The purpose of this bachelor´s thesis is to create an understanding and reflection about how librarians at a small public library work to counter disinformation in their professional practice. Similarly, we students, aim to understand how disinformation impacts library´s democratic mission, and how they promote media- and information literacy. The practical work that librarians perform daily needs to be further highlighted to create awareness among the public. That's because librarians work for democracy, information acquisition, education, and free opinion according to the Swedish Library Law (SFS 2013:801). In a similar way, smaller public libraries need to be made more visible. A qualitative method was employed, consisting of semi-structured interviews conducted with six librarians from two small public libraries [in the middle part of Sweden]. The theoretical framework of the thesis consists of the concept of media and information literacy. The findings of the thesis demonstrate that the librarians at smaller public libraries have more control over the spread of disinformation in the practical work related to literature purchases than in their interaction with library patrons. Conversations within the library space present a complex situation and crossing a boundary pose challenges in fulfilling the library´s democratic mission. The findings demonstrate that the librarian´s action is influenced and subject to reflection, particularly when addressing social crises, like covid-19, as compassion plays a role on their practice. The thesis has helped to create an understanding and insight into how smaller public libraries work with the few resources and conditions that exist to counteract disinformation in their daily work practice.

Today’s complex and rapidly developed media landscape has brought a greater need for Media and Information Literacy. In order to live and express one’s opinion in a democratic society, it is considered a requisite to possess the skills that Media and Information literacy carries. This requisite mostly concerns the younger generation, since they are the ones growing up in today's media landscape.   Many studies have shown that Media and Information Literacy is connected to civic engagement in various ways. Yet we have not encountered studies with Media and Information Literacy in correlation to civic engagement for a social issue. Therefore, the study will initially describe the main terminology and abilities concerning Media and Information literacy, this through a model formed by Renee Hobbs. Thereafter, the study presents how the abilities of what the model implicates execute in a civic engagement concerning a social issue.   The study is conducted on eight adolescents in 9th grade at a school in Småland, using a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews. The result showed us that the abilities presented in the model, were practiced on a daily basis in the adolescent’s life in different ways. Further, it showed that the abilities played a significant role in order exert civic engagement. Interestingly it showed us that the social context was a remarkable reason for the adolescents to engage together.

The purpose of this thesis is to elucidate which arguments and discourses can be discovered in the state investigation SOU 2021:3 Skolbibliotek för bildning och utbildning. By presenting these arguments and discourses I intend to accentuate the expectations surrounding the school library and its personnel. Another aim with my thesis is to emphasise the situation surrounding the school library and how it can be affected by the propositions in the state investigation.       The theoretical and methodological starting points are discourse analysis and argument analysis. The discourse analysis stems from Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe with contributions from Åse Hedemark. In the empirical analysis I present five themes regarding the school library, based on findings in the material. Here I also present concepts and arguments regarding the school library, which in turn formulate the discourses. In the last discussion of the thesis, I present and analyze the discourses. There are four discourses I find representative of the preconditions of school libraries and school librarians, along with their current situation. The discourses are about; The enthusiast, the power and the pastorale, the leadership, and the invisibility and frustration. The discourse analytical discussion reflects on how there are predominating discourses that frame the reality of the school library. However, the state investigation presents dictums which can become new discourses. They can formulate the default discourses surrounding the definitions of the school library; here the difficulty lies in transforming theory to actuality. This thesis explores the arguments, discourses and virtual situation affecting the school library and its personnel. It presents reflections on how the propositions of the state investigation can influence working life of the school librarian, as well as the roles and features of the school library. This is a two-year master’s thesis in Library and information science.

