More and more libraries nowadays interact more closely within their regions. Therefore, it is interesting to examine how a collaboration between libraries can contribute to development of the libraries. This study is about The Göta Libraries, a partnership consisting of public libraries in 14 municipalities, the thirteen municipalities in Östergötland and Tranås, and the county library in Östergötland. The study has examined the types of innovation the library collaboration can contribute to the libraries, the challenges that faces the Göta Libraries and what factors are important for the cooperation to work in a rewarding way. To find out this four interviews were conducted with library staff. Jennifer Rowleys theory on collaborative innovation has been applied to the study. The study results show that there has been different types of innovations for the libraries as a result of the Göta Libraries development. The main benefits are that libraries aquired much more reources in their collections when they coordinated their catalogues, which entails that they can give a better service to their users. The challenges that libraries were faced with was that it can take time to develop common rules and that too much bureaucracy can prevent people from trying out new things. As for the factors for a collaboration to be successful and rewarding it is of major importance that everyone contributes to the collaboration and that everyone follows the common rules.

The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the societysystem in Austria has influenced the library system. The aim is toanalyse in what way these influences have changed during thegrowth and development of the public library system and how it isdisplayed in each separate library branch. The focus of myinvestigation has been the municipality public libraries in Vienna,and mainly the three libraries in the third district of the city. Themethod I have used is literature studies, examining and analysingsource material from the internal archive of the public libraries inVienna. I have also used the qualitative interview method in orderto examine the situation in the selected libraries Rabengasse,Erdbergstraße and Fasangasse.As there is no common library law, there are significantdifferences in the library structure in different parts of Austria andeach municipality decides how they want to prioritize the libraries.Since the public libraries of Vienna are well organized together inBüchereien Wien, the library structure in the separate librarybranches is coordinated. My study shows that the Austrian societylargely has influenced the library development and librarystructure. The influences of the society system can bedistinguished in the late development from a closed-shelvessystem into a system of open shelves in the public libraries ofVienna. The ideas of the librarians in the workers library in linewith Walther Hofmann´s remained into the seventies (1970). Thishas influenced the work in the separate libraries. It has shown thatlong decision-making processes have affected the librarydevelopment and work. / Program: Bibliotekarie

This master’s thesis deals with the development of the Swedish library catalogue. The thesis primarily has two purposes. Firstly, it describes how the Swedish library catalogue has developed from its first appearance until today. As the Swedish library sector is very extensive the authors have chosen a few catalogues which they have studied more thoroughly. To find information about the chosen catalogues different literature sources have been used, for example historical texts describing the actual catalogues, biographical and scholarly texts and official reports. Secondly, it examines the changes of the catalogue from an institutional perspective. The new institutional theory is used. This theory is explained and its background and development within different subject fields is described. Especially three different aspects of the theory have been studied and analysed in the text. These are the importance within institutions of operating procedures and rules (for example actors and routines), isomorphic changes and institutions’ importance for social and political control and legitimacy. The authors find that catalogues have appeared in different shapes and have had different aims throughout the centuries. The first catalogues were administered by organizations lead by strong leaders. Isomorphic processes were important to the development and their influences have had different geographic origin during the period. As the development of the library catalogue progresses it appears to be a strong factor in the institutionalization of libraries. / Uppsatsnivå: D

In this paper we describe UX and design thinking as a method for library development, and we describe the library as a democratic arena and its democratic mission. These ideas and methods are becoming more of common use among libraries. Since public libraries have a democratic mission we find it relevant to examine what view is presented within these new methods of libraries, users and democracy. Design thinking and UX have developed within the private sector, and since libraries in Sweden are financed by the public sector conflicts may arise between the two. The purpose of this paper is to perform an ideology analysis of the document Design thinking for libraries – Toolkit (the Swedish version). This with the purpose to shed light on these aspects, and to find out how they relate to Paulo Freire’s and Henry Giroux’s theories of critical pedagogy and radical democracy with the concepts empowerment and marginalisation. From the analysis, an ideological view emerges that promotes neoliberal values, instead of a more radical democratic view that we would expect to find since the Toolkit is created as a method for library development. Users appear as providers of information, which is then used as a design-tool for this development. Compared to Freire and Giroux, this is not equal to empowerment since focus is not on strengthening users. In addition to this, we have found that problems are not allowed to exist in the Toolkit since they are invariably supposed to be seen as opportunities instead, which gives the impression that marginalisation is a person’s own fault. Furthermore, the Toolkit emphasises the librarian instead of the user, and also requires that the practitioner is open minded, positive and trusts the process. In other words, there is not much room for reflection or critical thinking, either among staff or users, hence, democracy is not promoted.

