The use of smartphones, computers and tablets among teenagers in the ages of 13-16 are increasing and their time to read in their leisure time are decreasing. The aim of this study is to examine if the public libraries can increase this target group´s leisure reading with electronic media. To aquire this information, four questions were asked; what kind of reading comprehension does they have today? What kind of digital habits do they have? How do they use the library today? How can libraries increase the availability of electronic media for this target group? Group interviews were used to answer these questions and qualitative content analysis to analyze the empirical information. The theory used for analyzing the results were literacy. The conclusion is that their reading comprehension was depending on how much they read in school, on schedule. As long as they had reading on schedule they more often brought their books home to read. Most of them experienced that they didn´t get enough information about electronic media from the library and what they are offering. Most of them thought that they would use electronic media more if they got more information and education about it. The majority had used or used audio books. The supply of electronic media and above all e-books, in the public libraries are dependent of their budgets because the costs of e-books are still relatively expensive. A consequence is that the libraries tightens their supply instead of increasing it.

The aim of our bachelor thesis was to study how the personnel incharge of the mobile websites at two University Libraries and thestudents at those Universities viewed the mobile websites, and iftheir views in any way differed.Our research questions were:Why have the examined Libraries chosen to offer mobilewebsites?How do the students at the examined Universities experience anduse respective mobile website?Are there differences between the staff’s intentions with themobile websites and how they are used and experienced by thestudents, and how could they be explained?Semistructured interviews were conducted with six staff membersresponsible for the mobile websites and eleven students that hadexperience in using these. The theoretical framework for thisthesis consists of Klasson’s three models for University Librarianspersonas, and the parts of Rogers theory about diffusion ofinnovations that concerns the attributes of innovations and thecommunication channels.The result of the study indicates that there are some differencesabout how the students use and experience the mobile websitesand the staffs intentions for them. The students required contentwhich the staff had discarded. They also wished to recognise thelayout compared to the desktop website. The overall use of themobile websites was lower than the staff expected. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this master’s thesis is to examine how exchange students experience looking for information in their new life situation during a semester in Prague. A further purpose is to investigate what barriers they have faced and how this affected their information behavior. Six qualitative interviews of students constitute the empirical foundation for the study. The interviewees are from six different European countries, were all participating in the Erasmus program, and all had social sciences/humanities/art as their main subject. The empirical findings were analyzed with the use of T.D Wilson’s context oriented model of information behavior from the article “Information behavior: an inter-disciplinary perspective”. This includes for example the theory of stress and coping from the psychology. The result shows that exchange students are dealing with a complex of problems, being both a student and a newcomer. A certain level of stress is experienced when it comes to getting informed, especially in the initial part of the exchange. One main barrier is the Czech language, which also functions as a great activating mechanism. By learning this, the exchange students get more independent in their use of information and they also get closer to the Czech society. Other common barriers are related to the bureaucratic system in international student offices, libraries and other places where information is supposed to be accessible. Even if the impressions are split the library is a quite well used source among the students. Socials contacts, such as other students and local people, are also important sources, especially when it comes to overcoming the barriers. / Uppsatsnivå: D

This master’s thesis investigates in which ways students seek out and access their textbooks and how they use their university’s library in this process. Data is collected through interviews from six students several semesters into their studies at the University of Stockholm. For the interviews two students each were selected from the fields of law, economics and humanities. The empirical findings were analyzed using T.D Wilson’s model of information behavior (1997). The model is constructed as a flow chart where the individual’s information behavior is clarified in various activities and processes. I conclude that the majority of the students do purchase at least some of the text books they require for their studies. Other texts are acquired through other means and a certain percentage is not acquired at all. The decision making process of whether and in which way to acquire a particular piece of literature is critically influenced by the student´s context (especially their economic situation). To which extent the university library will be used by students varies widely from student to student. It can, however, be noted that it largely depends on the individual student´s context and general attitude towards the library. For at least a small number of students the university library represents the key strategy to acquire literature. As students gain experience during the course of their studies, they will alter their strategy to a certain extent.

The aim of this thesis was to examine how role players experiences libraries and if the libraries are or can be an arena for activities that involves role play. A public library exists for everyone, but could nevertheless be viewed as a female sphere where women both borrow more books and visit the libraries program activities to a larger extent, compared to men. I asked the question whether men’s reason for choosing a different venue for information and culture was related to the libraries not being able to satisfy their needs. The theory of the thesis was Dorte Skot-Hansen, Casper Rasmussen Hvenegaard and Henrik Jochumsens model that states that the libraries can have four different functions and act as a venue for meetings, knowledge, inspiration and experiences. The chosen method was semi-structured interviews. I interviewed six male role players in order to study how they perceive the function of today’s public libraries and aimed to find out how the libraries could improve to meet the needs of the role players. The result shows that the four functions currently do not function particularly well according to the target group. The role players had, however, both needs and desires regarding future activities at libraries. The conclusion is that libraries could change both what literature and cultural activities they offer. If the libraries change this according to the needs of the target group they would be an attractive place for this male target group.

