The aim of this Master’s thesis is to examine how public librarians, including school librarians, express themselves about librarians in library journals. Questions asked in the study are: How is the knowledge, tasks and roles of librarians described? How do the librarians describe their own and others perceptions of librarians? Are there any contradictions in how the librarian profession is described and if so, what are they? 56 articles from three Swedish library journals, Biblioteksbladet, bis and DIK-forum in the period from 1990 to 2007, are analysed. The theory and method used is discourse analysis. Concepts from Ernesto Laclau’s and Chantal Mouffe’s discourse theory, such as elements and nodal points are used in an analysis model in four steps. The results show that the knowledge of librarians is described with such words as information, literature, tacit knowledge and their ability to systematize and organize. Tasks and roles described are mostly related to the pedagogical aspects of the librarian profession, such as teaching, conveying and guiding. Two positions are distinguishable in the discourse, information and culture. Both are important parts of librarians’ work, but the information tasks are sometimes seen as too dominating at the expense of the cultural aspects of the librarians’ work. The contradiction can also be seen in how perceptions about librarians are described. The librarians express, often in a negative tone, that others mostly associate them with books. They also express that they need to be more visible and become better at communicating the knowledge of their profession.

Literary debates about canon occur regularly. In the summer of 2006 such a debate took place in Sweden. The aim of this Master thesis is to examine the debate to identify the different discourses and what they reveal about ideas concerning the role of literature in society. The empirical material used for the analysis consists of 46 debate articles from three important newspapers. The combined theory and method applied is the discourse analysis described in Ernesto Laclau’s & Chantal Mouffe’s discourse theory. The discourse theory is combined with Pierre Bourdieu’s theories about power, habitas, taste, field and capital. In this thesis the authors of the articles are looked upon as belonging to the cultural elite. They have positions in the literary field that, in relation to other positions, give them symbolic capital. In the theories of Bourdieu culture and education play a dominant role in the reproduction of differences between social classes and are an important arena for symbolic violence. Relating to research it is in this thesis argued that the canon in the school literary curriculum plays the same role. This is also related to questions of power and the post-modern situation. Four discourses are identified in the analysis: The global discourse, the national discourse, the self-Bildung discourse and the teaching discourse. The discourses are in the analyses connected to cultural views and illustrated in a theoretical model. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The SAB-system (Klassifikationssystem för svenska bibliotek) was created almost a hundred years ago and has often been viewed as insufficient among many academic libraries. KB (Kungliga Biblioteket) has therefore decided to change to DDC (Dewey Decimal Classification) which means that the Swedish libraries are now facing a challenge that involves a change to a new classification system. This is a comparable situation that occured when the SAB-system was created. The aim of this Master’s thesis is to examine the Swedish library sector´s approach to a new classification system, first to the SAB-system and then to DDC. The Swedish library sector is demarcated into four groups. The character of the discussion, approaches and discourses within the discussions and the consequences of the approaches will be examined. Discourse analysis serves as theory and method. Laclau’s and Mouffe’s discourse theory is used together with Neumann´s three step model to analyze the research material that consists of different types of documents. The analysis shows three discourses in the material about the switch to DDC: the rational discourse, the economic discourse and the instrumental discourse. Three discourses were also found in the material about the switch to the SAB-system: quality discourse, the national discourse and the rational discourse. Five approaches are identified within these discourses: the uncritical approach, the national approach, the rational approach, the economic approach and the instrumental approach.

The aim of this thesis is to study through discourse analysis how users talk about librarians and the librarian profession and what perceptions they have regarding it. I have tried to do this by asking the questions: How do the users describe librarians and the librarian profession? Are there any patterns in what they say? The method and theory I have used is Laclau and Mouffes’ discourse theory and partially structured interviews. The material consists of interviews with eight users that are both women and men, both students and members of the public and they were between 25 and 50 years old. In the material I found two discourses: the discourse about librarians and the discourse about the librarian profession. I have come to the conclusion that images exists of librarians being older women who are caring and forthcoming but also inaccessible. The image of the librarians also includes them working with books in different ways and that they read and know a lot about literature. When the users have talked about the librarians’ knowledge they have described that librarians have different knowledge based on what they work with. Some librarians work with inter library loans and therefore have more knowledge about that.

Swedish libraries are currently discussing andimplementing the classification system Dewey (DDC).Most libraries in Sweden have used the Swedishclassification system SAB until recently. In 2008 TheRoyal Library of Sweden (KB) decided to switch fromSAB to DDC. Many academic libraries chose to followKB’s example and by January 2011 a switch was made atKB and at many academic libraries.The aim of this master thesis is to examine and analysethe library sector’s discussion that occurred before andduring the Swedish switch from SAB to DDC. The mainquestion asked is; What is being discussed about Dewey2010-2011 and in what manner? To organize and anlysethis discussion discourse analysis is used. Discourseanalysis by Laclau and Mouffe is used both as methodand theoretic ground. The material which has beenanalyzed consists of the library sector’s discussions andstatements found in journals, reports, blogs, meetingprotocols and seminar.The analysis shows four different discourses; thetransition discourse, the spatial discourse, the instrumentaldiscourse and the public library discourse. In conclusion,it can be argued that the transfer to Dewey has gone froma planning stage to an implementing stage at academiclibraries. Public libraries in Sweden have shown lessinterest and are considered to be in a planning stageparallel to the academic libraries implementing stage.Earlier discussions about pros and cons with Dewey havealmost disappeared 2010-2011 and discussions of spatialmatters are frequently occurring in the material. / Program: Bibliotekarie

