The purpose of this thesis is to examine how municipal archivists/records managers seek and use information in their daily worklife. Two mayor questions were addressed:1. What information resources and information channels do the respondents use in their daily worklife and which functions do these fulfil?2. How do the respondents experience their information seeking in relation to the work role and the tasks in the municipal organisation?A qualitative method with interviews was used. Tom Wilson's theoretical model over information behaviour was applied to the empirical material and was supplemented by models by Lars Höglund & Olle Persson and Anne-Marie Thunberg et. al. The result shows that social networks were highly used in the practice of work. Because of the work role qualities and complexity in tasks, communication with other occupational groups is necessary. Especially the competence from legal advisers, social workers and computer technologists are acquired. Communication with other archivists/records managers, researchers and public users play an important role of the municipal archivists/records managers' social network. Regular contact with other archivists/records managers is very important for the professional self-identity. In daily worklife, none of the respondents said they experience information overload, but lack of time was apprehended by everyone. / Uppsatsnivå: C

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate how people from Iran experience reading in their mother tongue, Persian, compared to how they experience reading in Swedish and if there was a difference. The questions to be answered in the thesis were: What is the dominant purpose when people read their mother tongue and when they read in Swedish. Do they read because they need information, because they want to relax or do they, when they read, reflect on their own lives? The method was qualitative, interviews were conducted with 8 Iranians living in Sweden. The theoretical background consists of a description of theories on reading and theories on language and identity. The answers from the interviews reveal that many of the individuals that were interviewed, were reading in an instrumental way, i.e. they read mainly to find information and especially so when reading in Swedish, but at the same time they do reflect on their own life when they read. The results were then compared with theories. Furhammar’s theory on reading habits with the categories ”impersonal instrumental reading”, ”impersonal experience reading”, ”personal experience reading” and ”personal instrumental reading” seem to correspond with the results of the study. The other theories on reading which were used, i.e. Appleyard’s theory that people seek some kind of truth when they read and Ross’ theory that people read to get emotional knowledge, did also in part correspond with the results, but not as well as Furhammar’s theory. The theories on language and identity also seemed to correspond well with the results. / Uppsatsnivå: C

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the experiences and views some users have of the library environment and services of the University Library of Halmstad. The main question to be answered in this thesis is what importance the users attribute to the library environment and services while pursuing their most recent library errand. To answer this question a study of relevant literature on the subjects of library environment, library services and user-surveys in other academic libraries was carried out and a questionnaire was distributed to 22 respondents in the process of visiting the University of Halmstad Library. The literature background and the results of the conducted study were interpreted and discussed and led to the following conclusions: 3 respondents encounters with the library environment and its services were negative in part and thus their experiences and views were relevant to the completion of their library errands. The other respondents’ encounters confirmed their overall positive earlier experiences and views of the library environment and its services, but had no real concrete significance for the completion of their library errands. / Uppsatsnivå: C

The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate how books are weeded in some Swedish public libraries today. It tries to shed light on some of the problems and obstacles that may arise, and on the criteria used by staff for weeding. I also hope to build a model for weeding, based on the results of my investigation. The method I have chosen for my work is qualitative interviews. The results of my thesis indicate that weeding is not the top priority of the staff at the investigated libraries. Apart from one library, which had a very general local policy on weeding to aid the staff, none of the other libraries had a written policy. Time for weeding is claimed to be scarce. Different kinds of weeding aids are suggested, such as written weeding policies, handbooks on different literature genres, networks including experts etc. The model I propose suggests the use of written policies on collection development, the use of a more systematic approach to weeding, more discussion among the staff on weeding criteria and the use of weeding aids such as handbooks, computer systems etc. / Uppsatsnivå: C

