The purpose of this master's thesis is to examine and compare the process of starting a school library at schools which haven't had a school library before, and to examine and compare the experience of this process according to the principals and the persons responsible for the school library. I have examined two Swedish independent primary schools (age 6-15 years). I have made qualitative interviews with the principals and the persons responsible for the new school library. In all, I have made seven interviews. As requested by the new Swedish Educational Act, both schools had recently started creating school libraries. One of the schools had recruited a half-time teacher-librarian and the other had no staffing at all. In the interviews, I have examined the attitudes of the informants towards school libraries, if this attitude has changed during the process of starting the school library, the informants' experiences during this process and the informants' views on the school library as an agent for student achievement. I have used David V. Loertscher's taxonomies for the principal, the school librarian and the student, to analyze the statements of the informants. The result of the study shows that at the school without library staff, the person responsible for the library had a hard time starting it as there were no time allocated. The work was easier and quicker done at the school with the part-time teacher-librarian. The views of the school library and of its possibilities for student achievement, that the informants expressed, were positive at the school with the staffed library,as well as their experiences. At the other school, the attitudes and experiences were more negative. The conclusion of the study is that staffing is an important factor for a successful school library, and that starting a school library requires a great amount of planning, knowledge, time and resources. This is a two years master's thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.

The multicultural society of today where individuals have varied cultures and languages is different to the homogeneous society of the past, and sets new demands upon the school. The school library can play an important role when it comes to the integration and the acceptance of students with a different mother tongue. Provision and access to literature in the student’s mother tongue is seen as a strong indicator of a school that promotes a multicultural environment, and it’s also linked to the student’s feelings of identity and self-confidence. Their knowledge in their mothers tongue is crucial to the acquisition of a second language, and learning in extension. The purpose of this bachelor is to examine how school librarians work with multilingual students in junior high school, and what they consider to be their roles in this context. Confirming previous research, mediation of information and promotion of reading was a central task to the school librarians we interviewed. The focus of the school librarian’s appears to be in the individual contact with the student, and they interpret their role more as a coach or an adult figure, not as a teacher. Interaction between the student and the pedagogue is important as it is a key part of the support offered, in this case by the school librarian. The supporting context is important as it creates possibilities to learn in an environment that promotes multilingualism. The work with multilingual students in the school library is affected by the attitudes permeating the school and the society surrounding it.

This master's thesis examines information literacy and students in secondary education. The study is framed within a sociocultural perspective of learning and the method used is questionnaires. The major question posed is how and where students seek information. Other questions are if the students critically evaluate and analyse in­formation sources and if teachers and school librarians cooperate with each other in order to help the students with their assignments. The findings indicate that most students regard information seeking as fact-finding or finding the right an­swers to the question. Only one third of students experienced information seeking as seeking and using informa­tion for understanding a topic. The first place the students look for information is the Internet. Half of the stu­dents think they have been trained in information seeking. More boys than girls believe they have been trained. Three quarters of the students do not think they need more training in information seeking. Two thirds of the students think they have been sufficiently trained in source evaluation and more boys than girls believe they have been sufficiently trained. Just over half of the students do not think they need more training in source evaluation. A good half of the students think the school library is quite important and almost half of the girls and one third of the boys visit the library once or twice per month. The cooperation between the teachers and the librari­ans does not work as well in the schools as the teachers and librarians wish but is improving. The majority of the teachers and librarians think their cooperation needs to be improved. The majority of the teachers think there is a correlation between information seeking and learning outcomes. All the librarians think the library is a resource that ought to be integrated in the students' education. My conclusion is that the majority of the students are not information literate. To be information literate, the students need to have the ability to locate and evaluate the required information. Information seeking as scruti­nizing and analysing is a pre-requisite for lifelong learning.

The aim for this bachelor thesis is to examine how school librarians assist first to sixth grade elementary students with their information seeking in a digital environment. The study also focuses on the need for suitable digital tools to aid the students in their information seeking using a digital system or the internet. To reach the purposes two research questions was designed: What assist are the school librarians providing to the students? What problems can be identified with the student’s information seeking when using the internet? In order to understand how school librarians assisting the students with their information seeking process, semi-structured interviews was conducted with five school librarians from five different schools. Their response was then analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Carol Kuhlthaus Zones of intervention and ISP model worked as the framework for the analysis. It became clear that the support from the school librarians engaged the students with their information seeking. Also, school librarian’s support isn’t only about showing or handing them useful sources, it is also of importance to locate the sources within the library, particularly on the internet. Such work included exploring steps where the school librarian acted as guide for the students. Furthermore, student’s digital information seeking skills was not to be assumed only because they have skills and knowledge using the internet in everyday life, outside the school.

In 1911, library pioneer Valfrid Palmgren was the first Swedish person to publish a political plan for school libraries. Our purpose of this study is to compare Palmgren's document to the SOU 2012:65, one of the most recent policy documents for school libraries, and investigate whether the political point started from the children and young people when scheduled school libraries and its activities. The study has examined whether Palmgren and the SOU 2012:65 has put children in focus as “beings”, viewed as thinking individuals who should be a part of the decision process in the school library policy. A content analysis has been performed on Palmgren's document and on the SOU 2012:65. This required a ponder of the various changes that have occurred in the social structure over time. Our conclusion of this study is that Palmgren's library plan is in focus in terms of both physical-, organizational- and economic conditions, because it describes how the young has been the starting point, and are in need to be included and consulted to school library activities as beings. SOU 2012: 65 expresses a great knowledge of children’s development, individuality and needs, and thus assumes a view of children as beings. Except when it comes to questions dealing with issues that affect the political municipal budget.

