This is an investigation into the ways in which a group of librarians experience and make use of the intranet in their vocational role. The theoretical frame of reference consists of a model of how professionals seek information, which is based on a role-theory. As a method, I have applied a qualitative case-study. Using semi-structured qualitative interviews I have interviewed five librarians and the webmaster responsible for the intranet in their library. I have investigated how elements such as the age and vocational role of the librarians affect their use of the intranet. The result of the investigation shows that age and vocational role have only a minor effect on the work of these librarians. The degree to which they do use the intranet seems to depend more on their interest than on actual need. The librarians use the intranet both as an information channel and as a tool for work-related tasks. The intranet has altered the support of the librarians by making it possible for everybody to be informed by the information published there. Nobody can say that he has no chance to be informed. The librarians experience that the intranet has increased their responsibility for looking for and finding information on the intranet which corresponds to their needs. The advantage of the intranet is that the librarians can find the information whenever they want it, and no outsider can find it equally easily. The disadvantage is that the librarians experience difficulties in finding the relevant information on the intranet, because the search-engine and navigation-guide do not help sufficiently. Because of the demands from the Head of the Library and from their colleagues some role conflicts have arisen. The librarians experience a need to make use of the intranet to a higher extent than they do at present. They feel that they cannot fulfill the expectations of the Head of the Library and of their colleagues because they do not have enough knowledge to be able to make use of the intranet and thus they do not have easy access to the information published there. However, in spite of their difficulties in searching and finding information, they are satisfied with the contents of the intranet and they do not see any immediate demands for changes.

The purpose of this master thesis is to investigate if the mobile library has a similar role as the public library. To study this further we intend to examine the value and function of the mobile library. Answers are sought to the following questions: Can the mobile library be seen as a public library in a smaller scale? How do the users experience the value and function of the mobile library? What does the library staff think of the value and function of the mobile library for the users? What would the consequences be if the service of the mobile libraries would not exist? The method used was qualitative interviews. The groups of respondents are mobile library users and library staff. The theories used include Anderson and Skot-Hansen’s model of the public library’s local profile. This model is used to analyze the results. The result of the study shows that all groups of respondents are of the opinion that the mobile library has a significant value and function in many ways.

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to describe and analyse the origin and development of the municipal library of Västervik. There have been four previous libraries and our examination starts in 1859 with the foundation of a parish library. The other forerunners were a working-class movement library and two libraries in the International Orders of Good Templars. Before the merger of the libraries there were discussions in the municipal council, among the working-class movement and in the IOGT. The municipal library was inaugurated in 1908. Algot Johansson, a worker, became the first librarian and he was very important for the development of the municipal library. We conclude our examination 1945, when Algot Johansson retired. As a background and comparison we describe the development of libraries in Sweden and the national policies. As a comparison, we can see, among other things, that Västervik was early with a merger to a municipal library, but late with free loans and subsidies from the state. The national policy from 1930 has been very important for the municipal library. To analyse the origin and development of the municipal library in Västervik we used a theory by Magnus Torstensson, about two perspectives of structures and actors. / Uppsatsnivå: D

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

The purpose of this investigation is to study how librarians experience bookcrossing. We focused on the two following questions: Which variations are there in librarians conceptions of bookcrossing as literature exchange and reading support activity? Which variations are there in librarians conceptions of bookcrossing compared to other methods of literature exchange and reading support? Bookcrossing is an international book club where you share your books by leaving them at public places. The thesis is focused on librarians’ conceptions and not the conceptions of members of bookcrossing. Fictional literature is central in our investigation. To answer the questions we conducted interviews with nine librarians at eight different libraries. By using a phenomenographical approach our analysis resulted in four categories of description for each question. For the first question the categories were: bookcrossing as publicity, bookcrossing as a new way of thinking, bookcrossing as being democratic and bookcrossing as an activity at the library. The second question resulted in the following four categories: bookcrossing as an alternative to other methods, bookcrossing needs development to be reading supportive, bookcrossing as a non serious event and bookcrossing as a different selection of books. After the second analysis three categories of conceptions emerged: bookcrossing as an advantage for the library, bookcrossing as a problematic method for the library and bookcrossing as unimportant for the library. The conclusion of this study is that librarians do not conceptualise bookcrossing as a good method for reading support. But the majority of them had a positive experience of bookcrossing and they conceptualise that bookcrossing results in positive attention in the media. / Uppsatsnivå: D