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the habits of borrowing books among third-grade pupils. My aim is also to study what significance their teacher and the librarian have on the pupils’ borrowing habits. Based on the results from an experiment, two observations, interviews and by compiling a list of short summaries of literature relevant to my thesis. I wanted to compare earlier research with my own results and also reflect on remarks made by librarians and teachers concerning the children’s reading and use of the library. The study shows that the pupils borrow fiction literature in most cases. Their habits during the spring term of 2000 seemed to have changed. Those who every third week regularly visited the branch library with their teacher, seemed to have found their genres. The girls preferred to read about animals and sports, while the boys were only attracted by books on sports. The method the teacher had chosen while teaching, was to let her pupils read regularly using fiction literature, as a main thread. I believe the pupils have reached the age where they consume a large amount of books. Fiction literature is the sole source of books in this particular class. Furthermore, I concluded that the most important person to the pupils, when trying to increase and maintain their desire to read, was their teacher. However, my research also showed that the librarian was important to the teacher for giving suggestions on good novels and learns how to present those in an interesting way. Thus, the teacher acts as an intermediary between books and readers. / Uppsatsnivå: C

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the attitudes of librarians towards young people's approaches to libraries and reading. The study also includes statements of the young as regards their own library usages and reading habits, as well as the attitudes of youth leaders. The latter are compared to the statements of librarians, and serve as referential frameworks. 28 interviews were performed, of which 22 with young people. The interviews and the following discussion were based on five themes; the library as a room, usages of the library, reading habits, the library as an institution, and library changes and developments. The literature studied deals with youth culture, generations, young people's spare time occupations, the professional roles of librarians and youth leaders, and, finally, the attitudes of young people towards libraries together with the attitudes of librarians towards young people. The opinions of librarians deviate from those of the youth leaders, and to an even higher degree from those of the young people, as expressed in their interview responses. The differences are ascribed to the fact that the library represents a bourgeois, traditional, disciplinary world, whereas the youth club is characterized as expressive, impulsive, and chaotic. The description of the latter touches upon the very narcissism and expressiveness as features of youth culture, attractive to young people. The professional roles of youth leaders and librarians exhibit points of similarity as well as difference. The relatively higher social standing of the librarians is considered as a contributing factor to the librarians', to some extent, dissociating themselves from the youth club. The generational differences between librarians and young people are also important as regards the inability of the librarians to accommodate library changes to the young. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this Master's thesis is to examine whether a web-based library catalogue is to be considered user-friendly. We have examined this from a user-perspective by interviewing users of a web-based catalogue at a public library. In order to get a picture of the user-friendliness of a catalogue, the thesis is centred upon the following questions: How is a web-based catalogue used? What problems do the users experience? How is the catalogue perceived by its users? Since the producers of these catalogues now are taking into account the research upon human-computer interaction, we are also interested in finding out whether a web-based catalogue is more user-friendly than a more traditional OPAC. We do this by comparing the results of our examination with earlier studies of OPAC use. In this thesis we show that users of a web-based library catalogue are positive towards the catalogue and find it easy to use. They are satisfied with their search results, even though they do not choose the most appropriate search path. In this way, we can consider the catalogue user-friendly. On the other hand, we have found that users experience a lot of problems when searching a web-based OPAC - the same problems that are identified in earlier user-studies. These problems include expressing search queries (especially subject queries), understanding how the search is carried out and the meaning of keywords. Considering this, a web-based library catalogue is not more user-friendly than a traditional one. / Uppsatsnivå: D

This paper deals with the use of Internet at Swedish public libraries. The author asks whether public libraries should or should not limit access to information available on the Internet. Starting from the American discussion, concerning Internet at public libraries, the author shows the Swedish attitudes. The paper demonstrates that many Swedish public libraries have adopted rules forbidding retrieval of certain kinds of information, such as hard-core pornography and racist propaganda. The persons in charge of such actions claim that public libraries should provide high-quality educational literature and should not spread mass-produced, provocative information. The author asserts that public libraries, which have chosen to limit access to the Internet, should avoid doing so, since they are on a collision course with Swedish legislation on freedom of speech. / Uppsatsnivå: D

