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.

Grafiskt Centrum i Tumba är ett center för utbildningar och verksamheter inom media, IT, 3D-animation och grafisk verksamhet. I byggnaden bedrivs gymnasie-utbildningar och kvalificerade vuxenutbildningar. Man har även lokaler för konfe-renser, konsultverksamheter och en lunchrestaurang. Examensarbetets syfte var att utforma ett förslag till en ny miljö i Grafiskt Centrums entréhall. Miljön ska vara informativ och kommunicera de resurser och den kreativa verksamhet som bedrivs i byggnaden. Entréhallen är en tre våningar hög ljusgård som sträcker sig genom hela byggnaden. Den upplevs idag ofta som mörk och ödslig och den utnyttjas inte tillräckligt för att sprida information om vad man gör i byggnaden. Huvudfrågan som besvaras i arbete är: Hur kan miljön i Grafiskt Centrums entréhall förändras så att den kommunicerar den verksamhet som bedrivs där?

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether there is a correlation between the vision of the public library as expressed in “A new model for the public library” and how public libraries and its services are conveyed to newcomers to Sweden. Our two research questions inquire about the ways the public library and its services are conveyed and the challenges faced by public libraries in  communicating public libraries to newcomers? The method used for this study is semi-structured interviews with five public librarians working with multicultural issues at their workplaces. This study is theoretically grounded in the model for the public library proposed by Jochumsen, Rasmussen Hvenegaard and Skot-Hansen. The findings reveal that the model correlates quite well with how librarians describe their work in relation to newcomers.

This thesis examines how library patrons experience the public library as a physical place and how their emotions and opinions fit into the concept sense of community. Nine informants were selected and interviewed about their habits, experiences, preferences, opinions and emotions when visiting their respective most-used libraries. Using the theoretical framework developed by David W. McMillan and David M. Chavis for the concept sense of community as an analytical tool, the transcribed interviews have been closely studied and analysed in terms of the different criteria that make up a sense of community according to the theory. Some criteria were found to be relatively weak in the interview data, such as a shared emotional bond and strict boundary settings. Other criteria were better represented, such as a sense of personal investment, mutual influence between patron and library, a sense of belonging, fulfilment of needs, and shared values. The informants were particularly unified when discussing the importance of a public library for a local community as a place that welcomes all for free, values culture and knowledge, and provides a multitude of books and media in a calm, peaceful environment. The conclusion was drawn that public library patrons do feel a sense of community with their local library, its staff and other users, and that there’s a connection to this sense of community and the sense of being a citizen in Sweden as a whole. Physical factors such as interaction with staff and the make-up of the collection were found to be of particular importance to patrons, but other physical factors also influenced how they viewed and made use of specific public libraries.

The aim of this thesis is to deepen our knowledge about the value of the Swedish Public Library as expressed in the local press during the corona pandemic. The empirical material consists of 54 articles published in December 2020 and January 2021. Debates and discourses regarding the public library are analyzed with Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s discourse theory and Åse Hedemarks formulated library discourses. The study finds that Hedemarks discourses all appear to various extent. The book discourse and the community centre discourses are more visible yet the information mediation discourse is also notable. The complexity of the Public Library is further highlighed during a period when access to the physical library space is limited. The meeting place is a common way to describe the library and a function that, at the time of the study, was unavalible. The findings show that the concept is not clearly defined or fixed in one specific discourse and therefore concludes that the Public Library is far more than a meeting place and serves many purposes.

The aim of this Bachelor’s thesis is to increase the knowledge of the professional discussion regarding the social role of public libraries. The empirical material consists of articles from Swedish professional library journals between 2010 and 2019. The study is designed as a discourse analysis using theoretical concepts by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. Librarians' perceptions of the social role have been analysed as well as discourses connected to the concept. Various perceptions of the social role were found and four different discourses were identified. In the discourse The uncertain core values the social role is seen as something fundamental which characterizes the idea of public libraries. The discourse The public library in the local community connects the social role to social responsibility and the strive for equalization of society through cooperation with local residents. The discourse The social meeting place describes the social role connected to the library as a place open for all and with possibilities to meet across social and cultural borders. In the last discourse The meaningful user meeting the social role is described as meetings with users. The user meetings in the daily library practice are described as highly meaningful. The different perceptions of the social role for public libraries found in the study illustrates the width of the concept. The perception that the public libraries are not doing enough regarding the social role is prominent within several of the identified discourses making this topic highly relevant.

