The purpose of this Master Thesis is to investigate the quality of the library service at the City Library of Uddevalla. In particular this thesis will examine the quality of the library service to people who are disabled. This applies particularly to the service to people with reduced ability to move or to see, which also includes people with infirmities due to old age. We also have investigated how well the library itself is adapted to the disabled. In order to get more information about the library service to people who are disabled, we have studied literature on this subject and the Master Thesis contains a summary of those documents. The study is based on interviews, visits, document and literature studies. As a theoretical starting point for our discussion, we have used Total Quality Management and Goal Steering. The chief outcome of the analysis is, that disabled people get a good service, when visiting the library. Those who are housebound also get a good service. But the work is performed in a rather unstructured way. Those who live in institutions would however need more personal and perhaps individual attention. In order to create a more effective utilization of the resources, the library ought to frame distinct strategies and goals. They would also need to carry out evaluations and adjustments of their services. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to investigate how librarians approach to the multicultural collection development and which methods they use in providing library materials in minority languages. The questions to be answered are: which methods the libraries use when purchasing library materials in minority languages, how the respondents experience that the minority user groups needs are met in the library and how the multicultural competence of the staff is used in the libraries. For this purpose the qualitative interviews with 6 librarians in Gothenburg are conducted, mainly from the libraries in the immigrant-dense parts of the city, while the study being concentrated on 6 language groups of library users. The study’s theoretical framework is based on theories of multiculturalism, culture, identity and bilingualism. The results of the study reveal the major problems with purchasing library materials in minority languages: the lack of language proficiency, meagre bookmarkets and publishing in some languages along with copyright problems with sound and video recordings. The lack of language proficiency causes cataloguing problems which is why the respondents hope that in the future the purchasing and the cataloguing are going to be provided centrally. The study also reveals insufficient and sporadic consulting of the user communities for the purpose of collection development and the lack of active measures for employing more multilingual staff. The results indicate the need of more substantial involving the ethnic communities into the library services in order to avoid their cultural alienation and segregation.

The aim of this Master’s thesis is to investigate and increase the understanding of Swedish Public Library Websites and to determinate which activity they mediate. To analyse the Public Library Websites Andersson and Skot-Hansen’s model of roles for the Public Library has been used. This model in¬cludes four roles for the library: the library as a cultural centre, a knowledge centre, as an information centre and as a social centre. The questions examined are: - How do the public libraries occur on their websites? - How do the functions of cultural, knowledge, information and social centre occur on the Library Websites? The Method used for the studies is observation using as a tool a scheme consisting of the four roles in Andersson/Skot-Hansen’s model. The main findings are: - The social aspects of the Web have to be used in order to accomplish what the Library Law demands. - The Public Library Websites focuses on their catalogues and the activity of the physical Public Library. – The Websites is far from realizing the Library 2.0 vision as they offer no or inactive communication. –Websites which does not contain its own material works mainly as an advertisement for the Public Library. -The commitment to the websites of the community is a problem for the public libraries ambition to connect with patrons in new ways. -Even though aspects of all four roles in Anderson/Skot-Hansen’s model can be found on the Websites, these roles are still far from being central for the activity on the Public Library Websites.

The aim of this Bachelor’s thesis is to increase the knowledge of the professional discussion regarding the social role of public libraries. The empirical material consists of articles from Swedish professional library journals between 2010 and 2019. The study is designed as a discourse analysis using theoretical concepts by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. Librarians' perceptions of the social role have been analysed as well as discourses connected to the concept. Various perceptions of the social role were found and four different discourses were identified. In the discourse The uncertain core values the social role is seen as something fundamental which characterizes the idea of public libraries. The discourse The public library in the local community connects the social role to social responsibility and the strive for equalization of society through cooperation with local residents. The discourse The social meeting place describes the social role connected to the library as a place open for all and with possibilities to meet across social and cultural borders. In the last discourse The meaningful user meeting the social role is described as meetings with users. The user meetings in the daily library practice are described as highly meaningful. The different perceptions of the social role for public libraries found in the study illustrates the width of the concept. The perception that the public libraries are not doing enough regarding the social role is prominent within several of the identified discourses making this topic highly relevant.

This master thesis investigates how the Swedish regional libraries are perceived as support for public libraries in their work with competence development and the libraries' ability to utilise this support. It focuses on the strate­gies, and obstacles involved in implementing new knowledge following the activities. The thesis uses mixed methods, including both a quantitative questionnaire and qualitative interviews con­ducted. The questionnaire was aimed towards workers in public libraries while the interviews were conducted primarily with public library managers. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were carried out on the data, which related to 537 questionnaire respondents and five interviews. The theory used in the analysis covers organizational theory and Jay Hall’s model of the competence process. The study reveals that the organisation around competence development varies depending on the type of activity and library. Follow-up is commonly conducted through meeting structures or written reports. Successful implementation strategies include fostering a positive work environment and thorough pre-planning, while major obstacles are primarily resource constraints and a lack of clear alignment with the organisation's goal. Continued education provided by the regional libraries are generally viewed positively, examples that they do not always meet local needs. The regional libraries are described as organising a substantial number of activities, which do not always align proportionately with the worker's capacity to participate. This thesis provides a deeper understanding of the competence development efforts in public libraries and the role of regional libraries as a support function. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

This evaluational study has been initiated by the County Council of Gävleborg (LandstingetGävleborg), politically responsible (and the main economical) authority of BibliotekGävleborg, the regional library institution in the county of Gävleborg, Sweden.The aim of the study is threefolded:1. to evaluate the organization of Bibliotek Gävleborg during the 1990's as we11 as theeffects of a reorganization carried out in 1990, and, through the use of interviews and a questionnaire, to ascertain the attitudes of Bibliotek Gävleborg's branch users (mainlythe municipal libraries in the county) towards the organizational development.2. to evaluate and compare regional library activities in Gävleborg prior to and duringthe 1990's, and to investigate the attitudes of the afore-mentioned branch users towardsBibliotek Gävleborg's activities.3. to investigate and discuss possible future directions of regional library development in Sweden in general, and in Gävleborg in particular.The closing, debating chapter in the study also'contains a few suggestions of measures to enhance regional library activity in Gävleborg.