This thesis is an investigation of Bosnian immigrants and their use of libraries in Borås and Anderstorp. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate if people from Bosnia read in their mother tongue Bosnian and if they read in Swedish too. The essay is based on questionnaires concerning both young and older immigrants' reading and library habits. The survey encompasses 30 Bosnians. In the theory I have described relevant literature and confirmed the importance of identity, language and culture for immigrants. Almost all the informants have been living in Sweden around 12 years. Both the young and the older informants use the libraries to borrow literature in Swedish. The older informants generally read newspapers and periodicals in their native language. They also borrow literature in their native language. The young informants on the other hand read and borrow literature in Swedish. Many researches showed that reading is very important not only for the ability to get a good and rich language but also for building up a good self-confidence. At the end I can say that public libraries are important institutes for Bosnian immigrants. / Uppsatsnivå: C

This thesis examines the perception and use of the school library for students at an Upper Secondary School. The school has a high frequent of immigrant students, and the students interviewed all have an immigrant background. The intention was to find out how the students used the school library and what perception they have of the school library. The method used was semi-structured interviews with eight students, both males and females, who studies different educational programs. The instrument of theory was that from Elisabeth Tallaksen Rafste’s theoretical framework. She has developed a concept about users and non-users of the school library, how the space of the school library is used and the actual use of the school library as a place for studies and a place for leisure. The study shows that the school library is a place that the students use for getting practical things done for their schoolwork. Most of the information seeking is done in the classroom as a result of the fact that the school provides all students with their own portable computers. Therefore the teachers assist the students a lot in their information seeking process. Another reason that the students don’t use the library as a place to find information as much, might be the fact that the staff of the library is not educated librarians. The school library is found to be a front region, a place with strong rules, under the control of the staff of the library.

A study around some fourteen and fifteen year old boys, who are interested in reading. It is about their reading and library habits, what has created their interest and where they acquire access to literature. A certain amount deals with the habits of the boys’ school-friends in this subject. The result compares with earlier made reports. The study is built on interviews between six boys, a children librarian at a public library and a school librarian. Furthermore, a questionnaire has been carried out among 79 school-friends to the interviewed boys. The result of the report indicates that the foundation of the boys’ reading interests begins at an early age within the family and mainly through their mothers’ influence. The boys’ main access to literature is acquired mostly in the home in the families’ own library. The boys prefer to buy their own books, rather than visiting the public library. The reason for this is that they do not feel at home in the library. They have difficulties in finding what they want. The supply of popular literature and music is limited. On the contrary, they are busy visitors to the school library, where they feel more at home. The supply is there more adapted to their demands. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this Master’s thesis is to investigate the library habits of young people, age 15 to 24. Our empirical data are gathered in a survey distributed to 104 young men and women at three different public libraries. The questions are about how young people use the public library, what media and services they use and whether or not they are content with what the public library can offer them. In our analysis we have compared our results to previous research and used a model by Marianne Andersson and Dorte Skot-Hansen to determine how they use the library. The previous research we have found deals with the library habits of young people, and their music, movie and book preferences. The model describes different ways in which you can use the public library. This model divides the functions of the public library in four different categories. These four categories are the cultural center, the knowledge center, the information center and the social center. The result of our survey shows that the young people use the library to borrow books and to study. Our result was in most parts consistent with what previous research have shown. Finally we came to the conclusion that the young people in our study use the library mostly like a knowledge center or a cultural centre. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to examine what the data from recent Library- and Information Science studies tell us about the importance of school libraries in a student perspective. Our theoretical framework is built upon Elisabeth Tallaksen Rafste’s concept about the values of school libraries to students. Our aim is to investigate how students between the ages of 15 and 18 use and experience school library. The method used was a literature study where we collected the students’ experiences of their school library from the data parts in our sources. Our sources consist of Master’s theses from the years 1998 to 2006. The study shows that the students’ use of school library is closely linked to the resources spent on it. School libraries with limited operating hours are typically used as a resource for tuition-related purposes only: a place for work and book-borrowing. However, in school libraries with generous operating hours, in addition to spending more time there, pupils also used the library space for leisure related purposes. The use of it as a social meeting place was more common in schools that lacked common rooms. Available common rooms made school library more work- and education oriented. The librarian was of great importance to the students as a resource for all kinds of information related questions and for creating a study enabling environment by maintaining peace and quiet. In conclusion, the use of school library depends on the resources spent on the library. Generous operating hours, good stock and manning will result in wider use of library facilities and resources, while students will appreciate its existence to a greater extent. / Program: Bibliotekarie

This thesis investigates young people's (16-21) preferences in reading through a surveyincluding interviews and questionnaires. The groups attitudes towards reading and libraries,their reading and library habits, and to what extent eight libraries had bought the preferredliterature were also examined.Some reports from the 80's were used to find the changes. The result shows that youngstersread and visit libraries somewhat more frequently. Trivial literature is not as dominant, moreteenage-books were read. Popular themes are love, history, reality, fantasy/sf, and detectivestories. The books should be exciting or emotional. The way they were told was important -something earlier studies did not show.Reading was mainly connected with relaxation and the content was essential. The librarieswere important intermediaries and the majority was happy with the collection. 21% of themost popular titles were missing, and only an average of 1,5-5 books were available of mosttitles.