Syftet med denna uppsats var att undersöka valet och upplevelsen av tåg som färdmedel vid en semesterresa. Intresset för tågsemester har ökat markant de senaste åren, därför ämnade studien få en större förståelse för tågtransport. Studien var kvalitativ, sju resenärer i åldern 50–80 år som under de senaste åren genomfört en tågsemester intervjuades. Genomgående resonemang och motiv bakom valet av tåg som färdmedel var dels en miljömedvetenhet men också ett sökande efter den resemodellen och det äventyret långväga tågtransport ger. Transporten var således av experientiell karaktär, det fanns ett värde i själva i transporten. Vidare möjliggjorde tågtransporten möten med både människor och landskap, något som uppskattades av resenärerna. Landskapet upplevdes genom ”travel glance”, den filmiska vyn en immobil passagerare får i ett mobilt färdmedel. Travel glance, resvägens klimatförändringar och ett stort transportansvar gjorde att tågtransporten kändes påtaglig med följden att tåget upplevdes som en plats med lokala anspelningar. Den största skillnaden till andra färdmedel var skillnaden till flyg, tåget upplevdes mer som en plats medan flygplanet mer som en icke-plats. Flygplanet har färre lokala anspelningar. Att tåget var en plats var något som resenärerna värdesatte. Upplevelsen av tåg som färdmedel var positiv, tågtransporten tillförde värde till semesterns helhetsupplevelse.

En stadskärnas närhet till naturliga vattenmassor tillför staden särskilt utmärkande egenskaper. Vattenkontakten utgör en direkt övergång från byggd miljö till naturlandskap mitt i staden. Däremot har hamnområden, vägar och parkeringar fått övertag på vattenfronten i många svenska kuststäder - vilket innebär att städerna går miste om offentliga stadsmiljöer med höga skönhetsvärden. Dessa områden är därmed särskilt intressanta för stadsutveckling som främjar människors användning. I det här arbetet undersöks hur den fysiska miljön intill en vattenfront kan utformas för att främja människors användning av det offentliga rummet. Genom en fallstudie av Trossö vattenfront i Karlskrona samt användning av metoderna platsanalys och kvalitativ textanalys, tas strategier fram för arbetets gestaltningsförslag. I arbetet presenteras sex olika gestaltningsförslag för ökad användning av offentliga rum intill Trossö vattenfront. Av studiens resultat framgår att det i huvudsak finns fyra huvudmål som behöver uppfyllas för att främja användningen av offentliga rum intill en vattenfront: det behövs en blandning av funktioner och aktiviteter, mötesplatser som passar alla, tillvaratagande av vattenkontakten samt god fotgängarvänlighet.

Ett staket är en produkt som används för att avgränsa och definiera det offentliga rummet. Staket är en fysisk gräns som i det tysta utför sin uppgift där få reflekterar över dess existens. Staket är viktiga i stadsmiljön och styr undan brukare från områden de inte ska beträda. Det kan vara för att hindra dem från att beträda privat mark eller för att skydda dem från fara. Staket är statiska, både i funktion och formgivning. Med mitt arbete ämnar jag undersöka om det kan ändras. Ambitionen har varit att formge ett staket som utmanar och breddar staketets roll och knyter an till ett samhälleligt behov. Med strategisk urbanism som en inspiration i designprocessen har ett unikt staketssystem formgivet för social interaktion tagits fram. Staketsystemet Hänga är en social gräns formgiven för sociala möten och utökade sittplatser i stadsbilden. / A typical fence is a product used for restricting and defining the public space. It is a physical border that quietly performs it´s task with few reflecting over its existence. Fences are important for the public space as it keeps users away from areas they should not enter. It can be to restrict them from entering private properties or to keep them away from danger. Fences are static, both in function and design. With this work I explore if this can be changed. The ambition has been to design a fence that challenges and broadens the role of a fence and connects it to a societal need.  With strategic urbanism as an inspiration to the design process the end result is a unique fence system designed for human interaction. The fencing system Hänga is a social border designed for social gatherings and added seating to the cityscape.

The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to gain an expanded knowledge of how some of the professions in the library field view bibliotherapy and how they describe and experience the relationship between bibliotherapy and the public libraries' activities in Västra Götaland. The bachelor thesis deals with questions about what public libraries' assignments regarding bibliotherapy activities looks like in the region, what opportunities and obstacles exist for bibliotherapy and how bibliotherapy activities can be motivated at public libraries.  The material for the bachelor thesis has been collected through semi-structured interviews which have then been analyzed through a thematic content analysis. As a theoretical framework for the study, Jürgen Habermas' theory of the public sphere and Ragnar Audunson's theory of libraries as low-intensity meeting places have been used. The results show that there is a place for bibliotherapy at the public library's arena in Västra Götaland. In order for the bibliotherapy work to be successful, three factors have been identified and these are competence development, collaboration and the need for networks. The results also shows that bibliotherapy can be used both as a health- and reading promotion method, be a reason for the library to collaborate with other professions, a tool that can be used to achieve social sustainability, a way to renew the library's activities, develop the librarianship profession and be a way for the library to reach out to new groups in society which in turn can lead to the library getting new users.