättre svara på brukarnas och företagets olika krav och kommer erbjuda tjänster som är anpassade efter individen. / This thesis aims to give a picture of how the modern office is designed today, as well as, the future trends within this field. Furthermore, the thesis’ main focus is to map out future trends to examine the optimal office solution.To achieve the purpose, interviews were carried out with; Johan Örneberg, project leader at NCC‐ Property Development, Alexander Simittchiev, architect at Metro Arkitekterns, and Anders Östling CEO at Struktur AB. Additionally, a survey was conducted using a Internet‐mediated questionnaire on employees in a modern office building. This questionnaire was sent out to 150 people and got 75 responses.The modern office is an open, light, and airy office space with common areas intended to encourage interaction and cooperation. A trend identified is the way of using the office as a tool to communicate a company’s image. The investigation also shows that employees prefer to work in private offices, as it is perceived inspiring. Moreover, the private offices should have an ergonomic design with a possibility to influence the temperature. The future office should answer to the demands from both the users and the company, and will offer services more adapted to the needs of the individual employees.

Mötesplatsen är en utforskande designuppsats som behandlar ämnena möten, kommunikation och återhämtning på arbetsplatsen. Vi gör en litterär undersökning där vi tittar på forskning gjord av Rachel och Stephen Kaplan, Gary W. Evans och Janetta Mitchell McCoy med utgångspunkt i frågeställningarna: Hur skapas en plats för vila och återhämtning? Hur skapas en plats för naturliga möten och kommunikation? Hur skapas en samlingspunkt för att lära känna varandra? För att få ytterligare utgångspunkter utför vi även enkätundersökningar och intervjuar tre arkitekter. Baserad på en kreativ process resulterar undersökningen i ett inredningskoncept och en möbel utformad för en planerad mötesplats inför samlokaliseringen av en nybildad koncern. / The meeting place is an investigative design essay which covers the subjects meeting, communication and recovery at the workplace. A literary investigation is made where we study research by Rachel and Stephen Kaplan, Gary W. Evans och Janetta Mitchell McCoy based on the questions: How could a restorative space be designed? How could a meeting place and a place for communication be designed? How could a meeting place to get to know each other be designed? To broaden our investigation we are carrying out surveys and interviewing three architects by profession. Based on a creative process the investigation results in an interior design concept together with a furniture designed for a planned meeting place for a recently united concern.

Library architecture today is a complicated history. Public libraries are no longer merely a place for book storage, but also a virtual library a social meeting place and a place for study. All these diverse tasks and roles emerge in the democratic designing process of a new library and also transform into the architecture. The underlying process is the evaluation and negotiation of the libraries overall tasks and ideas, ideals and values. Multiple ideologies are incorporated in library architecture. Of greatest importance is the ideology of the library itself. This candidate thesis is a case study of the public library in Arlov. My aim is to find out how ideas, ideals and values of democracy are expressed in the library building. I want to find out in what extent library staff have had impact in the designing process and also how these ideologies of library transforms into architecture as regarding to aesthetics, symbolism and function. The thesis is based on both empirical and theoretical material. The last part is a discussion which deals with issues like library architecture and democracy in Arlov as well as in a wider perspective. / Uppsatsnivå: C

This bachelor thesis examines the library as a public sphere in the notion of Jürgen Habermas’ theory from 1962. The questions asked concerns how the public sphere is discussed in relation to Swedish public libraries today in our late modern society. The analyzed material consists of the Swedish Cultural Bill of 2009 and five qualitative interviews with librarians. The material is analyzed with two of the four social actions presented by the sociologist Maw Weber: value-rational and instrumental. The Cultural Bill handles the importance of public spheres in society, but does not recognize the possibility of public libraries as functioning as such. The interviewed librarians stress this function, but points out the problems in using it as an economic legitimizer of the institution. The difference between the perceived role of the public libraries in the statements from the librarians and the cultural bill probably explains the ambiguity in the librarians’ statements. There is a problem when the more abstract values of the libraries are not recognized in the cultural policy of today. The solution presented in the thesis accede the ongoing LIS research in the emphasis on the need of a more extensive definition of the library as a public sphere. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this study is to investigate the meaning of the librarycafé for its visitors as a place. By this study we want to see howimportant the library café is as a place. Our theoretical departurepoint is an adaption of the space and place-theory, by Fisher,Saxton, Edwards & Mai. By adapting the theory to a libraryperspective it helps us to understand how library users look uponthe library café as place.Using a qualitative approach the empirical material has beencollected through observations and interviews. We observed andcarried out interviews with six library café visitors at threedifferent library cafés.Our findings are that the library café is used in many differentways and by many different peoples. The library café is seen by itsvisitors as a good place for combining a coffee break or a mealwith reading, studying or being social. Our conclusion is that thelibrary café as a place can be compared to a “living room forsociety”, a third place where both high- and low-intensivemeetings can take place. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The purpose of this thesis is to research public librarians view ofthe public library as a meeting place and how it may contribute tofacilitate social integration. To study this we have asked thefollowing research questions: How do public librarians work withthe public library as a meeting place? And how do they contributeconditions for “soft inclusion”?The method we have used for this study is semi-structuredinterviews. Seven public librarians from the Gothenburg areawere interviewed and the empirical material was analyzed usingqualitative content analysis.As a theoretical foundation we have used Dorte Skot-Hansensmodel of the public library as a third place and Mikael Stigendalstheory on social inclusion. Furthermore have we used research onthe public library as a meeting place and social integration as acomplement to the model and the theory.Conclusions from the material gathered is that public librarianssee the public library as a meeting place with potential tocontribute to integrating individuals and groups with one another.The librarians’ foremost method was to attract visitors withactivities aimed at certain target groups. According to thelibrarians the result of people meeting others different fromthemselves at the public library could lead to better understandingand tolerance between individuals.The purpose of this thesis is to research public librarians view ofthe public library as a meeting place and how it may contribute tofacilitate social integration. To study this we have asked thefollowing research questions: How do public librarians work withthe public library as a meeting place? And how do they contributeconditions for “soft inclusion”?The method we have used for this study is semi-structuredinterviews. Seven public librarians from the Gothenburg areawere interviewed and the empirical material was analyzed usingqualitative content analysis.As a theoretical foundation we have used Dorte Skot-Hansensmodel of the public library as a third place and Mikael Stigendalstheory on social inclusion. Furthermore have we used research onthe public library as a meeting place and social integration as acomplement to the model and the theory.Conclusions from the material gathered is that public librarianssee the public library as a meeting place with potential tocontribute to integrating individuals and groups with one another.The librarians’ foremost method was to attract visitors withactivities aimed at certain target groups. According to thelibrarians the result of people meeting others different fromthemselves at the public library could lead to better understandingand tolerance between individuals. / Program: Bibliotekarie

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