The aim of this study is to look into the learning environment and learning conditions of regional library employees. The study has a qualitative and deductive approach. The theoretical position of the study is Fuller and Unwin’s continuum for expansive versus restrictive learning environments, which is drawn upon Lave and Wenger’s theory of situated learning and Engeström’s expansive learning theory. Fuller and Unwin’s conceptual model of expansive and restrictive learning environments is used as a lens to collect and analyse data. Six semi-structured interviews have been conducted with regional library employees at two different library development units. The results, based on the perspective of the regional library employees, show that the learning environment can be seen as both restrictive and expansive. The findings indicate that the learning environment is expansive when it comes to the individual's opportunity to learn and develop within their role and restrictive when it comes to learning that challenges the organisation of work. The findings also indicate that the integration of formal and informal learning is facilitated by the supportive learning climate in a workgroup, by teamwork and cooperation, by group learning through dialogue and by group attendance at formal learning activities. Furthermore, the integration of formal and informal learning seems to be impeded by current standards of best practice and social structures which emphasize learning as transfer. The integration also seems to be impeded by a limited scope of action due to multiple learning environments represented by multiple contexts such as the regional library, the individual public libraries in each region and the municipalities that those public libraries belong to.

The aim of the thesis is to gather knowledge about how public libraries work with cognitive accessibility in marketing and communication activities and to investigate opportunities for knowledge sharing. Users with disabilities are a priority group for public libraries, but research on working methods is lacking. The result therefore carries both scientific and societal relevance. The research questions are: How do librarians describe the abilities they have and the conditions they need to communicate in an accessible way? How do librarians view the possibilities of making their work useful in a broader context, for other librarians? The study is based on four interviews with staff from four public libraries with a work in progress to improve accessibility in their communication. The result was analysed through the theoretical framework of relationship marketing (Gummesson) and access to information (Buckland). The result shows that important priorities for management are to provide time and resources for knowledge acquisition. Internal as well as external collaborations have been initiated, but the librarians want primarily to develop cooperation with people in the target group, which has not been done sufficiently so far. The participants attest that the library field is well suited for exchange and collaboration. For further development they suggest national and regional networks, publications and informal groups on social media. The acquired knowledge within the organization combined with already established working methods and relationships can provide continued development.

The aim of this thesis is to contribute with knowledge on how library staff work to increase cognitive accessibility for people with cognitive disabilities in libraries. According to the Swedish Library Act and The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), people with cognitive disabilities are a priority group. The aim is achieved through five semi-structured interviews with library staff that actively work to increase cognitive accessibility for this group. The empirical data from the interviews were categorized into themes and analyzed through a combination of M. K. Buckland ́s fifth barrier in the theory of Access to Information, and Johansson and Larsdotters five categories of information.  Our study shows library staff´s perceptions and descriptions of the work that is done to increase cognitive accessibility in libraries. Two parts that seem to be important are a friendly behavior from the library staff towards people with cognitive disabilities, and the reduction of impressions in the library room, in order to avoid information overload. The staff's commitment, competence and collaboration with the focused user group, appears to be key factors in the development of cognitive accessibility work in libraries.

The structure of the Swedish public library field has been evolving during the last decades. The traditional mission of educating the citizens to become responsible, democratic and knowledgeable members of society has in a way led to the integration between public and school libraries. Lately new co-operational models have been under debate and a sense of resistance has arisen because of the economical and market influences. In parallel with closure of library branches new libraries have evolved in malls and wash houses and some with self-service with no use of librarians. This work shows how co-operation in rural areas finds the common goals for the people living there who are concerned about keeping the service needed including the public library and thus using existing means and crossing borders of commercial thinking. Participators in the project are interviewed to find out their various wishes and a mutual goal. The degree of local democracy is also investigated. The outcome of this thesis is that in rural areas with tough municipal economy the citizens co-operate over borders to keep the services they want, and in this specific case it is found to be a meeting spot in the centre of the village, where also the library will be located, together with the country store.