For a school library to function as a support for the students’ development of their academic abilities, it must provide material satisfying their needs as well as the needs of the teachers. The school library should assist the students in their research endeavours, as well as inspire reading for pleasure. In order to do this it is imperative that the school library actively develops the existing collection and continually strives to meet the needs of its users. The aim of this Master’s thesis is to describe and reflect upon how a particular school library works with collection development. The study focuses on the material present in a specific library, i.e. the books and other media types used or sought there, and directly influences that library as the material is reviewed, organised and/or discarded. To collect data for the thesis an action research inspired strategy was used, mainly drawing inspiration from the four defining characteristics of action research as described by Martyn Denscombe: Practical (aimed at dealing with real-world issues), Change, Cyclical process (initial findings generate possibilities for change which, once implemented, form the basis for further investigation), and Participation (practitioners are involved in the research process). The study involves practical work at the school library in question, mapping the collection and reviewing user needs, which led to decisions regarding weeding and procurement. The updated collection was then evaluated through interviews with students and faculty. As a result of the study a policy for collection development was formulated to support further collection development in the studied school library. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the quality notions used by the library personnel responsible for the video game department at Malmo City Library. Furthermore, the thesis aims to assess how these notions of quality relate to properties of the actual collection of video games. The empirical results are based on interviews with the responsible library personnel. The result is then analyzed by an interpretation of Carl Gustav Johannsen’s library adapted, theory-based, model of quality definitions. In order to assess relevant properties of the video game collection, we performed a categorization according to the genre-based framework of Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams and, to a lesser extent, the work on video game genres by Mark J. P. Wolf. The results indicate that Johannsen’s proposed perspectives on quality correspond well to the views expressed by the interviewed personnel. However, the properties of the video game catalogue imply a collection lacking in multitude, in many ways identical to the current ratio of the commercial market. The thesis argues that the cause of this discrepancy lies partly in a lack of documentation and guidelines concerning on what grounds the video games should be acquired. A more detailed policy concerning ways of implementing the available perspectives on quality into the routines of acquiring the actual collection could perhaps identify problems and remedy the situation indicated by the thesis. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The main purpose of this master thesis is to explore a selection of Swedish librarians view of professional ethics. The latest master thesis written on the subject was published in 1997, which concluded that the Swedish public librarians had a poor awareness concerning professional ethics. We wanted to investigate if something had changed. We interviewed six librarians from five public libraries, asking them questions concerning ethical guidelines, responsibility, censorship and selection, pressure from lobbyists, and ethical problems relating to Internet. The answers we got gave the impression of a divided profession, and the librarian’s awareness of professional ethics can hardly be said to have been improved since 1997. In our conclusion we promote the idea to include ethical theory into the Swedish School of library and information science, to increase the future-to-be librarians ethical awareness. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this thesis is to examine the term balanced collection in relation to Swedish laws and the democratic assignment. The Unesco Public Library Manifesto states that libraries are to formulate a policy defining objectives, priorities and services in relation to local community needs. The Swedish Libraries Act, paragraph 7, states that municipalities and counties shall adopt plans for library services. To fulfil our aim we will answer the following questions. By which terms is the democratic assignment visible in Swedish public libraries collection development policies? Is the term balanced collection used in Swedish public libraries collection development policies? If not, are there categories describing balanced collection? Do the terms in Swedish collection development policies differ to the six categories found by Farooq M. Ali in English-speaking literature? And if so, what does this difference suggest? The method used is a qualitative content analysis and we solely examine Swedish public libraries and their written collection development policies – we have not conducted any follow-up interviews. The six different categories found by Farooq M. Ali are analysed in correlation to our coding of the terms stated in the collection development policies of Swedish public libraries. Our survey shows that Ali’s six categories are not that common in Swedish public libraries collection development policies but that there are other categories and terms with the same significance. The most common categories are books, media, representation and the category not violence, pornography or racism. The two least common categories are weeding and demand. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the situation for ebooksin Swedish public libraries. The background is anincreasing lending of e-books in public libraries, with anacquisition model formed when e-books were more of anexperiment in a few libraries. The debate has escalated in therecent years and in this thesis I aim to investigate thelibraries’ experience with e-books and the current pricemodel. The empirical material comes from interviews witheight head of public libraries in the Västra Götaland region.As theoretical background, I have used Michael Buckland’sfour roles of collections and price models from Lee andBoyle.My results show ambivalence with the price model. Thereare worries that the cost will escalate out of control, but atthe same time my respondents do not want to lose thebenefits of a digital file by limiting the use of it to f e oneuser at a time. At the moment my respondent are not beingactive, but are instead waiting for a better solution to come,perhaps from the Royal Library. Looking at the roles ofcollection regarding e-books, the effect is disputable andpoints towards centralization, mostly because of theindividual libraries’ lack of independence and control overthe e-books. I also suggest that we look at e-books fromanother point of view: that we could benefit from regardingthem more as databases than books in our collections. / Program: Bibliotekarie

