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.

Introduction: The subject of research data management is highly topical and university libraries around the world are working hard to establish a well-functioning support as well as technical solutions to deal with sharing and storing research data. Swedish university libraries are no exception, and this study aims to give a clearer view on how these support functions have come to take the form they have today, what they look like now and what the plans are.  Method: For this study eight people working with research data support at six Swedish university libraries were interviewed about the work of the support groups they are part of. These interviews were recorded and transcribed, and then analysed thematically by colour coding themes in the text.  Analysis and results: The findings show that the persons working with data managing support at these six university libraries agree on many points of how the support needs to be developed to meet the students and researchers needs. One of the most important things of what the research data managing groups need to do are to supply more information sessions, workshops, and teaching to reach out with their knowledge and to make people more aware of their existence and competences. Another is making sure technical solutions are in place to store data throughout the different steps of the research data lifecycle. The training and development of the professionals working in the support groups is also a very important part, as this is a changing subject and the rules and regulations do change. Lastly the interviewees underline the importance of solid motivating factors for researchers to share their data. The data support groups can simplify the process of data sharing and make it easier and smoother for the researcher to do it, but if it is unclear why it should be done it will not happen.  Conclusions: The development of the research data support has been, and is, slow and still ongoing. There is still a fair amount of work to be done, especially when it comes to the technical solutions that will enable safe and FAIR data sharing and storing. But the work that needs to be done cannot come only from university libraries and other university support functions, it must come from publishers, funders and other organisations that have the power to change the norms of data sharing. One of the main blockers of open data today is the lack of motivation for researchers to share their data and to be able to reach the goal of open data 2026 the entire system of merits for researchers needs to change and somehow include data sharing as an important part.  This is a two-year master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

Introduction. Simulation-based training courses are commonly used in medical and teacher education in order to practice handling difficult tasks and situations in a safe environment. This paper researches a training course held by the university library of Linköping. Using simulations with avatars the librarians acted out challenging and troublesome scenarios with library users. The library users were played by computer simulated avatars, in a virtual environment. The avatars were controlled by a simulation specialist. The aim of the paper is to research if and how this kind of simulation-based training course can strengthen librarians’ ability to handle difficult situations with library users, and if it can be a useful tool in the aim to improve the workplace environment. Method. To find out the thoughts and feelings of the participants of the training course, a questionnaire was distributed to all participants. To get a deeper understanding, five of the participants also took part in an interview. One of the simulation-specialists and the librarian who led the training course, were also interviewed, to find out more about the simulation-based training course. Lastly, both authors of this paper participated in a short simulation exercise as well, to gain a deeper understanding of how it works. Analysis. The research material from the questionnaires and interviews were analyzed using Albert Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy, Stevan E. Hobfoll’s resource theory, and John Dewey’s education theory. The three theories together made possible for us to research the simulation-based training course from several different perspectives. This enabled an investigation into the training course’s potential to strengthen the librarians’ ability to handle difficult situations, conserve resources and make them resilient, and what this unique form of training course can teach. Results. The questionnaires and interviews show that difficult or threatening situations with library users rarely occur at the university library where the participants work. The respondents emphasize however, the importance of recurrent training in the treatment of library users. A few respondents express that they feel safer after completing the training course, and that they feel better prepared to face difficult situations with library users. The results also show that the simulation-based training course is a good way to learn as it is based on the real experiences of the librarians, and they get to be physically active, using their bodies in acting during the scenarios. Conclusions. The findings of this research suggest that this kind of simulation-based training course in handling difficult situations with library users, has the potential to strengthen librarians’ resilience and ability to handle difficult situations. It concludes as well that the form of the training course, acting out scenarios with computer simulated avatars, is a good way to learn different strategies to cope with challenging situations. Any overarching conclusions cannot be drawn since this paper only research one training course and it is not within its scope to study the long-term effects.  This is a two-year master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

This master thesis examines how Swedish university libraries are instructing their students on topics related to the critical evaluation of sources and information. The method of analysis was a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of the external websites of Sweden’s public university libraries to determine what modes of instruction are being offered, and how these services are being described and made accessible to their users.  The coding of the websites divided their content into four main categories. The first two refer to asynchronous and inactive instruction: Information and Modules. The second two categories refer to synchronous and active instruction: Teaching and Tutoring. The results of the thesis indicate that the most popular modes of instruction related to critical evaluation of sources and information were informative webpages and active teaching which could either take the form of lectures or workshops with 12 out of the 15 libraries hosting or advertising these services.  The thesis concludes that instruction on topics related to critical evaluation of sources and information appears to be central, as most of the university libraries offer several modes of instruction on the topic. However, there were still variations in regard to the accessibility of the services although online instruction still proved popular in tutoring sessions. Moreover, the analysis of terminology and recurring words indicated an emphasis on ‘lower-level’ library skills related to how to recognize scholarly sources rather than ‘higher-level’ critical thinking. Finally, the results suggest that Swedish university libraries are engaging with instruction surrounding evaluation of sources and information although the scope and modes of instruction on the subject vary. This is a two year master’s thesis in Library and Information Science. / Denna masteruppsats undersöker hur svenska universitetsbibliotek instruerar sina studenter i ämnen relaterade till kritisk utvärdering av källor och information. Analysmetoden var en kvantitativ och kvalitativ innehållsanalys av de externa webbplatserna vid Sveriges offentliga universitetsbibliotek för att fastställa vilka undervisningsformer som erbjuds och hur dessa tjänster beskrivs samt görs tillgängliga för deras användare. Kodningen av webbplatserna delade in innehållet i fyra huvudkategorier. De två första hänvisar till asynkron och inaktiv instruktion: Information och Moduler. De andra två kategorierna avser synkron och aktiv undervisning: Undervisning och Handledning. Resultaten av uppsatsen indikerar att de mest populära undervisningsformerna relaterade till kritisk utvärdering av källor och information var informativa webbsidor och aktiv undervisning som antingen kunde ta formen av föreläsningar eller workshops då 12 av 15 analyserade bibliotek som var värd för eller annonserade dessa tjänster. Uppsatsen drar slutsatsen att undervisning i ämnen relaterade till kritisk utvärdering av källor och information verkar vara central, eftersom de flesta universitetsbiblioteken erbjuder flera undervisningsformer i ämnet. Det fanns dock fortfarande variationer när det gäller tillgängligheten för tjänsterna, även om online-utbildning fortfarande visade sig vara populär i handledningssessioner. Dessutom visade analysen av terminologi och återkommande ord en betoning på biblioteksfärdigheter på 'lägre nivå' relaterade till hur man känner igen vetenskapliga källor snarare än 'högre' kritiskt tänkande. Slutligen tyder resultaten på att svenska universitetsbibliotek är engagerade i undervisning kring evaluering av källor och information även om omfattningen och undervisningssätten i ämnet varierar. Detta är en masteruppsats i biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap.