The purpose of this thesis is to examine the debate in library journals and in official reports on the subject of library education in Sweden. We focus on two periods: the period just before the year 1972 – when the library education was transformed into being occupationally-oriented and the period just before the year 1993, when the library education was transformed into being ”academised”. This Master’s thesis shows that the debate and the arguments among initiated people in the library world have had some impact on how the library education was transformed later on. We study the arguments content and the frequency of arguments by using qualitative analysis of contents. The analysis has been conducted through an examination of these arguments by studying the roles of libraries and the professional roles of librarians. The arguments are studied in their context, i. e alongside a presentation of current societal and cultural changes. The conclusion is that the arguments presented have had some impact on how the library education later on was formed, though the changes of the library education were not as immediate as some debaters wished. Some debaters argumented that the Library Education needs to change constantly, in order to keep up with the changing demands from the surrounding society. We assume that the Library Education in the future will continue to adjust to the changing demands from society. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to investigate the criticisms of the Swedish library education 1990-2005. By studying four different magazines, we tried to find the various opinions. The years investigated are 1990 to 2005. We have studied articulated opinions, not all opinions, in four library journals. In 1993, the education was transformed towards a more academic line, why we want to explore the discussions shortly before and during this change. Noticeable concrete changes during this time are an increased number of education sites, more technology and less practise.Research questions: 1. In what themes of opinions has criticism, for or against the new library education, been presented in library journals during the period 1990-2005? 2. What themes have been dominating this period?3. What differences in these themes are found in relative importance over the 16 years?4. Which are the most interested parties in the survey during this period of time? We read the magazines and sorted the criticism into themes and put them together to get a pattern of the discussions. We find representatives from associations to be the most active interested party, then educators. The pattern of opinions reveals the following: the new education can lead to several various types of employment, not just in libraries. Other opinions debated were if the education is relevant and if practise is necessary. The theme of distance education is discussed most frequently in the beginning of our period and the gender issue in the end. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this thesis is to examine librarians' view on the knowledge and competence required at a small public library and how they look upon their education in retrospect. Library education in the 1970's and 1980's was mainly practical, a vocational training, but since 1995 the education results in an academic degree in Library & Information Science. Due to this, we focus on the ongoing generation shift in Swedish libraries as an aspect of knowledge and education. The empirical study is based on interviews with librarians working in minor public libraries. The informants form two groups, based on their education; “old” ones and “new” ones. The interviews deal with questions concerning librarians' knowledge and competence, the library education and how small public libraries might be affected by the generation shift. Different concepts of knowledge and competence are applied to the empirical material in order to characterize the required knowledge. The result shows that four areas of knowledge are outstanding in importance to both groups of librarians, i.e. information retrieval, social skills, literary knowledge and general knowledge. The two groups differ in how they describe and value their education. Older education is valued as more relevant than the new one to these librarians. Whilst the newly educated librarians stress information as a theme for their education, the older generation was trained to mediate culture. In the future, information is supposed to be emphasized at the expense of literature exchange and outreach library activities. / Uppsatsnivå: D

This paper will portray the differences and similarities that exist between students whoattended the Swedish School of Library and Information Science in Borås.The study is based upon quantitative information gathered from a survey which wasdistributed to first-year students in Borås in the auturnn term 1994. A total of 77 studentsresponded to the survey.We also do a comparative study of the students at all the library programs in Sweden.This is partially based on the findings by a thesis prior to this one by the authorsSvalstedt and Österdahl.We found that the students in Borås differ mainly in their personal histories and backgrounds.When it comes to their attitudes towards the profession and educationalmatters they are similar. Further we found the same to be true in our comparison of thelibrary programs in total.

This thesis will portray the different types of students at the programs of library studiesin Lund and Umeå.The study is based upon quantitative information gathered from a survey, which wasdistributed to first-year students in Lund and Umeå. The survey was followed by qualitativeinterviews with four students, and with the director of studies from each school.The study shows that the programs, as we11 as the students, are very similar, althoughthere are some minor differences. It seemed that the students at Umeå were moreinterested in culture than those at Lund.A certain connection between the aim at information and the ownership of a computercould be detected. The sex of the students played a major part in their choice of education.The attractors and facilitators, used by Lortie in his study, could also be appliedto the students at the program of library studies in our thesis.

The purpose of this thesis is to compare international ideal competencies for Special Collections librarianship to the possibility to acquire these competencies as a student of library education or as a professional librarian with the care of special collections in a public library in Sweden today. The questions posed are: How are international ideal competencies concerning special collections looked upon in Swedish public libraries? How can students or professional librarians today acquire competences necessary for the work at hand in special collections? Suggested in this thesis is to emphasize the importance of understanding that handling special collections demands other skills and belongs to other practices than ordinary work in a public library. The major discrepancy with international ideal competencies consists in the lack of ways for education in the field of special collections for both students and professional librarians in Sweden today.

This study is a statistical content analysis, of masters’ theses written in 2005 at the Swedish School of Library and Information Studies in Borås. The relations between their epistemological discourses, theories, methods, themes and chosen alignment within the education, the so-called ‘kollegium’/college, are examined. The results are put in relation to the concepts multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity to see what kind of discipline Library and Information Science (LIS) can be described as, on the basis of this material. As a theoretical framework, I have used theory of science and Bourdieu’s theories about social and academic fields. A selection of opinions and theories in research about LIS as a discipline are also recited and related to. LIS, in the implementation of the analyzed theses, appears to be mainly multidisciplinary even if also, in some respects, interdisciplinary. The analyzed texts show tendencies to specialize and form factions within the smaller subject areas of the discipline, which according to some earlier research applies to LIS generally. This may seem natural for a thesis and an alignment to do, but seen as a whole one can problematize whether such deployments are all consciously intended and/or fruitful. Signs of specialization and separation are visible within all of the analyzed variables. Hence the students, to some extent, can be said to choose direction in both epistemologies, theories, methods and themes, when they choose college. On the other hand, the boundaries do not seem insurmountable. There are factors that, at times, cross them or are held in common. / Uppsatsnivå: D

This thesis describes the introduction of Web 2.0 education into Swedish LIS education with emphasis on the driving forces and obstacles in the process. It also discusses the possibilities of estimating the appropriate time for the start of new educational courses introducing new technologies, when it is uncertain if the technologies in question will sustain for a long enough period of time to make the educational effort worthwhile. The data on the Web 2.0 education was collected during the spring of 2010 from the Web pages of the five LIS departments in Sweden, namely Borås, Lund, Umeå, Uppsala and Växjö, as well as by 10 interviews during November and December 2010 with two representatives from each LIS department..The key finding is that Web 2.0 is covered in Swedish LIS education and embracing both practical and theoretical issues. The main driving forces have been both the needs of the profession and an academic research interest. It is concluded that Rogers’“S-curves” as described in “Diffusion of Innovation” can be used as a tool in order to improve the understanding of when to introduce education in new technologies. Departments with no research in the new technology will probably start education in the new technology later due to the lack of scientific literature, while departments with research in the new field will have the potential to start earlier. / Program: Bibliotekarie