The purpose of this study is to achieve deeper knowledge of what experiences and perceptions school librarians who work in high school libraries have of media and information literacy (MIL). School librarians have always struggled to assert themselves and their skills among the teachers. When MIL was launched it was very well recieved by teachers and school librarians. Will the collaboration between teachers and school librarians improve due to MIL? The empirical material has been collected through semistructured interviews with eight school librarians who work with high school students. They gave their opinions about what is included in the concept of MIL and how it differs from the former concept; information literacy (IL) and how MIL work as a phenomenon. Furthermore, the informants answered questions about how they used MIL in their everyday teaching. The theoretical framework used to analyze the results from the interviews is called ”Diffusion of Innovations” by Everett M. Rogers. Rogers’ theory shows how fast an innovation is established due to different factors. It seems like the new concept of MIL should be accepted rather rapidly since the innovation met most of the beneficial criterias. Our major finding shows no particular change in the way librarians work with the new concept of MIL in comparison to the former concept. Since this innovation has not yet reached the confirmation step of Rogers’ innovation-decision process, it cannot be considered as fully executed.

The aim of this master thesis is to examine the opinions of the students of Linköping University regarding the role of the university library in their learning process. The study addresses the student’s expectations and satisfaction regarding the library services. The questions we seek to answer are: What are the students’ conceptions of Linköping University Library as a part of their learning process? What expectations do the students have regarding Linköping University Library? Does the library fulfil the students’ expectations? In what way has the library’s pedagogical ambition reached the students? What are the students’ opinions about the user education? The study is based on a web survey complemented with interviews. The theoretical framework focuses on different theories on service quality and marketing. The results of the study show that the students’ attitudes towards the library are related to their subjects of study and the pedagogical approaches of the programs. The students within The Health Sciences Faculty use the services more frequently and have more positive expectations compared to the students within The Faculty of Science and Engineering. The students of The Arts and Science Faculty use the library services more frequently than the students within The Faculty of Science and Engineering but more rarely than the students within The Faculty of Health Sciences. Most of the students, who are library users, are satisfied or more than satisfied with the services and have very positive conceptions of the librarians and their professional knowledge. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to investigate what prompts student nurses to seek information required to their educational tasks and how they evaluate and utilize that information. The questions addressed in this thesis regard how information retrieval becomes part of student nurses’ social practice; which physical and intellectual tools student nurses make use of in their education; and which mediating resources they use to perform their tasks. Roger Säljö’s sociocultural approach provides the theoretical framework for this thesis. Research findings are that the social practice allows limited capacity for students to look for information according to their own interests. Furthermore, nursing students underestimate their information literacy, but still they succeed in using the available tools to fulfil formal requirements and complete their tasks. / Program: Bibliotekarie

This Masters thesis aims at investigating how 15-year old girls use the Internet, particularly on their free time, taking a source critical perspective. It includes group interviews. The main question of this thesis was whether there is a need for specific user education. The following four questions were asked: What do they do on the Internet during their free time? In what way do the girls learn how to interact with each other on the Internet? How do they relate to different types of web pages and materials from a source critical aspect? What content do they consider to be relevant in a user education? The study is mainly focused on information use and information behaviour in different contexts. The reason for this is that society of today requires explicit skills to manage the increasing information flow. Christine Bruce has presented a theory of information literacy and I wanted to see if it was possible to apply her theory model on my interview groups. My theoretical framework, and analyses, also builds on socio cultural theories. Among other things my empirical material shows that the students need more education in order to handle different demands; this includes information seeking and discussions about moral and ethical dilemmas. The students also believed that teachers couldn’t help out as much as they wanted due to their lack of familiarity with the Internet. / Uppsatsnivå: D

This master thesis concerns the subject of a reference service named Book-a-librarian. The service makes it possible for the library-user to indulge in a subject with the help of a librarian after having made an appointment in advance. The main purpose of this thesis is to study the function of it. The methods used are a mix of literature and empirical studies to be able to comprehend and explain the practical nature of the service as well as placing the service in a theoretical framework. The empirical study is performed by a questionnaire, where librarians working with the service are asked to participate. To evaluate the results of the questionnaire we have studied different scientific views of reference work in the library environment. The purpose is to identify strengths and weaknesses in the way the service is conducted. The weakness that becomes most apparent in the empirical study is the lack of users of the service. However there is a great enthusiasm for this Book-a-librarian service among the librarians. They all believe in a future for the service. To improve and develop this service we believe the solution is to have an active discussion concerning reference work as a whole and the usability of the service and finally to formulate a strategy to market it. In the final chapters we are presenting a set of recommendations for marketing this service, by studying marketing theories and validating these recommendations with professional librarians. By using marketing as a tool for development we are looking at Book-a-librarian from different perspectives, such as the importance of management, the physical atmosphere of the library and the involvement of the staff. Marketing puts focus on the user and we find that crucial for this information-based profession. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The main purpose of this Master Thesis is to describe students experiences of learning with Webquest för barnmorskor (Webquest for midwifes) at the University Library of Karolinska Institutet (KI), Stockholm. To investigate the possibilities of acquiring information literacy in higher education with the webquest model a qualitative case study is carried out, based on five interviews with students. The students’ perceptions of the webquest course and their ideas on information seeking and information literacy are being analyzed in relation to a framework of learning theory and information literacy expressed by documents and librarians of KI. A descriptive presentation is structured from the main themes that emerged in analysis within the frames of my research questions. The analyse shows that Webquest för barnmorskor carries a difference in theory and practice regarding the content of information literacy. In theory a processual understanding of learning is advocated with a broad definition of information literacy. In practice Webquest för barnmorskor mediates a concept focused on sources and technical skills in information seeking. The later source approach is also adhered by the students. Given that the students reflect upon information use and critical analysis of sources in their main studies at KI, this somewhat limited way of using the webquest model seems successful in adapting the course to the context and prior knowledge of the students.

