The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to gainknowledge in how some Swedish university librariesexpresses their work regarding web based servicesfor distance learners via activity documents andwebb pages. A qualitative content analysis isconducted to investigate this. The empirical materialconsists of nineteen different documents and elevenselected parts of websites related to eleven differentuniversity libraries. The results show that there is avariation in how and to what degree differentuniversity libraries expresses their services todistance learners. Three main themes emerge fromthe content: ”the electronic library resources”, ”thevirtual library room” and ”the librarian's pedagogicalrole”, all in different ways connected to distancelearners. The results is discussed based on “thetheory of transactional distance”. The principalfindings is that the libraries expresses greatenthusiasm for digital development and web basedservices. Some in more explicit ways and some inmore implicit ways. Based on the findings from thisstudy and from the previous research and literatureon the subject, the conclusion is that it is notpossible to completely distinguish the distancestudents' needs from other students and it is notentirely possible to distinguish the role of theuniversity library in a psysical or a virtualenvironment.

The aim of this paper is to study if implementation of a school library management system called FreeLib has created favourable conditions for the school librarians to cooperate with other professions and become a more forward working place. I have studied relevant literature about school libraries, organisation, digital libraries and documents that regulate school and library activities today as well in the past. In order to fulfil my purpose I have done a qualitative survey with six school librarians from Swedish primary schools with pupils at the age of 6 -16 years old. To identify strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities I found in the material I used a method called SWOT analysis. According to this study the use of the digital FreeLib system has developed a better teamwork between school librarians at different schools. On the other hand the school librarians have not used the opportunities to cooperate with teachers or develop an organization chart. Consequently FreeLib has not become a changing point for the school library. One possible reason may be that the perception of school libraries still shows a picture of a place where you just pick a book to read in your classroom, which makes it more difficult to highlight and develop the school librarians’ activities among others.

Digitizing and digital libraries create great opportunities toprovide access to cultural heritage globally, but the quicklychanging information technology environment also raises manyquestions. The aim of this bachelor thesis is to analyse whatvisions and ideas behind one specific digital library, Europeana,that can be found in documentation related to the project. Whatideas can be identified concerning aspects such as userparticipation, access to information, knowledge andinformation literacy? What is the project’s role in relation toeducation, preservation of cultural heritage and democracy?The method used to answer these research questions is adescriptive idea analysis. The empirical material, consisting ofprimary sources written in relation to the project, has beencategorized within dimensions and analysed according toDouglas Raber’s three public library strategies: social activism,the conservative response and the populist initiative. Thefindings of this study are that social activism is the dominatingstrategy, including aims as to support social inclusion, promotecultural diversity and help democratize access to information.Another present strategy is the populist initiative, concerningthe will to keep up with changing user needs and online trends.The conservative response can be identified, but barely. Thereare good possibilities for the future development of this project,even if some contradictions can be found concerning thevisions in relation to financial, juridical and politicalrestrictions. Important problem areas such as the unevenparticipation of different member countries, copyrightrestrictions and diverse user needs, must be addressed also inthe future. / Program: Bibliotekarie

This study investigates the use of the social network Facebook among 67 Swedish libraries; 27 academic libraries and 40 public libraries. Data is collected through an analysis of the libraries’ Facebook pages and through an email survey. To analyze the data, a series of statistical analyses were performed.The results indicate that the public libraries more actively posted Facebook updates than the academic libraries and that the libraries that had a policy for use of Facebook/social media more actively posted updates than those libraries that did not have such policy. The libraries use Facebook mainly to post links and photos and to announce events, provide book recommendations, and to emphasize special occasions. The public libraries posted more links and more updates about events, book recommendations, and media recommendations than the academic libraries while the academic libraries posted more updates about digital resources, research results, and job advertisements. At the majority of the libraries’ Facebook pages the communication with the users consists of one-way-communication. The most common reasons to use Facebook that the libraries report are to create a dialogue with the users, to be where the users are, to market the library and to reach out to groups that traditionally are hard to reach out to.Conclusions are that the libraries’ Facebook communication reflects the library as an institution by largely dealing with things that concerns reading and education, and that Facebook is used more as a tool for marketing than as a tool for dialogue with the users. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the situation for ebooksin Swedish public libraries. The background is anincreasing lending of e-books in public libraries, with anacquisition model formed when e-books were more of anexperiment in a few libraries. The debate has escalated in therecent years and in this thesis I aim to investigate thelibraries’ experience with e-books and the current pricemodel. The empirical material comes from interviews witheight head of public libraries in the Västra Götaland region.As theoretical background, I have used Michael Buckland’sfour roles of collections and price models from Lee andBoyle.My results show ambivalence with the price model. Thereare worries that the cost will escalate out of control, but atthe same time my respondents do not want to lose thebenefits of a digital file by limiting the use of it to f e oneuser at a time. At the moment my respondent are not beingactive, but are instead waiting for a better solution to come,perhaps from the Royal Library. Looking at the roles ofcollection regarding e-books, the effect is disputable andpoints towards centralization, mostly because of theindividual libraries’ lack of independence and control overthe e-books. I also suggest that we look at e-books fromanother point of view: that we could benefit from regardingthem more as databases than books in our collections. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The purpose of this study is to examine if digital public libraries are serendipitous environments. Serendipity in this instance is defined as finding something unexpected and valuable, while searching for something else. A survey was conducted at two Swedish digital public libraries, where the patrons were asked to fill in a questionnaire online. The questions were based on the work on serendipitous digital environments by Lori McCay-Peet, as well as considerations of human factors that could possibly influence serendipity. The result indicate that a majority of patrons experience serendipity at the digital library, although it’s still more common to do so at the physical library or on other web sites. The result also confirms the importance of taking human factors into account when studying serendipity. The patrons who said they didn’t experience serendipity at the physical library or on other web sites, didn’t experience it at the digital library either – or at least only partially. However, the patrons who didn’t experience serendipity at the digital library still did so in other environments. A digital library is an environment with many possibilities for serendipitous encounters and discoveries, but what is missing is a better understanding of how serendipity can actually help in finding information. By teaching patrons to actively seek out serendipity, and by offering a serendipitous digital environment in which to do so, the library can further information literacy in our society.

