The subject of this thesis is the history of the library at The Göteborg Museum of Art. The aim of the thesis is to depict and analyze the emergence and the expansion of the library’s holdings until 1939. To fulfill the aim, two questions are asked. The first question is: Is it possible to argue that the library’s holdings were collected to document the entire world of art? The question is formulated in relation to a comment by Susan Wyngaard. According to Wyngaard, art libraries tries to document the entire world of art. The second question is: What was the point of having a library at The Göteborg Museum of Art and did the library’s holdings support the museum’s educating, aesthetic or ritual function? The question is inspired by some remarks in Carol Duncan’s book Civilizing rituals: Inside public art museums.The source material which is examined to answer the two questions consists mainly of the annual reports that the museum curator Axel Romdahl published in Göteborgs museum’s yearbook and also of two library ledgers found in The Göteborg Museum of Art. The results of the thesis are based on my observations and interpretations of the data in the annual reports and in the library ledgers. Michael Baxandall’s remark that historical objects can be explained by being treated as solutions to problems in situtations has assisted the analysis of the source material. Three conclusions are drawn in the thesis. The first conclusion is drawn in relation to Michael Baxandall’s remark that historical objects can be explained by being treated as solutions to problems in situations. The conclusion is that the visual documents that were collected in the library helped to expand the opportunities to see art at The Göteborg Museum of Art. The textual documents that were collected in the library helped solving another problem, which dealt with gathering written knowledge of art. The second conclusion is that a few specialized areas were particularly prominent during certain periods of time. In the 1910’s and in the 1920’s, the library’s holdings were focused on reproductions of graphic art and drawings made by artists from the european continent. During a few years in the beginning of the 1930’s, a large number of monographs on Swedish artists were aquired. The conclusion shows that it is not completely safe to argue that art libraries tries to document the entire world of art. The third conclusion is that the library at The Göteborg Museum of Art supported the museum’s educating function, and that the library at least had the potential to support the museum’s aesthetic and ritual function. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

Undersökningen vilar på två huvudfrågor: Vad är ett materialbibliotek, och varför uppstår de i så stor utsträckning idag? Frågorna besvaras genom samtal med ansvariga på materialbibliotek, främst kommersiella, i Europa och USA och redovisas i en historisk och kronologisk översikt över det senaste decenniet, en tematisk beskrivning av verksamheten samt en diskussion kring materialbiblioteket utifrån begreppen dokument och bibliotek där en allmän biblioteksmodell appliceras på materialbibliotekens verksamhet. Slutligen föreslås en definition av begreppet materialbibliotek. Undersökningen kommer fram till att materialbiblioteket är en informationstjänst som samlar och organiserar materialprover och materialkunskap, och som inte enbart fungerar som tillhandahållare av information utan även strävar efter att i mötet med sina användare skapa ny kunskap om de dokument det behandlar. Materialbiblioteken uppstår ur ett behov av en samordnande central för materialkunskap, och kan placeras inom det nya serviceparadigmet information management. Det finns även ett behov av att känna på material och att skapa en mötesplats för kreatörer och tillverkare inom designområdet. En avgörande bakgrund verkar vara den drastiskt ökande materialtillgången som innebär att verksamma inom området inte hinner skaffa sig den materialkunskap de skulle behöva, främst om nya material och nya materiallösningar. De största och mest inflytelserika materialbiblioteken finns i New York och Paris och heter Material ConneXion, Innovathéque och MatériO. De flesta materialbibliotek har något förhållande till ett eller flera av dessa tre, och deras databaser är föremål för potentiella framtida samarbetsprojekt.

The aim of this study is to investigate how employees at the Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU) and librarians at SGU and Uppsala university library (UUB) experience challenges and changes in the information provision for geologists at SGU after an organizational change of the library function at the survey. After the closure of the library at SGU in 2015 the survey buys some of their needed library service from UUB, while most of the SGU library collections are left at the survey. To investigate the experiences I conducted interviews with current and former geologists and former librarians at SGU and a librarian at UUB. I also investigated some key documents to provide a framework to the interviewee’s experiences, to compare this with the goals of the coordination between SGU and UUB, and to try and shed light on the role of the library within the survey. The study was based on a constructivist point of view where the interviewee’s experiences of the changes is in focus, giving a deeper understanding of their information needs and how they have been affected by the changes of the library function. I have looked at the changes in information provision for the employees at SGU as a result of changes in SGU’s library activities, that is, changes in the organization of SGU. The results were therefore analyzed using a combination of organizational theories on public administration and business concept approaches, which is motivated by how public administration has changed in recent decades. The results show that geologists at SGU rely heavily on old publications, grey literature and publications about Swedish conditions. This is opposed to what UUB offers in terms of ”hot science” and international literature to meet the needs of the researchers and students at Uppsala university. Also, since UUB only took over a small part of the collections from the SGU library as part of the agreement, the SGU employees have a significant need for help obtaining literature that is left at the former SGU library. As a result of the changes in information provision, the interviewed geologists at SGU feel that the closure of the library at SGU has had a negative impact on their work performance. Because of this they also feel that there is a contradiction between the regulation of the survey, which states that the main focus for SGU is to collect, manage and disseminate information, and the decision to close the library. The conclusions are that although the libraries at SGU and UUB both offer literature in the field of geology there are big differences in the kind of geological literature that the users need and what the different libraries can or could offer. In a larger perspective, this study can contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of special libraries and what can happen to the information provision when a library closes. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

The purpose of this study is to present a clearer picture of the divided roles of museum libraries, to see how they balance working with two separate target groups, the public and the museum staff, and to analyze how this affects the work of the librarians. The research on museum libraries has been sparse during the past 20 years, and this essay aims to fill a gap in the research field. Our primary method of data-collection is qualitative, semi structured, interviews with staff at three museum libraries at Upplandsmuseet, Nordiska Museet and Konstbiblioteket. Additional data was collected by analyzing regulatory documents for each library. The collected data is analyzed using concepts from organizational theory, mainly organizational identity as formulated by Alvesson. The results are presented thematically in accordance with the main points brought forward by the interviewees.   Our interviews show that the primary function of the museum library is to support the museum. The libraries also aim to serve the public but are only able to do this to a limited degree. The role of the libraries is not formulated in any regulatory documents but according to the interviewees, this is not a current issue. Regarding organizational identity, the study shows that the libraries are all connected to the overarching identity of the museum. However, while the library at Upplandsmuseet is strongly connected to the museum's identity, the libraries at Nordiska museets and Konstbiblioteketare somewhat detached from the respective organizations. This could result in a weaker identity for the library. Finally, the librarians from all three libraries express a wish to reach an even broader target group outside the museum. Due to a lack of resources however, both in terms of budget and staff, this is deemed impossible at the present. This is a two years master's thesis in Library and information science.