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

The purpose of this study is to examine young people’s opinions about libraries using social media for communicative and marketing purposes. There are three research questions: What do young people think about libraries using social media for communicative and marketing purposes? Do they want to interact with libraries in social media and, if so, in what way? Are their opinions and their will to interact influenced by what kind of relationship they have with libraries, their reading habits, and whether or not they use libraries’ digital services? Prior research is divided into three themes: library development, marketing, and young people. The theoretical framework is made up of a combination of relationship marketing, using Evert Gummesson’s three catchwords relationships, networks, and interaction, and the engagement pyramid, as depicted by Brit Stakston. The method used in this study is a mixed mode-study consisting of ten semi-structured interviews and a web survey. The result shows that young people are not a homogenous group and should not be treated as such. There is a great difference if you look at the respondents’ answers as a whole, and when they are divided into different groups based on their relationship with libraries, their reading habits, et cetera. It also shows that young people want to participate and have real influence, not to be asked just for show. Therefore, they should be included in the planning and strategizing for libraries’ presence in social media. / Program: Magisterutbildning i strategisk information och kommunikation

This thesis is of an historical nature and deals with two institutions in Bosnia and Hercegovina: waqf and the Library of Gazi Husrev bay. These institutions are placed in a societal context which makes it easier to understand their origins, development and decline. The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyze the history of the Library of Gazi Husrev bay and its specific characteristics as well as analyze the institution of waqf in a societal context. The questions posed by this thesis are: What is waqf and its meaning? What are its benevolent as well as hostile periods? How did the Library of Gazi Husrev bay and its mission develop? The thesis is limited to waqf in its societal context. The method used consists of a qualitative literature study with source criticism and hermeneutics as methods of interpretation. The study shows that waqf is an important societal institution which has roots dating back to early Islamic history, that waqf had/has great importance in the education of Bosnians and the development of society in general, and that it was/is a widespread phenomenon in Bosnia. The thesis also shows that waqf experienced a number of hostile and benevolent periods as well as a neutral one. When it comes to the Library of Gazi Husrev bay, the thesis shows the library’s arduous history, its mission as well as its role in the preservation of Bosnia’s cultural heritage. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to describe the development of the most important libraries in Skövde, starting from 1830. We conclude our examination about 1940, when the municipal library has been active for almost ten years, and the libraries started by the temperance and working-class movements have been deposited at the municipal library. In order to explain this process we describe the development of the Swedish public library and its predecessors, such as reading societies and the popular national movements’ libraries, as a background and comparison to the early libraries in Skövde. We describe the most significant libraries that existed in Skövde during this period, starting with a reading society in 1830. We continue with a commercial lending library and a couple of popular national movements’ libraries, before we discuss the municipal library. The municipal library in Skövde opened quite late, almost 15 years after the decision in the municipal council. We examine what happened in the meantime, and introduce Major Eric Uggla who played an important part in this process. To explain his role in this development, we have done a simplified structure/actor analysis, based on a model by Lennart Lundquist, professor of political science. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what functions the public library has for parents of small children. If and how they make use of the library and what their opinion is about it. The research questions are: Which functions does the public library have for parents of small children? How do parents of small children use the library and what opinion do they have about it? Which factors have an impact on the parents of small children and how do they influence their use of and opinion about the public library and the functions of the library? The theoretical approach is based on Henrik Jochumsen and Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen’s model of the social room and the lifestyles and Marianne Andersson and Dorte Skot-Hansen’s model of the public library’s functions. To answer our research questions we have made seven qualitative interviews with parents of small children. The study showed that the parents use the library frequently and that they for instance borrow children’s books, films, CDs, computer games and take part in story-times. The parents are generally satisfied with the library. The public library has a function as a cultural center, knowledge center, information center and social center to the parents. Examples of the factors that affect the parents are: the children’s age, ethnicity, level of education, profession, number of children, other sources than the library, if they are first time parents, previous experiences of library, the role of parenthood, personal preferences and access to Internet at home. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim with this thesis is to investigate how librarians experience communication with children in reference interviews. In today’s interactive community it is meaningful to study how children communicate with the librarian in virtual reference interview as well as in ordinary reference interviews in physical libraries. Focus has been on finding out what children ask about and how they are asking in virtual reference interviews and in ordinary reference interviews, what type of information needs the children have. The study also focuses on which barriers there can be in reference interviews. Empirical data has been collected by interviewing librarians who work in physical libraries and librarians who work with virtual reference interviews. The method used is qualitative interviews. The transcriptions were analyzed using Höglund’s and Persson’s theory about information needs and Buckland’s theory about barriers in information seeking. The findings show that the children’s own questions represent a subjective information need and the questions that children ask that come from school represents an objective information need. There are both similarities and differences between face to face and virtual reference interviews. The main differences are that the nonverbal communication is lost in the virtual reference interview and that the children are more anonymous in the virtual reference interview and therefore ask more private questions.