This bachelor’s thesis aim to examine the way librarians at public libraries work with improving their patrons’ digital competence. This was done by conducting semi-structured interviews with eight librarians, code them using a SWOT-analysis and then present them in relation to Jochumsen, Hvenegaard Rasmussen and Skot-Hansens Four Spaces model.   The result showed that time, resources and the librarians’ own interests are key to give satisfactory help to the patron. Age also seemed to impact the way the librarians took on learning new services the library offered. The younger librarians had an easier time trying it out themselves while the older wanted more instructions. The main problem the librarians saw was how to handle questions regarding sensitive information, the patrons’ money and documents to the bank or the government. Few libraries seem to have a policy regarding such questions. Still most of the librarians already saw work with digital questions as part of their normal routine. Rather than a change in work assignments they saw a change with how they were carried out and the nature of help the patrons’ needed, now there were more question regarding how things work instead of pure information questions. The question did not seem to be that of the librarians’ own competence but rather that of the patrons.

The purpose of this study is to analyse how reading is promoted in two digital libraries for children; Barnens bibliotek and Polarbibblo. Theoretically the websites are analysed using three main approaches to reading: traditional, pragmatic and emancipatory. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the material and to identify the ways in which reading is promoted through the websites. Findings showed that these children's digital libraries use their material and activities mainly to inspire and inform their users. Polarbibblo allows the children to act as authors and illustrators and to share a story or two. Barnens bibliotek is similar but puts more into guiding the children on how to find information and literature. Although these two libraries have different content and features, both libraries work to inspire and stimulate reading for children. The study shows that of the three reading approaches, the pragmatic and the emancipatory are dominant. The traditional approach doesn't seem to get any greater attention in these children’s digital libraries.

This master thesis aims to examine how public libraries in Sweden are practically and ideologically equipped to deal with e-books, outside of the dominant distributor Elib. The study also aims to find out what’s required of the book market and the public libraries to make further progress in the question of e-books. In Sweden e-books are still representing only a small amount of all the library loans and an even smaller amount of the commercial book market. The methodological and theoretical ground for the thesis is Grounded Theory, and the survey is based on interviews with publishers, librarians and distributors. The conclusions of this thesis are that the public libraries lack resources to invest in e-books, and that they also lack in knowledge about the media and its readers. It also exposes that both internal and external collaboration efforts need to be further developed. In addition to this it also becomes clear that the libraries’ and publishers' digital presence is crucial in their efforts to reach out with literature to the readers. The findings above are closely interwoven with two conceptions of a more abstract kind. The first relates to the issue of the identity of the public library and the question of how they should manage their mission in a still developing digital world. The second concerns the issue of the value of the e-book vs. the value of the printed book. Both publishers and libraries still see the printed book as superior to the e-book, wherefore libraries are reluctant to invest in books that will not be a part of a traditional bookshelf collection. In order to work more actively with the development and further adapt to a future digital society, it is these factors that the book market and the public libraries must work on in order to reach out with literature to the readers. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum Studies.

Public libraries of today consist of both physical and digitalized elements. The purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding of how a group of users, senior citizens, relates to the digital parts of the library. An interview study was conducted with nine persons between 67 and 78 years of age, with the aim to better understand their experiences and thoughts on the subject. A more holistic scope is necessary to fully grasp the prerequisites that the senior citizens had to be able to use the digital library. Therefore, the access and use of information- and communication technology (ICT) in everyday life was approached.  The material from the interviews was analyzed through a thematic analysis of the content. The theoretical framework evolved around two models concerning the concepts of information, that is a model of information practices by Pamela J. McKenzie (2003) and a typology of information limits by Marzena Świgoń (2011).  The study concludes that the senior citizens had access to adequate digital equipment at their own disposal. Though the sample consisted of people with varied interest and time spent on ICT, they can all be regarded as participants in the digital arena. When the interviewees searched for digital content of interest, they described mostly active methods in searching and scanning the internet.  In relation to the digital library, reserving books in the digital catalogue and borrowing digital media was the functions most frequently used. For some, these where new practices that they had developed during the pandemic of covid-19. They often turned to other sources to seek digital support or develop digital skills. Information about the library was to a higher extent sought of using traditional sources and methods.  Overall, though perceived as useful in facilitating reading, the digital library appeared to play a peripheral role in the senior citizens’ information practices in their everyday life. However there seems to be a potential in further marketing the existing digital functions to the target group. In doing so hopefully the digital library can benefit senior citizens, both the digital active and beginners, to a higher extent.  This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.