Ordet kreativitet används flitigt idag av ledare, kreativitetskonsulter,konstnärer, unga som gamla. Vissa ser kreativiteten som en ekonomiskdrivkraft, andra tycker att den gör vårt liv mer spännande. På sistone har detvuxit fram många kreativitetsprofessioner, så kallade kreativitetsexpertersom säger sig veta vad kreativiteten är och har en universal lösning förstimulering av den och vet hur man leder den. Jag kallar det att strukturerakreativiteten genom klichéspråk. Genom att kommunicera kreativiteten meddet klichéspråket gör vi illa själva kreativiteten. Vi beundrar kreativitetenoch vi plundrar kreativiteten. Vi förtar möjligheten med ordet, den renakreativiteten, spontana kreativiteten som finns i alla människor, som baraexisterar. Syftet med uppsatsen är att åstadkomma en reflektion runt fråganvad händer med kreativiteten när man utnyttjar den och jag förväntar mig attinte ställas till svar om vad kreativiteten är, för jag har ingen facit.Den här essän är en berättelse där jag, genom det hermeneutiska synsättet,tolkar teori och intervjuer med kreativa människor som jag har i studien urett ironiskt perspektiv. Det ironiska perspektivet hjälper mig att handskasmed motsägande situationer, och skyddar mig själv mot mina egnaemotionella reaktioner som den strukturerade kreativiteten förorsakar. Att visjälva är en del av den strukturerade kreativiteten utan att vi är medvetna omdet är svårt att förklara på något annat sätt än ironiskt. / Uppsatsnivå: D

BAKGRUND: Min utgångspunkt inför arbetet med studien var att det satsas åtskilligt i skolorna för att höja läsförmågan hos eleverna, eftersom denna förmåga påverkar de flesta av skolans ämnen. Även förskolorna arbetar aktivt med att synliggöra språket i vardagen, men kanske inte alltid det skrivna språket. Efter att ha arbetat ett antal år inom förskolan har jag även fått en uppfattning om att arbetet med våra yngsta barn allmänt inte alltid värderas som lika viktigt, eller har samma prestige som arbetet med de äldre barnen.SYFTE: Syftet med studien var därför att ta reda på olika uppfattningar ett antal förskolebarn i åldrarna 2,5 till 5 år kunde ha angående att läsa och skriva. Detta innebar att försöka få fram hur barnen själva resonerade i ämnet. Avsikten var också att synliggöra vikten av den professionella personalens arbete när det gäller skriftspråklig stimulans, även när det gäller de yngsta barnen inom barnomsorgen.METOD: Undersökningen har gjorts kvalitativt med inspiration från fenomenografin. Undersökningspersonerna var förskolebarn i åldrarna 2,5 – 5 år från två olika förskoleavdelningar och dessa har intervjuats och även delvis observerats för att få fram olika uppfattningar, som de kan ha när det gäller att läsa och skriva. Intervjuerna bandades, för att sedan skrivas ut och analyseras och i resultatet kunna beskriva de olika uppfattningarna, som kom fram angående skriftspråkande.RESULTAT: Resultatet belyser barnens uppfattningar angående hur de ska eller har lärt sig läsa respektive skriva, samt även inom vilka områden dessa barn uppfattade att det är viktigt att kunna läsa såväl som att skriva. Det har bland annat kommit fram att barnen främst uppfattade att de lär sig genom att göra på olika sätt och då ofta upprepade gånger, samt att om de ska få hjälp med lärandet är det utav någon från hemmet. Resultatet visar även på uppfattningar att lärande förknippas med ålder eller att bli vuxen. Kunskapen att skriva namn och brev uppfattades som viktigt likaså att kunna läsa böcker. Att skriva sattes även samman med lärande och att kunna läsa förknippades främst med böcker och kommande skolgång. Det fanns även barn i studien som vid just dessa tillfällen inte uttryckte några uppfattningar och inte heller visade något intresse för läs- och skrivaktiviteter