Vi lever idag mer digitaliserat än någonsin och tillsammans med sociala medier har våra medievanor förändrats. Med nya medievanor skapas också möjligheter på sociala medier där information och desinformation får flöda ostrukturerat tillsammans. Det blir allt svårare att då kunna navigera sig fram och veta vad som egentligen är sanningsenligt. Denna uppsats kommer därför studera högskole- och universitetsstudenters källkritiska förmåga på sociala medier. Genomförandet av studien gjordes med syftet att se hur studenterna själva reflekterar över deras källkritiska förmåga och om det finns några problem i den källkritik som studenten är lärd. Den teoretiska ramen för studien utgörs av instrumentell, ritualiserad och selektiv medieanvändning, user-generated content, ryktesspridning, filterbubbla och medieförtroende. Det handlar om olika typer av medieanvändning och fenomen som existerar på sociala medier. Studien baserar sig på en kvantitativ forskningsstrategi i form av enkätundersökning.    Resultatet av analysen visar att en större del av respondenterna anser sig vara källkritiska och även besitta goda kunskaper inom källkritik. Många respondenter anser trots det att det behövs mer utbildning inom källkritik. Relationen till avsändaren visar ha betydelse i hur källkritiska respondenterna väljer att vara. Resultatet visar även att det finns både för och nackdelar med spridning av information på sociala medier. I slutsatsen diskuteras det att det ibland saknas grundläggande källkritisk kompetens i vardagen. Slutsatsen visar också att det behövs utbildning inom källkritik som är anpassad till dagens informationsflöde. / Today our society has become more digitized than ever and together with social media, our media habits have changed. New media habits also together with social media create opportunities where information and disinformation can flow in an unstructured way together. It becomes increasingly difficult to then be able to navigate forward and know what is actually truthful. This essay will therefore study the source critical ability of college and university students on social media. The study has its background in source criticism, media and information literacy and was done with the aim of seeing how the students reflect on their own source evaluation abilities. The essay will also study if there are any problems in the source criticism that the student has learned. The theoretical framework for the study is about different kinds of media use and phenomena that exist on social media. We study instrumental, ritualized and selective media use, user-generated content, rumors, filter bubbles and media trust. The study is based on a quantitative research strategy in the form of a survey.   The result of the analysis shows that many respondents consider themselves to be source critical and also possess good knowledge in source criticism. The results also show that there are both pros and cons to spreading information on social media. Many respondents answer that they are source critical, but many also point out that more education in source criticism could be a good thing. The conclusion discusses that there is sometimes a lack of basic source critical competence in everyday life. The results also show that there is a need for training in source criticism that is adapted to today's social media information flow.

Bakgrund: Desinformation kring vaccination kan leda till ökad misstro mot hälsomyndigheter och undergräva folkhälsoresponsen. Vaccintveksamhet bland medicinsk personal är särskilt problematiskt då de ofta ses av allmänheten som medicinskt sakkunniga, och deras inställning till vaccinet kan avsevärt bidra till allmänhetens vaccinationsvilja. Att undersöka vaccinationsviljan och dess faktorer är relevant för att kunna hitta strategier för att främja vaccinationstäckningen. Syfte: Att beskriva vaccinationsvilja hos olika professioner inom vården samt vilka faktorer som påverkat den individuella vaccinationsviljan. Metod: Semistrukturerade intervjuer gjordes utifrån ett snöbollsurval. Sammanfattningsvis deltog totalt 5 sjuksköterskor, 2 undersköterskor och 2 medicinska sekreterare i studien, samtliga verksamma på sjukhus. Som metod för analys av det insamlade materialet valdes kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Vaccinationsvilja är beroende av faktorer som etnicitet, yrkesroll, politisk tillhörighet, kunskapsnivå om svårighetsgraden av Covid-19 och vaccinets effektivitet. Vaccinationsbeslut förknippas med etisk stress och en känsla av tvång och otrygghet. Myndigheterna anses inte vara transparanta i sin kommunikation och det finns en stor oro i att delar av viktig information utelämnas. De som vaccinerat sig gjorde det av solidaritet, för att bidra till pandemins slut och för att de ville skydda sina patienter, sin familj och sina vänner. Bruket av sociala medier har ökat under pandemin, för att hålla kontakt med vänner och familj, men även för att hitta hälsoinformation. Slutsats: Kunskap kring vaccin och hur de fungerar är inte en självklar del av utbildningen bland de professioner som deltog i studien. Vårdpersonal måste ges kunskaper för att tryggt och faktabaserat kunna diskutera denna viktiga fråga med patienter då rekommendationer kring vaccin måste tydliggöras. Eftersom informationen ska tas emot av människor med stora variationer i ålder, utbildning och förkunskaper kan det vara lämpligt att skala ner den biomedicinska utbildningsstrategin och istället rikta in hälsokommunikationen på en kulturell och politisk bakgrund för att diskutera hälsofrämjande åtgärder som vaccination. / Background: Misinformation about vaccination can lead to increased mistrust of health authorities and undermine the public health response. Vaccinehesitancy among medical staff is particularly problematic as they are often seen by the public as medical experts, and their attitude to the vaccine can significantly contribute to the public's willingness to get vaccinated. Examining the willingness to get vaccinated and its factors is relevant in order to be able to find strategies to promote vaccination coverage. Aim: To describe the willingness to get vaccinated against Covid-19 among different professions in healthcare and what factors have influenced their determination to get vaccinated. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted based on a snowball selection. In summary, a total of 5 nurses, 2 assistant nurses and 2 medical secretaries participated in the study, all active in hospitals. Qualitative content analysis was chosen as the method for analysis of the collected material. Results: Acceptance of vaccines depends on factors such as ethnicity, professional role, political affiliation, level of knowledge about the severity of Covid-19 and the vaccine's effectiveness. Vaccination decisions are associated with ethical stress, coercion and insecurity. The authorities are not considered to be transparent in their communication and there is great concern that parts of important information are omitted. Those who accepted the vaccine did so out of solidarity, to help end the pandemic and to protect their patients, family and friends. The use of social media has increased during the pandemic, to keep in touch with friends and family, but also to find health information. Conclusion: Knowledge about vaccines and how they work is not an obvious part of the education among the professions that participated in the study. Nursing staff must be given knowledge to be able to safely and fact-based discuss this important issue with patients as recommendations regarding vaccines must be clarified. As the information is to be received by people with large variations in age, education and prior knowledge, it may be appropriate to scale down the biomedical education strategy and instead focus health communication on a cultural and political background to discuss health promotion measures such as vaccination.

