This Master’s thesis is the first to quantitatively study the prevalence of library anxiety at a Swedish university. Library anxiety is a concept describing the negative feelings students can experience when using the library. The study was conducted using web questionnaires sent out to 512 students at Växjö university. 38 % responded and the results were analysed with the help of, amongst other methods, correlation studies. The results were also compared to previous studies. The conclusion from the study was that the Swedish students didn’t seem to suffer from library anxiety to the same extent as students in previous international studies. It was estimated that around 5 % of the respondents suffered from library anxiety. The respondents were most anxious with respect to the information search process. To examine if any group of students suffered more library anxiety, several background questions were asked. It was found that the students’ library anxiety varied with respect to how often they visited the library and how long they had studied at Växjö university. Women were more likely to experience library anxiety than men regarding the library environment, while men were more anxious with respect to the information search process. Young respondents were more anxious than the older concerning the library staff, while the older ones were more library anxious regarding the library environment and the library’s technical resources. No connection was found between which department the respondent studied at and how much library anxiety he or she suffered. / Uppsatsnivå: D

This thesis conducts a comparative study between two academiclibraries, one Swedish and one English, in order to analyse ifdifferent funding systems influence the marketing of theirservices. The theoretic foundation is built on relationshipmarketing, which emphasises the importance of creating andmaintaining relationships. A qualitative approach has been usedthrough the use of case studies, with semi-structured interviewsbeing held with library staff and managers in both countries. Inaddition to these interviews strategic plans have also beenanalysed. The result from the study shows that whilst there aresome differences between the two university libraries there arealso similarities, which indicates that it is not clear if differentfunding systems have an impact on the marketing of the services. / Program: Bibliotekarie

Swedish university libraries traditionally collect recreational readingmaterial only to support the teaching and research interests of theirinstitutions. However many university libraries hold a substantial yetunspecified collection of popular fiction. This thesis investigates theextent of these collections and examines academic librarians' viewsabout students' recreational reading in the academic context and theirattitudes towards the role of fiction and of readers' advisory inacademic libraries. The theoretical framework includes literature andresearch about the benefits of reading for pleasure, collections' rolesand readers' advisory strategies. The empirical material was gatheredthrough quantitative surveys sent to academic librarians in Sweden.The results show that academic librarians are positive about thebenefits of recreational reading for university students. However themajority of them do not believe that it is their responsibility to provideleisure reading material or promote extracurricular reading. Based onthe literature review, on the theoretical framework and on the researchfindings, recommendations are made with respect to further researchand readers' advisory strategies.

This study investigates the use of the social network Facebook among 67 Swedish libraries; 27 academic libraries and 40 public libraries. Data is collected through an analysis of the libraries’ Facebook pages and through an email survey. To analyze the data, a series of statistical analyses were performed.The results indicate that the public libraries more actively posted Facebook updates than the academic libraries and that the libraries that had a policy for use of Facebook/social media more actively posted updates than those libraries that did not have such policy. The libraries use Facebook mainly to post links and photos and to announce events, provide book recommendations, and to emphasize special occasions. The public libraries posted more links and more updates about events, book recommendations, and media recommendations than the academic libraries while the academic libraries posted more updates about digital resources, research results, and job advertisements. At the majority of the libraries’ Facebook pages the communication with the users consists of one-way-communication. The most common reasons to use Facebook that the libraries report are to create a dialogue with the users, to be where the users are, to market the library and to reach out to groups that traditionally are hard to reach out to.Conclusions are that the libraries’ Facebook communication reflects the library as an institution by largely dealing with things that concerns reading and education, and that Facebook is used more as a tool for marketing than as a tool for dialogue with the users. / Program: Bibliotekarie

As interest in the e-book market grows, both academic libraries and researchers strive to understand developing trends amongst patrons. The academic library is one venue where improvised measures in e-book collection management can freely abound. Recent studies have focused on establishing formalized management techniques. This study explores the e-book collection management techniques in use lens of Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory. Analysis revealed that library staff employ e-book collection management techniques that are both similar and dissimilar to those used in print book management. This study investigates both similarities and differences using Bourdieu’s field and habitus to enable explanation of relevant management choices. Analysis showed that librarians in both similar and different subject libraries employ both unique and complementary techniques to e-book collection management. Further inquiry shows possible connections between a librarian’s habitus and their subsequent approach to e-book management. / Program: Masterprogram: Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap, Digitala bibliotek och informationstjänster