Svensk titel:Mångfald i biblioteksbestånd: en undersökning av biografieroch mediestrategiskt arbete på ett folkbibliotek English title:Diversity in library collections: a study about biographiesand library collection development in a public libraryFörfattare/Author:Klara Ferneman Handledare/Supervisor:Per WisselgrenSammanfattning/Abstract: This paper explores the diversity of the biography section in a swedishpublic library. It examines representation from different parts of the world, and also if there are patterns in what subjects certain parts of the world are represented by. The role of diversity in library collections is drawn from the concepts of cultural competence and social justice. The results are discussed in comparison with the collection development plan.The methods used are both quantitative and qualitative content analyses. The collection of biographies is examined and categorized by which part of the world the subject was linked to according to the library catalogue. The study also includes interviews with the librarians to associate the results with the practice of collection development at the library in question.The findings show that the collection have an overrepresentation of biographies with European subjects and that the books from parts outside the so-called western world only included a limited kind of subjects, like terrorism and war. The interviews show the librarians experienced that they had limited ability to work with diversity, mainly because the policy documents are lacking clear incentive to focus on making the collections more diverse and also because the economic framework won’t allow it.

The purpose of this thesis is to gain an understanding of whether or not the concepts of users’ need and quality stand in contradiction to one another when public librarians are purchasing fiction literature and if there are any differences between small and large municipalities. Through qualitative interviews we aim to identify how public librarians in Sweden use these concepts in the process of choosing what fiction literature to acquire. We interviewed six librarians responsible for purchasing fiction literature, three from smaller municipalities and three from larger municipalities. We then analyzed with the help of Sanna Taljas theory The Interpretative Repertoires of the Music Library and concepts from earlier research. Instead of repertoires we used the library collection in our analysis model, the general collection, the alternative collection and the demand driven collection. We identified a various amount of values to describe the users’ need and quality, which we placed in our three collections. The results of the study are in line with some of the earlier research we have used in this study, but there are also new interpretations regarding the concept of quality. The idea of what quality entails has obviously gone through a transformation over time and our study shows that quality today is often measured in the context of the reader. We have also identified a number of working methods regarding users’ need and quality that differentiates the smaller municipalities from the larger.

The Libraries of Malmö are in the process of integrating new technology for logistics and distribution of materials to their library system. This study proceeds from a global discussion about technologies and their usage in libraries, including automation processes and the application of algorithm technology. To study the social implications of the algorithm system IMMS at the public libraries of Malmö, interviews are conducted with representatives of different organizational perspectives of the library, as well as qualitative analysis of documents regarding the implementation. An actor-network theory (ANT) approach is used in the analysis of these materials, to map out the network where the process is taking place, as well as the relationships and actions of the actants involved. Through this analysis certain conclusions are made: a successful transition is made where the network is reconfigured by the integration of the IMMS-technology, even though not all actants are in agreement of the condition of this process. Some fears regarding the role of librarians, due to centralization of tasks and responsibilities, are identified, as well as dissidence in the form of dissatisfaction with the process. Some cases of mutiny in relation to the system changes are reported, opening for further research of resistance in implementation processes of new technology in libraries. In conclusion, a complicated process is now undergoing where useful new technology is implemented in the library, but also raising questions of the work and professional role of librarians today.

The aim of this thesis is to understand how organizational changes within collection development of printed media affect public librarians’ perception of community of practice and professional identity. The data collection method used is semi-structured interviews with nine public librarians in Gothenburg regarding their experience of centralized acquisition and floating collections. The material is analyzed within Wenger’s theoretical framework concerning communities of practice and identity in practice. The findings show a spectrum of experiences. There is a general difference in the result between respondents representing the central library and the district libraries. The librarians at the central library, now responsible for all acquisitions, tend to be more positive to the changes. The respondents who experience most impact express an experience of lost control over the collections and the process of selecting new media. They express difficulties monitoring new literature after the centralization. Even though all respondents state the users as the primary focus, they have different approaches in terms of how the printed collections should be used to meet the users’ needs. Three themes are identified in the discussion section. Firstly, the public librarians in Gothenburg are discussed as a community of practice in terms of Wenger’s three characterizing dimensions. Secondly, collection development in relation to practice and identity is discussed. Finally, the respondents’ experience of centralized acquisitions and floating collections is discussed, using the prevalent distinction between a focus on the collection or a focus on the user as a starting point.

The public libraries in Sweden has an obligation to serve all of its citizens, but despite of this they often fail to include their LGBTQ-patrons. Since the year of 2008 RFSL (the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights) have arranged a specially designed certification-process based on normcritical criterias that a chosen institution should fulfill to make their work more inclusive for LGBTQ-people. Sollentuna is the first municipal in Sweden to certificate all of their libraries. This study aims to examine what the certification have meant for the public library in Sollentuna and how a normcritical view can contribute to include LGBTQ-patrons at the library. As a method we used a qualitative interview-study to get a full picture of the certification-process and its influence on the public library of Sollentuna. Our main source of information has been through interviews with four individuals who have been involved in or has experience of the certification-process. As a theoretical framework we used queer-theory to understand how a normcritical perspective can influence the daily work in the library. The results showed that the certification has made the library staff aware of the social norms they have been replicate. We have come to the conclusion that the certification is a good entrance for public libraries to start implementing a normcritical view in their daily work for inclusion of a wide range of minority groups.