This Master’s thesis explores the staff responsible for children’s culture in the south of Sweden, in north-east Scania. This thesis seeks to answer the following questions: What kind of culture is offered to children in their spare time? Can children influence culture in the investigated region, and do the people in charge listen to the children’s ideas? How are children in the region informed about cultural events? In my research I used enquiries and worked with the investigation program Query & Report to collect the material. The study consists of the staff, i.e. six people responsible for the children’s culture. As my theoretical framework I used the work of Pierre Bourdieu who made many successful studies about people and culture. I also compared the results in my study to the literature and earlier studies on the subject of children’s culture, presented in the study. It’s my thesis that children have a right to culture and to influence its selection. Obviously not everyone chooses to practise that right. There is a difference between children with an interest in culture and those who don’t have one. The staff responsible for children’s culture tries in their work to reach as many children as possible. In their work they collaborate with schools, libraries, children and youth groups with the intention to provide a variety of cultural options in the region. I found that the library has an important role, because they offer free literature and culture for everyone in the society. I also found that the staff responsible for children’s culture in north- east of Scania try to reach the children using co-workers’. Together they provide for the culture regarding children and create possibilities for children to attend to culture both in school and on the youth’s spare time. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this paper is to study if implementation of a school library management system called FreeLib has created favourable conditions for the school librarians to cooperate with other professions and become a more forward working place. I have studied relevant literature about school libraries, organisation, digital libraries and documents that regulate school and library activities today as well in the past. In order to fulfil my purpose I have done a qualitative survey with six school librarians from Swedish primary schools with pupils at the age of 6 -16 years old. To identify strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities I found in the material I used a method called SWOT analysis. According to this study the use of the digital FreeLib system has developed a better teamwork between school librarians at different schools. On the other hand the school librarians have not used the opportunities to cooperate with teachers or develop an organization chart. Consequently FreeLib has not become a changing point for the school library. One possible reason may be that the perception of school libraries still shows a picture of a place where you just pick a book to read in your classroom, which makes it more difficult to highlight and develop the school librarians’ activities among others.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate new knowledge about how children search for library material and which strategies they use, and if the latest research gives any answers whether we should adapt systems and services or teach information seeking in a better way. In this thesis knowledge is understood as research publications but also results from projects in library practise, and studies concerning children 6 to 18 years old are included. The method used is a knowledge survey. We have gathered and evaluated documentation from different sources like citation and reference databases within the field of library and information science. The result implicates that there are, both in old and new documentation, three main search strategies children use in their search for information in a library context; they browse, they search in library catalogues and they use some sort of reference service. There is however no clear paradigm amongst researchers of the best way to help children find what they seek. What can be seen is that a method appreciated by many researchers today, is to engage the children themselves in the development of services and systems. To have an interdisciplinary approach is also valuable, and many things can be learned from disciplines other than library and information science when it comes to knowledge about children and their search behaviour and needs. / Program: Bibliotekarie

Digitizing and digital libraries create great opportunities toprovide access to cultural heritage globally, but the quicklychanging information technology environment also raises manyquestions. The aim of this bachelor thesis is to analyse whatvisions and ideas behind one specific digital library, Europeana,that can be found in documentation related to the project. Whatideas can be identified concerning aspects such as userparticipation, access to information, knowledge andinformation literacy? What is the project’s role in relation toeducation, preservation of cultural heritage and democracy?The method used to answer these research questions is adescriptive idea analysis. The empirical material, consisting ofprimary sources written in relation to the project, has beencategorized within dimensions and analysed according toDouglas Raber’s three public library strategies: social activism,the conservative response and the populist initiative. Thefindings of this study are that social activism is the dominatingstrategy, including aims as to support social inclusion, promotecultural diversity and help democratize access to information.Another present strategy is the populist initiative, concerningthe will to keep up with changing user needs and online trends.The conservative response can be identified, but barely. Thereare good possibilities for the future development of this project,even if some contradictions can be found concerning thevisions in relation to financial, juridical and politicalrestrictions. Important problem areas such as the unevenparticipation of different member countries, copyrightrestrictions and diverse user needs, must be addressed also inthe future. / Program: Bibliotekarie

This master’s thesis seeks to examine how a public library use the intranet with regards to the possibilities that today’s intranet technology offer – especially concerning functionalities that support information, communication and knowledge exchange in the organization. The purpose of the study is to investigate how employees in one specific public library perceive and use the intranet in their daily work. The theoretical framework takes its point of departure in two complementing models regarding the implementation, development and management of intranets and a model of a multi perspective view of the intranet as a shared information space for content, communication and collaboration. The study is based on interviews with eleven of the intranet users, whom with the aid of an interview guide have been asked questions regarding goals, implementation, content, design, applications and advantages/disadvantages with the intranet. The result shows that the intranet in question neither has articulated purposes or goals, nor was a user analysis made before the implementation. The organization also lacks routines for intranet evaluation. The conclusion is that the content of the intranet appears to fulfil the needs of the users, but the structure and search engine makes it difficult to retrieve the information needed. Communication via forums is practically non-existent, but is none the less asked for by the employees who work in the library branches. The intranets possibilities for supporting the organizations knowledge exchange is still an unused potential. / Uppsatsnivå: D