Jag har utvärderat Umeåregionens bibliotekssamarbete. Samarbetet innebär att biblioteken i kommunerna Bjurholm, Nordmaling, Robertsfors, Umeå, Vindeln och Vännäs har en gemensam bibliotekskatalog och att låntagare har ett lånekort som gäller för hela regionen. Låntagare kan låna och lämna tillbaka media på samtliga bibliotek i regionen.                                                                                           Syftet med utvärderingen är att kartlägga låneflödena mellan biblioteken i regionen för att få kunskap för att utveckla medieförsörjningsstrategier och –metoder på biblioteken. Utvärderingen innehåller en översiktlig kartläggning av låneströmmarna i hela regionen samt en mer detaljerad kartläggning av låneströmmarna mellan Umeå stadsbibliotek och Ålidhemsbiblioteket (Umeå kommun). Jag har tittat på låneströmmarna så som de såg ut under 2009. Mina resultat visar att samarbetet verkar fungera på ett tillfredsställande sätt. Samarbetet har lett till ett stort medieutbyte mellan biblioteken. Det verkar inte som att något bibliotek eller någon kommun har förlorat på samarbetet. Umeå stadsbibliotek fungerar som ett nav för resten av biblioteken i regionen. Vad gäller lånen från ett bibliotek till ett annat lånas media i första hand in från den egna kommunen, i andra hand från ett annat huvudbibliotek och i tredje hand från en annan kommuns filial eller kommundelsbibliotek. Vinsterna som samarbetet innebär verkar vara större än dess kostnader. Jag har bland annat kunnat konstatera att det skickas mycket facklitteratur från Umeå stadsbibliotek till Ålidhemsbiblioteket, något som kan bero på att studenter boende kring Ålidhemsbiblioteket lånar mycket kurslitteratur.

In this two years masters thesis in Library and Information Studies, the Russian Library-Bibliographical Classification (LBC/BBK) and the Chinese Library Classification (CLC) are analyzed with regard to their historical and ideological backgrounds and their respective evolutions. The structure of these classifications is compared with the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), as well as three chosen subjects (History, Politics and Religion). A qualitative comparative textual method is used.The study shows that these classification schemes, created at different times, different parts of the world, and different political systems, have different biases but give priority to the European before other foreign views. Otherwise, they often use a proximity principle. The CLC and the LBC were originally based on Marxist materialist principles but built in totally different ways. The CLC is closer to the DDC in the idealistic outline of the main groups of classes. The Chinese scheme, influenced by Maoism, shows the clearest ideological purpose, while the current LBC shows less bias than the others in the studied subjects. The dramatic political changes that Russia experienced after the fall of the Soviet Union necessitated the renewal of the scheme, which was not the case with the other two schemes. Despite this, the original structure of the LBC and also the Chinese Library Classification has been, with a few exceptions, retained, but the subdivisions have changed much more substantially. The LBC has lost its original Marxist content and the CLC has followed the regimes official guidelines which do not really acknowledge the major changes in Chinese society over the last few decades properly. History can explain many aspects of library classification schemes.

The aim of this bachelor thesis is to examine what Swedish parliamentarians thinks about the library as an institution. To achieve this aim we use discourse analysis. By analyzing parliament motions from four decades we found nine discourses that represents a wide variety of thoughts and opinions of what the library is, what it should contain and what it should provide. The discourses that we identified are: the culture discourse, the multi-cultural discourse, the reading discourse, the technical discourse, the information discourse, the democratic discourse, the book discourse, the quality discourse and the learning discourse. These discourses can furthermore be divided in three branches that expresses continuous thoughts about the library. Those are that the library is for everyone, that the library is a carrier of something and that the library is an intermediary of something. The opinions differ between the left wing and the right wing as well as between the individual parties. The changes that can be seen over time is mostly due to the societal and technology development.

This thesis reports on a study of official political documents for Falköping and Fagersta public libraries, aiming for a deeper understanding of how they were affected by local culture policy. The period researched is 1991 – 2001. The comprehensive questions were: how did the strategic plans of the two municipalities follow the development of cultural policy in Sweden during the period, and what differences appeared in the development of the strategic plans of the two municipalities during this period? A document analysis was conducted with an empirical focus on historical policy documents. The analysis was guided by a model by Dorte Skot-Hansen. The model served as an analytical tool while comparing the strategic documents of the two libraries. Skot-Hansen illustrates three different rationalities in relation to cultural policy; the humanistic, the sociological and the market oriented. The analysis showed that both Fagersta and Falköping mainly followed the market-oriented line in the Dorte Skot-Hansen model. The study also points put that the local cultural policy was influenced by a humanistic and sociological line of reasoning.