The aim of this bachelor thesis is to investigate what kinds of support that is available for school librarians in Japan and in Sweden and make a comparison between the countries. The research questions are: What kinds of support are available for school librarians in Japan? What kinds of support are available for school librarians in Sweden? What are the similarities and differences between the support to school librarians in Japan and Sweden? The methodology used was semi-structured interviews. Three interviews with school librarians were conducted in each country. The theoretical framework used is David V. Loertscher’s Library media specialist taxonomy and Cristina Sacco Judge’s model for school libraries in Scotland. The results of the study are that the possibility to supplement the collection in the school library by extern loans is good in both countries. Regarding the school librarian’s need for professional information and support, conferences and courses seem to play a bigger role in Japan. Advice and help from experienced colleagues in the vicinity to the school seems to be important in Sweden but more or less non-existing in Japan.

The aim of this bachelor thesis Digital Inclusion – An Interview Study with Public and School Librarians on Work to Reduce the Digital Divide is to examine how the democratic task takes shape in public and school librarians’ work to strengthen citizens’ digital inclusion. The research questions are: How do public and school librarians work to support citizens’ digital inclusion? What challenges do public and school librarians experience in this work? How do public and school librarians describe the digital divide? Three themes are in focus: An Active Citizenship, Working for Digital Inclusion and The Digital Divide. Within library and information science this bachelor thesis mainly relates to information practices where media and information literacy (MIL) is studied but also to cultural policy when the democratic role of public and school libraries is examined. A sociocultural perspective is used as a theoretical approach and a few of its concepts – social practices, tools and appropriation – are used as analytical tools. Van Dijk’s cumulative and recursive model of successive kinds of access to digital technologies is used as a structure. The method used is semi-structured interviews with six librarians, whereof three public librarians and three school librarians. The results show that digital tools are significant to public and school librarians’ work strengthening digital inclusion in its users. While school librarians mainly focus on instruction to increase student’s skills concerning digital competence, public librarians focus more on developing skills concerning user’s digital everyday life although MIL goals are also in effect. Activities for learning show that public and school librarians use different approaches but all stress the importance to connect activities to student needs and realities. The professional role is prominent when working for digital inclusion. Relinquishing the role of the expert means that shared learning opportunities can occur which is beneficial for both librarians and users. Regulatory documents such as the curriculum are considered important tools by most of the librarians. Some mutual challenges for the librarians are lack of interest or competence in the digital aspects of the job, lack of time, fear and insecurities related to digital technologies and tools causing users to feel ashamed. While school librarians are challenged by teachers who are inaccessible and students who are overly confident about their competencies, public librarians are challenged by marketing and limitations in what they can and cannot help users with. The librarians observe how the digital divide manifests itself: all users have shortcomings with digital competencies that prevent them from becoming active citizens in society. School librarians claim that students in general are considered more knowledgeable about technical tools such as computers and smartphones but in fact they lack competencies outside their frame of reference. Public librarians claim users are unable to perform daily tasks and that many lack access to technical tools.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine school librarians approach towards the democratic role of school libraries. Semi-structured interviews with five high school librarians’ were conducted to illuminate how school librarians work to fulfill this role and further examine any differences in their approach. The theoretical framework consists of a broad interpretation of democracy to highlight difficulties in a precise definition of this term. Deliberative democracy and enlightened understanding is included in this framework in an attempt to establish a more precise setting. With a thematic analysis of the interviews the results were divided and coupled with the research questions. The results show information literacy as the primary democratic work described by the school librarians and an overall general vagueness regarding the school libraries as well as their own democratic role and further pertaining work.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the opportunities and possibilities a librarian has to encourage reading and supply literature to pupils in the ages 13-16 as well as how receptive the pupils and the teachers are to the librarian’s work. The study is performed using semi-structured interviews and the data is analysed using a qualitative method. The study is using Thomas Brante’s work on professional theories as theoretical basis. Five school librarians were selected for interviews. The result of the study shows that pupils are more interested in reading if approached in an informal manner or as an equal than they are when reading is an enforced task. A librarian’s biggest challenge is more likely to depend on how willing the faculty is to listen, communicate and cooperate with the librarian. The headmaster’s commitment towards the concept of a school library as an asset to the students’ education also has a big effect on a librarian’s work.

Government reports and investigations state that an increasing number of students are in need of additional support in upper secondary school. The Upper Secondary Education Inquiry from 2015 states that everyone in the school is responsible for supporting students in need of special support. School librarians therefore have a responsibility to support these students. However, the education in library and information science do not provide librarians with any knowledge about pedagogical work for students with disabilities. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to investigate which competencies are important in school librarians' pedagogical work for high school students with disabilities, how they have been acquired and which competencies they consider to be lacking and want to develop. To answer the questions, five school librarians were interviewed. The interviews were coded and then divided into themes. The results were analyzed using Ellström's definition of competence, skills development and Goleman's theories of emotional intelligence. The study concluded that important competencies in relation to pedagogical work for students with disabilities constitute: technical competencies, reading level competence, pedagogical competence and competence about how interact with students and educators. All competencies also include personal and social competencies that are interdependent. The informants have acquired their skills through both informal and formal measures. They feel that they lack diagnosis-related competence and special educational competence. They also want more practical experience.