The aim of this Master’s thesis is to examine in what way library users are depicted on images at two academic libraries; the University College of Borås Library & Learning Resources (BLR) and the Gothenburg University Library (GUB). 62 images, from websites and information brochures, are analyzed and the main questions are: How are users represented on images? What activities are shown? What is the difference between BLR and GUB? How can the consequences of the representations be understood? Little is currently known in the LIS-field about how images work as constructors of the social reality. The theoretical and methodological point of departure of the study is discourse analysis, new institutional theory and picture analysis. The result of the analysis is that BLR shows a larger variety of activities than GUB, and more users using the computer. The typical user on the images from GUB is sitting in a large study hall alongside with a large number of other users. Women are more often depicted than men in the whole material and the images reveal an absence of personal-user interaction. The users are shown as independent. A general impression is that GUB, considering the long history and the unanimous images, is more institutionalized than BLR. Both the behavior of the users in the library and the making of new library images are influenced by the existing images. / Uppsatsnivå: D

This master thesis concerns the relationship the librarianhas to the libraries classification system. The system itselfis made by librarians for librarians and is only used bylibrarians. This raises the question of how the librariansrelate to their own system to create order. The empiricalmaterial consists of five in-depth interviews with librarians.Two theoretical approaches were used in the analysis of thematerial with one focus on the librarian’s professional rolland the other on the postmodern theories about humansneed for order. The results point towards that not alllibrarians see the classifications system as a part of theirown profession. Certain diversity can be seen between thelibrarians opinion in the mater of the classificationssystems importance in their professional role. Thelibrarians agree however that the order in the library musthowever be maintained. The librarians agree that as long asthere are needs of arranging the physical mediums of alibrary the classification system will remain. / Program: Bibliotekarie

This is an empirical study mapping out different citation practices to games in the fieldof game studies. From an analysis of 7 journals, 3 conferences and 22 canonical bookswithin game studies, 5 different strategies for game referencing have been identified.Games scholars can either totally refrain from referring to the games they discuss, onlyreference some specific games, cite them as something special and deviant from othersources, refer to them in accordance with other sources or refer to games with regard totheir unique properties as a reference. For the reference librarian working with issuesrelating to game studies the diverse reference practices among game scholars pose aspecific challenge. A challenge that partly can be overcome by knowing how gamescholars frame games and how these frameworks are in conflict with the ways librariansframe and classify sources due their physical properties. / Program: Bibliotekarie

During the last years the scientific communication has undergone a series of changes. As a result new and different forms of publication and distribution of research has seen the light of day, one of these is open access. Open access as a concept was introduced in the beginning of the 21 ́st century. The aim of this bachelor thesis is to examine what ideas of open access are present in the academic libraries of Sweden. Furthermore we will look at what different roles librarians, researches and research funders are given. The theory and method chosen for this essay is based upon the critical discourse analysis of Norman Fairclough, with a focus on linguistic aspects of texts as well as the surrounding context, which the texts both influence and are influenced by. By applying linguistic tools two discourses where distinguished on a superior level, the democracy discourse and the market discourse. Between these two discourses there is a battle for hegemony. Within the two discourses there are also several internal discourses present. The internal discourses are not necessarily at odds with each other, they are rather seen as different aspects that together construct their superior discourses.

The concept of post-WIMP-based (post Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointer) digital services can best be described as interfaces which are moving away from the traditional workspace environment with computers (desktop or laptop) controlled by a mouse and a keyboard. Post-WIMP interfaces focus on intuitive and tactile usage, such as touch or gestures in the air (among others). Libraries have recently begun exploring technology based on post-WIMP maneuver mechanisms, but little research has investigated the outcome. This thesis focuses on the implementation and results of post-WIMP-based technologies within the academic library space. The thesis aims to understand the libraries’ purposes and hopes for the implementation, but also to pin down elements concerning context, space and social norms that seem to have an impact on the actual usage. The subject is approached by exploring ‘early adopters’ and their experiences with these kinds of technologies. This is done through an interview study with key figures within academic library organisations that have implemented the technologies, both employees and users such as teachers and doctoral students. The interview material is explored through a theoretical framework focusing on socio-technical premises and social factors within the human computer interaction research field. The study shows that the usage is affected by factors such as resources within the organization, the infrastructure of space and user expectations on an academic environment. Sponta-neous use of public services tends to be short and “less academic” while usage within closed spaces tends to be longer and linked to the academic field.