The rural libraries have a different context then the libraries in a more urban setting and therefore have a different way to organize and plan their activities. The aim of this bachelors thesis is to examine how librarians at libraries in the rural settings experience their activities and their role in the community. To acquire this information two questions are raised; “How are the activities at rural libraries described by the librarians?” and “How do the librarians view the libraries role in a rural setting?”. Answers to these questions will be achieved through semi-structured interviews, and their answers will be analysed with the use of the Four Spaces model. Four spaces is a model for viewing the activities in a library, and their goals. The collected data is then to be categorized according to four different terms: meetings, children and young adults, more personal service and challenges for a rural library. Many of the respondents expresses the use of the library as a meeting place and the important role that the libraries play in a small community in many different ways. One of the problems with working at a smaller library according to the librarians is that they have to prove to the management that their work is important, even in the smaller, rural settings.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether there is a correlation between the vision of the public library as expressed in “A new model for the public library” and how public libraries and its services are conveyed to newcomers to Sweden. Our two research questions inquire about the ways the public library and its services are conveyed and the challenges faced by public libraries in  communicating public libraries to newcomers? The method used for this study is semi-structured interviews with five public librarians working with multicultural issues at their workplaces. This study is theoretically grounded in the model for the public library proposed by Jochumsen, Rasmussen Hvenegaard and Skot-Hansen. The findings reveal that the model correlates quite well with how librarians describe their work in relation to newcomers.

This study investigated what Swedish public and academic libraries expressed on their Facebook pages. This study looked at similarities and differences between public and academic libraries through the lens of the Four spaces model by Jochumsen et al. (2012). Data was collected from three public and three academic libraries’ Facebook posts. The data was analyzed through qualitative content analysis, inspired by Zhang and Wildemuth (2017).  The results indicated that Facebook was used partly in different ways in public and academic libraries. Public libraries used Facebook to promote literature, human rights, and they also focused on posts for younger audiences. The academic libraries mostly focused on helping students with their studies. There were also some differences within the same library type; for instance, one of the academic libraries did not focus on content for students. The four spaces model Jochumsen et al. (2012) considers the changing roles of the public library in society and how libraries can show legitimacy in their new environment. Results indicated that the public libraries primarily expressed the learning space, and secondarily, the inspiration space. Academic libraries mostly expressed the learning space. The meeting space and the performative space were seldom expressed, both in public and academic libraries.

An increased access to information and knowledge through the development of information- and communication technology, Internet and social media has led to changes in perceptions of what the public library is and what role it has in contemporary society. In addition, the use of smartphones has contributed to an easy and economic way to market an institution and to build relationships with users through visual communication. In the context of adapting both to the influences of a global market and stated cultural policies on a national, regional and municipal level, the public library aims to serve a target group that includes all citizens. The question at issue states: How does the public libraries in Jönköping use Instagram to market their activity and in what way is different library roles expressed through the images? During 2016 – 2017, 302 images were posted on Instagram by the municipality of Jönköping. These images where studied using content analysis. The four spaces model, as explained by Jochumsen, Hvenegaard Rasmussen and Skot- Hansen (2012), was used to analyze the result. The result shows that the public libraries use Instagram to legitimize the librarys existence towards users and decision-makers, to build relationships with users and to market activities, for instance. he majority of the studied images could be related to the inspiration space.