The aim of this thesis is to gain a greater understanding of Stockholm Public Library’s democratic role in a society that is increasingly digitalized. This is done by studying the Young IT-support project at the library, and how it aligns with the library’s mission for digital inclusion. Critical discourse analysis methods are used to understand for which “problem” the project was formulated as a solution. By using theories about digital inclusion the study also investigates if the Young IT-support project contributes to the library users’ digital competence, and how the project effects the library’s own mission of digital inclusion. The empirical material consists of policy documents connected to the Young IT-support project and interviews with young IT-supporters, librarians and administrators involved with the project. The results show that the project is formulated as a solution to two different types integration “problems”: social and digital. But the responsible authorities are only interested in whether or not the goals of social inclusion are achieved. The study shows that the project mainly contributes to increase the users’ operational skills rather than their information and strategic skills, and that it favours socioeconomically strong groups. The project does have an unburdening effect on the library’s heavy workload on digital issues. However, the study also shows that it has a potentially impeding effect on the library’s digital mission, as librarians are overlooking the deeper digital work. In conclusion, the project partially has a positive effect on the digital inclusion but that it isn’t enough to bridge the digital divide. I argue that the library needs to examine if these external collaborations are a long-term solution to social developments, or if they are a short-term solution in place until other authorities take responsibility for democratic needs and rights. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

The aim of the study is to investigate how media and information literacy (MIL) among young women affect their views on beauty-related advertisements and posts on Instagram, in accordance with infrastructure knowledge, mental health and purchase behavior. This is conducted through semi-structured interviews with 6 young Swedish women in the age range of 20-25 years old, through which an analysis of the retrieved answers is made. The analysis of the empirical materials takes a stamp in the theories of uses and gratifications theory and cultivation theory in relation to MIL in order to further prove the arguments and conclusions being made. The importance of MIL in this context needs to be highlighted in order to make young women more aware of the ways in which the media takes advantage of them and tries to manipulate them into a spiral of beauty standards and advertisements, making them the targets for further consumption. Considering that the digitalization is moving at a rapid speed, the possibilities for economic growth are doing the same thing. This means that beauty companies, just like any other corporation with a motive of profit, will continue to evolve their marketing strategies in accordance with female consumers' interest and needs.  The collected empirical data of this study shows that the interviewees have at least some basic knowledge of Instagram’s technical infrastructure in the meanings of algorithms and cookies, and therefore understand the basics of how their actions construct their Instagram feeds. The study also shows that the interviewees have a generally negative image of the beauty industry on Instagram; they like the possibilities of using Instagram as a source of inspiration and entertainment, but heavily dislike and disagree with the beauty standards being portrayed. They have all in some shape or form been affected negatively by beauty related content on Instagram - however, it shows that the ones with supposedly higher MIL and knowledge about algorithms more easily could identify the sources of negativity and steer away from it, showing the benefits of MIL in this context. The study also concludes that the interviewees generally are highly skeptical of advertisements and sponsorships on Instagram and therefore rarely purchase anything because of said platform. However, they have a higher tendency to do so if the product being advertised is endorsed by a, according to them, highly trusted influencer or if a discount code is being provided.  It is of importance to continue studies within this area in order to make deeper analysis of potential consequences of the beauty industry and standards on Instagram, so that more women can be taught and informed about how they can protect themselves from negative influences.