Should libraries first and foremost be a source of free informationwhere the citizens can find whatever information they want, or dothe librarians have a responsibility for what kind of works theypresent to people on their shelves? A wild debate broke out inSwedish media in September 2012, after the artistic leader ofKulturhuset in Stockholm; Behrang Miri decided to weed out allthe Tintin albums from the children´s library Tiotretton. Hewanted to start a debate on stereotypes in children´s fiction, andwhat damage they do to children who face them. The purpose ofthe thesis is to carry out a discourse analysis of this media debate,and to identify the different views that are expressed on thedemocratic mission of the libraries, what media they shouldpresent. The method and theory is based on the discourse theory ofErnesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe and their concepts are used toarrange the analysis around certain themes that build up twodifferent discourses; “Freedom of information discourse” and the“Weeding out discourse”.The two main questions are: What views of the public librariesselection of works are expressed in the Tintin debate in Tiotretton,and how do the views relate to each other? What concepts arespecific for the debate, and what meanings do they get in thesedifferent views?In the concluding chapter I discuss which consequences theseopposing opinions can have for the future selection processes ofthe library. / Program: Bibliotekarie

Denna studie fokuserar på yrkeskunnandet på Barn - och fritidsprogrammet, ett av gymnasieskolansyrkesprogram. Programmet utbildar till yrken inom pedagogiska och sociala yrkesområden samtinom fritids- och friskvårdssektorn och har yrkesutgångar som väktare, personlig assistent,elevassistent, personlig tränare, barnskötare och personal inom boende för personer medfunktionsnedsättning. Eleverna uppmanas att skaffa sig både en yrkesexamen ochhögskolebehörighet.Inom en socialkonstruktionistisk ram och med en diskursteoretisk ansats studeras huryrkeskunnande konstrueras. Studiens empiri utgörs av styrdokument, informationsmaterial ochgymnasieskolors hemsidor. Syftet med studien är att öka förståelsen för yrkeskunnandet på nyaBarn - och fritidsprogrammet. Med en diskursteoretisk ansats studeras den bild som de olikaaktörerna ger av yrkeskunnandet på programmet. Studieobjektet är inte programmets egentligainnehåll utan den bild som konstrueras i det empiriska materialet. I tolknings- och analysarbetetframträder flera diskurser som alla har olika stor betydelse och som får varierat utrymme.Hälsodiskursen och ledarskapsdiskursen är de som framträder tydligast. Andra diskurser som görsig gällande är demokratidiskursen, samverkansdiskursen och identitetsdiskursen. En viktig faktorsom hela tiden är central är arbetsmarknaden som i tolkningsarbetet framträder som en nodalpunkt.

This thesis examines the Swedish Democrats relationship to an islamophobic worldview. The party developed from the racist party Bevara Sverige Svenskt (Keep Sweden Swedish) and is today the third largest party in Sweden, which gives them a powerful position in the society. It is therefore important to investigate their view on minorities, and in this case Muslims. In this thesis I examine the Swedish Democrat’s material during the election campaign the years of 2006, 2010 and 2014 using Ernesto Laclau’s and Chantal Mouffe’s discourse theory. This theory makes it possible to examine implicit and explicit relationships an islamophobic worldview and provides the tools to relate it to a greater context. The research questions of this thesis are how the Swedish Democrats fixate the meaning of the words Muslim, Swedish and culture, as well as how the election material differs between the years. The conclusions suggests that the Swedish Democrats produce a islamophobic worldview by picturing Muslims as a monolithic mass and articulate an antagonism between West and East, we and the Other. The islamophobic worldview produced by the Swedish Democrats is not only a Swedish phenomenon but also a part of a Western islamophobia industry, which is common to Radical Right-wing parties in Europe.

This essay has two aims. The first is to provide a better understanding of how youths in urban Mwanza envision a deepening of the democratic system in regard to the deliberative democracy theory by Jürgen Habermas and the agonistic pluralism by Chantal Mouffe. The second aim is to connect the empirical material – the democratic deepening visions of youths in urban Mwanza – to a theoretical discussion, transforming the democratic models into democratization chains. The theoretical contribution in this essay is to apply these theoretical models to an emerging democracy such as Tanzania, and to to transform the agonistic pluralism and deliberative models into democratization chains. The empirical material in this essay has further been gathered through semi-structured interviews with 19 youths in urban Mwanza. The results presented in the first analytical chapter shows that youths in urban Mwanza leans towards a vision of a deliberative model of democracy rather then an agonistic pluralism, but that a social class dimension could be seen as affecting the lean. Particularly less-educated females raised concerns that a deliberative approach would segment an unsatisfying political status quo. The theoretical discussion showed that the implications visions of a deepened democracy from youths in urban Mwanza theoretically could have on the democratization process changes if the theories are seen as models or chains.

The purpose of this essay is to find out if Alliansen has lost their Bourgeoisie collective identity. The comprehensive questions of this essay are: Does liberalism or conservatism dominate the manifesto of Alliansen from 2006-2010 compared to the manifesto 2014-2018? Have Alliansen changed their ideological views to the centre of the political spectrum in their manifesto from 2006-2010 compared to the manifesto 2014-2018?   The method used in this essay is a qualitative dimensional study. The results of the essay show that conservatism dominates both manifestos of Alliansen and show that the ideological view of Alliansen has not changed. Alliansens view of human beings in their manifesto from 2006-2010 is pessimistic and so is Alliansens manifesto from 2014-2018 and therefore closer to the conservative ideology than the ideology of liberalism. Alliansens view of society is collectivistic in both the manifesto 2006-2010 and the manifesto 2014-2018 and therefore also closer to the conservative ideology than the ideology of liberalism.