This Master’s thesis investigates user education at high school libraries. The aim of this study is to examine user education and the educational approach that librarian’s experience in their teaching. The method used for the study is qualitative interviews with seven high school librarians. The librarians in the interviews were all educated after the Swedish University reform in 1993. The interviews are analysed and presented by using Carol Kuhlthau’s and Olof Sundin’s theories about the pedagogical educational approach often used by librarians. Five of the librarians focused on a Source approach and on a Pathfinder approach. Two of the librarians focused on the students’ information process and discussed different sources with the students. Just one of the librarians wants to change the education approach. A surprising result as several of the librarians weren’t pleased with the students’ information qualifications. The examined librarians experienced the educational approach in a similar way, only two of the interviewed librarians experienced it in a different way. The reason for the result may be that the time the librarians have at their hands is limited. The librarians also get influences from more experienced colleagues and their educational approach. Another reason can be that teacher and student have prejudices about what a librarian can and should do and that their opinions affect the librarians and their educational approach. / Uppsatsnivå: D

This Master’s thesis examines library courses, a relatively new form of user education. Our focus is on the pedagogical point-of-views reflected in the text in these library courses. The primary purpose of the study is to analyze the pedagogical discourse displayed in the library courses to determine if the perspective is behavioural, cognitive, constructive or socio cultural. We are investigating if the pedagogical discourse differs from course to course, and if so, how are they different? In addition we aim to find out how the pedagogical discourse in the library courses relates to university websites and governmental and legal texts, at the discursive and social practice level. As a methodological point of departure we use critical discourse, and more specifically, Norman Fairclough’s analytical model. Our conclusion is that the pedagogical discourse is behavioural, cognitive, and constructive. The socio cultural pedagogy is absent. The pedagogical discourse on the discursive and social practice level is cognitive and constructive as was the discourse in two of the library courses. The majority of the library courses had a behavioural pedagogic discourse, which was not found at the discursive or social practice level. We also found that on the discursive and social practice level the socio cultural pedagogic discourse was present. We believe that the library courses make the librarians as educators visible to the public, which could be positive for the pedagogical role of the librarian. From this point of view we find it unfortunate that the majority of the courses contains a behavioural pedagogical discourse, which according to us, mediates an obsolete pedagogical discourse. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this thesis is to examine the relationship between user education at high schools and the context in which it takes place. In order to accomplish this qualitative interviews have been executed with librarians at five Swedish high schools. The theoretical framework of this thesis is based on the sociocultural perspective and four approaches to user education developed by Olof Sundin. Based on the empirical material six themes have been identified. Each one represents a contextual factor which influences the user education. These are the teachers, the audience, the access to information technology needed in the education, the amount of lesson time, the librarian’s thoughts concerning the planning of the lessons and the room in which the lesson takes place. The themes mainly influence the contents of the education, how often it takes place and where it takes place. The study implies that the teachers are very important, because they have the ability to decide whether or not the user education is to happen. Likewise, their influence on the contents of the education can be rather large. Except for this they also know their classes, which is important when planning the education. A lack of information about the class may cause the librarian to plan the education according to assumptions of their knowledge in the area based on previous experiences of other classes. Thus the teachers can be said to have a key position for the user education today, and for its future.

The purpose of this thesis is to reach a deeper understanding of the context of teachers’ information seeking. Research in the role of the library in a learning perspective is in demand. To reach our aim we investigate what teachers say about their experiences of the user training during their studies and what effect it had on their information seeking as teachers. We interviewed four teachers and analyzed the transcripts of their sayings about their experiences of their information seeking during their education and a teaching profession. The theoretical framework includes information needs, information seeking foundations and communities of practice. The main outcome of the study is that user training made our informants familiar with information seeking and information resources. User training had a positive effect in their professional role, even though it was intended to serve their educational needs. Information seeking is a significant aspect of a teaching profession, and our conclusion is that user training also can be developed to include professional needs.