I dagens medielandskap lever många människor en stor del av sitt liv genom digitala medier, något som även påverkar skolvärlden. Denna studie undersöker den digitala utvecklingen i relation till lärarrollen och svenskämnet. Det empiriska materialet består av kvalitativa intervjuer med lärare som arbetar med medie- och informationskunnighet (MIK) inom svenskundervisning och skolutveckling samt en kompletterande intervju med Statens medieråd. Syftet med studien är att genom svensklärarnas upplevelse av att arbeta med MIK försöka förstå den digitala utvecklingens betydelse i relation till svenskämnet. Min hypotes är att dagens lärare behöver öka sin medie- och informationskunnighet för att kunna möta elevernas behov och kunna utföra sitt allt mer komplexa demokratiuppdrag. Genom teorierna New Literacy Studies, Critical literacy, begreppet multimodalitet och aktuell tidigare forskning har jag försökte förstå vad den digitala utvecklingen innebär för lärandet och språket.Studien visar att osäkerhet, okunskap, tidsbrist och vaga direktiv är några skäl till att utvecklingen går långsamt framåt. Tydligare nationella direktiv, ett större kollegialt samarbete och kompetensutveckling är några av de faktorer som nämns skulle kunna påskynda progressionen. I den avslutande reflektionen diskuteras MIKs öppningar för att arbeta med normkritisk pedagogik och möjlighet till fortsatt forskning inom detta.

The following essay has the purpose of giving an account of how the increasing digitalization, medialization and flow of information has affected social science as a subject, and how this has changed the expectations put on students and teachers. Furthermore, the way teachers’ TPACK knowledge and web literacy skills affect their teaching is also examined. Lastly, students’ level of understanding for the term media and information literacy is further investigated.  This is being done with the help of the following three question formulations: 1. What further demands does the increasing digitalization, medialization and flow of information pose for students and teachers, and how does it connect to social science as a subject? 2. How do teachers' knowledge of TPACK and web literacy affect their teaching? 3. What level of understanding do students have for the term media and information literacy?  The essay is based upon 15 peer-reviewed scientific articles, which have been chosen to represent the field of knowledge and answer the three question formulations. The interconnection between media and information literacy and democracy makes the subject increasingly important in today’s society with threats like propaganda, misinformation, and anti-democratic rhetoric. One conclusion made is how important it is for the students’ learning outcomes that the teacher is well-informed and has the necessary knowledge to help and support the students in their learning. It is also important to consider that the way students define media and information literacy may differ from teachers’ understanding, and that can lead to students’ knowledge being interpreted as higher than it is in reality.

My research illustrates new school librarians’ information practices by studying their critical examination of information and information seeking and how their workplace conditions impact their work situation in terms of the prerequisites for information and knowledge sharing. Interviews with ten new school librarians were conducted and recorded. The transcriptions were analyzed through qualitative thematic analysis where models of information seeking, organizational culture and information culture were used in order to concretize the social interplay of the information practices. The new school librarians used everyday life information seeking more than traditional search strategies. All of the participants expressed that their school did not prioritize media and literacy (MIL) work or that they did not prioritize it enough. All of the participants cooperated with other librarians both in person and through digital networks, hence the epithet herd animals. They conveyed that they too make source criticism mistakes and that transparency is part of source confidence. Eight participants described information seeking problems, such as pay walls and information overload. The professors’ information packed work is an interaction barrier for the new school librarians. The introductions at the schools pave the ground for information sharing. Schools are naturally hierarchical and market oriented. A relation based information culture benefits the school library’s inclusion. Reading is prioritized over MIL at the schools. This relates to the perception that a librarian only work with books, which can be changed through a well-developed cooperation between professors and librarians, active work from the librarians and the right resources for MIL work. Therefore the participants who worked at smaller schools and/or schools with a clan culture had a better chance to work with MIL. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.