This thesis investigates young people´s (16-21) preferences in reading through a survey including interviews and questionnaires. The groups attitudes towards reading and libraries, their reading and library habits, and to what extent eight libraries had bought the preferred literature were also examined. Some reports from the 80´s were used to find the changes. The result shows that youngsters read and visit libraries somewhat more frequently. Trivial literature is not as dominant, more teenage-books were read. Popular thems are love, history, reality, fantasy/sf, and detective stories. The books should be exciting or emotional. The way they were told was important - something earlier studies did not show. Reading was mainly connected with relaxation and the content was essential. The libraries were important intermediaries and the majority was happy with the collection. 21% of the most popular titles were missing, and only an average of 1,5-5 books were available of most titles.

This study is about information needs and library habits among newly retired people. The purpose of this master thesis is to examine the affective and cognitive needs that come with retirement. In what way do the information needs of this group change due to retirement? In order to answer this question we make use of two theoretical models; Role theory and Wilson’s model of information needs. When it comes to library habits, we use Andersson and Skot-Hansens model to examine how newly retired people use the library now and how they could use it on basis of their needs in their new role. The method used in this study is qualitative; interviews are done with six newly retired people. The results show that newly retired people have a cognitive need to create meaning in their lives and an affective need of being needed to compensate for their loss of work role. These needs do not however create that many information needs. The newly retired people who were interviewed consider that they already know everything that they need to know, especially when it comes to information about their interests, which they have been into for many years. If there is something they need to know there tends not to be a problem finding information about it. The library is used as a centre of knowledge, for example newspaper-reading, and as a centre of culture, for example book borrowing. / Uppsatsnivå: D

This thesis examines what and in which language young people in Sweden with other linguistic backgrounds than Swedish read, as well as if they have access to the literature that they demand, how they use the library and what kind of role the library plays to them. The chosen method was quantitative and it consisted of a questionnaire as this method is useful in quantifying phenomena, which is the purpose of this thesis. The investigation shows that the studied population is bilingual. I hope that the thesis points out the range of the problems and that these issues need to be solved within the society and not the within the family. We need to make use of the resources of the young immigrants, as their cultural competence, in some cases even bi-cultural competence, can be useful for the Swedish society. Regarding group identity, whether Swedish or immigrant, part of the young immigrants perceive themselves as members of both these groups. It is however natural to have different identities in different circumstances. It is of importance that such roles, and the sub-identities that develop from them, are integrated into a harmonious entity. In order to reach this goal, the young people need access to literature in their own language in the library. It is not easy for a librarian to be familiar with names of current writers, which write books for young people in that many linguistic groups. A co-operation between the library and the teachers of native language could result in solving the problem and in purchases of books written by current writers from different linguistic groups being made. Finally it can be said that library is an important place for young people regarding studies, they also appreciate the accessibility of the library and the service-minded librarians. Other comments include wishes regarding more books in the native language, both literature and factual study books, more dictionaries and more new CD’s and films. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the functions of the public library for parents of infants and how they see the ideal library. The research questions are: How do parents of infants use the library and what are their experience of it? What opinions and wishes do parents of infants have regarding the library? How can library services be developed to better match the needs of the parents of infants? The theoretical approach is based on Marianne Andersson and Dorte Skot-Hansen’s model of the public library’s functions and the model of classification by Ellen-Merete Duvold and Gunnar Sæbø. To answer my research questions I have carried out three focus-group interviews with parents of infants. The study revealed that the public library functions as a cultural centre, a social centre, a knowledge centre and, to a certain extent, an information centre for the parents. Baby Story Time and other library programs for infants and parents are examples of a combination of the functions cultural center, social center and knowledge center. These programs also function as information grounds. The parents of infants would like to have a library that is practical, safe and cosy. The programs for infants and parents are popular and there is a need for more of these activities. Evening programs concerning the role of parents could be held at the library. Inviting pregnant women to the library may open possibilities and facilitate greater use. Focus-groups could be held at the library to improve the communication between parents and the library.