The aim of this thesis is to study 15 and 16-year-olds’ perception of libraries. Despite the fact that the youth is seen as a prioritized group when it comes to library work, the focus is often drawn to the children, and there is a risk that teens and their needs are set aside. My focus is the public library and how the young people in my study use it in their leisure time. The theory of the thesis is a model created by Skot-Hansen, Hvenegaard Rasmussen and Jochumsen and it highlights four possible rooms or functions in a library, concerning inspiration, learning, meetings and creativity. I have interviewed six teenagers in order find out how they perceive the library and its functions.My conclusions are that the teenagers consider libraries good and important, but that the interior as well as the activities can be improved. They want to interact with each other and take part in various creative activities. If the libraries change these functions according to the needs of young people they can transform the library into an attractive place for the youth. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to study what views 15-16 years old teenagers, living in the Swedish countryside, have about public libraries. The method chosen for this study is focus group interviews with both library users and none-library users included. A theoretical method called The four spaces (Jochumsen, Hvenegaard Rasmussen & Skot-Hansen, 2012) has been used to analyse the empirical material.15 teenagers were part of this study and the result shows that the teenagers have a traditional view of public libraries, which means that they only see it as a place to borrow books and where one has to be quiet in order to not disturb other visitors. A conclusion is that if teenagers living in the countryside are to change their views about public libraries, the public libraries need to change their activities for this particular age group. Because today they feel like it’s not the most interesting place to visit.

The aim of this qualitative study is to examine how users of talking books perceive the possibility of downloading talking books from home without visiting the library and how this affects them. Three research questions were formulated:How do talking book users reflect on their library usage?Have the subject's' library usage changed since introduction to the download service?How have users experienced the service?To answer these questions, five semi structured interviews were conducted with five different users of talking books in Sweden. All subjects were currently using download services which they had gained access to from their local public libraries. In analyzing the interviews, a theory established by Henrik Jochumsen and Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen in Gør biblioteket en forskel (2000) was used. This allowed us to better understand different roles of the library. The study shows that users find the ability to borrow books as the main reason for using the library. It was further established that the subjects' library usage had not changed since introduction to download services. All users reported satisfaction with the services. We have identified the issues experienced by users to be mainly connected to print disabilities or lacking computer skills. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this study is to examine how librarians experience implementations of changes in the physical space of the public library. The study seeks to answer the following questions from the librarians’ perspective: What are the underlying reasons for changes in the physical space of the library? What are the important functions of the public library to the community residents? What reactions do librarians get from community residents after changes in the physical space of the public library? The study is based on semi-structured interviews with librarians working at seven small public libraries in Sweden. A model of four library spaces, which was developed by Andersson and Skot-Hansen in 1994 and refined in 2012, is used as a theoretical framework to help analyzing the results. The majority of the libraries are structured according to the older version of the model. The results give evidence to the public’s understanding of the library as a physical space, a place where you can find books in shelves and qualified staff ready to help you with your questions. The findings also show that changes of the physical space are for example due to the need for bigger rooms, technical development or meeting place for the public. Finally, the results demonstrate that nearly all of the visitors to the libraries react positively to changes in the physical space and that more than half of the seven libraries have statistics giving evidence to an increasing number of physical visits and borrowed material. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The purpose of this study is to investigate information seeking habits among young persons with mild mental disability. We wanted to know how they seek information in everyday life, barriers they experience when seeking information and also if they consider the library to be a source of information.The theoretical background of this study is based on the works of T. D. Wilson and Michael Buckland. Wilson’s model of information seeking behavior and seeking information was used as a tool analyzing the results from the interviews. Buckland’s sixaspects of access to information works as a supplement to Wilson’s theory.A qualitative method, based on emistructured interviews and literature studies, was applied in our research. Six persons withmild mental disability were interviewed in their home environment.The results indicate that the respondents often were dependent on others to get access to some information. It seems, a majority ofthe respondents want access to more Information, especially from the Internet, enabling them to seek information on their own without asking for help. They also visit the library to some extent but we found that different kinds of barriers prevent them fromgetting all the information they want there. / Program: Bibliotekarie