Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the information seeking behaviour of graduate students at Uppsala University, Sweden. Using a qualitative method I gain deeper knowledge of the students’ information behaviour. Method – I interview four master students concerning their information seeking. Two of the students are from the social sciences and two from the medical sciences. Findings – The findings show that students primarily use electronic information resources. The students prefer to access scientific articles electronically, and they rarely use printed books in their studies. The students prefer to use library databases over Google Scholar. The reason for this is not only the access to material, but also that they prefer the more advanced search options provided by the library. Further results show that the students tend to avoid interaction with librarians. Paper type – Two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.

I projektet .To Be Continued undersöker och visar jag exempel på hur jag som blivande industridesigner kan underlätta materialåtervinningen av elektroniska produkter. Plast som material står i fokus i projektet . Den övergripande idén är att utveckla och formge exemplen på smarta metoder och lösningar för sammansättning och nedmontering av elektroniska produkter. Det övergripande syftet är att framställa ett designförslag som, på grund av hur den är sammansatt, ska kunna främja materialåtervinning och på så sätt kunna ingå i en cirkulär ekonomi. För att presentera tydliga förslag på sammansättningar av elektroniska produkter har jag valt att formge en kaffemaskin, som alltså är framarbetad utifrån de metoder och lösningar som utvecklats i detta projekt. Designförslaget, som presenteras i texten, är en kaffemaskin. Kaffemaskinen är uppbyggd med en grundstruktur där komponenterna staplas på varandra och som tillsammans bildar både formen på insida och utsida av kaffemaskinen.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how academic librarians seek information for themselves and for others, and what differences exist. The terms self-generated and imposed information seeking is used to describe the two different types of information seeking. Step 2 – define and understand the problem, step 3 – choose a search system and step 4 – formulate a query of Marchionini’s information-seeking model forms the basis of the theoretical framework, which is supplemented with Soergel and Katz. Qualitative interviews with eight academic librarians were conducted and analyzed in order to gather empirical facts. The results show that the greatest differences between self-generated and imposed information seeking lie within the definition and understanding of the information problem. The library user’s information need is specified through the reference interview; a process often seen as somewhat problematic by the librarians because of the difficulties involved in trying to understand another person’s needs. Librarians tend to approach imposed information seeking in a structured and pedagogic manner because of their desire to instruct the library user in the use of various databases and search techniques. The Internet is the most used information source during self-generated information seeking, while the library catalogue is the primary source during imposed information seeking. The results also show that only small differences exist in the way librarians use search strategies and search tactics during the two different types of information seeking. / <p>Uppsatsen skrevs under den tid då Växjö universitet hade ett samarbete med Högskolan i Borås, dvs. utbildningen gick i Växjö, men Borås examinerade.</p>

This user study was carried out at the library at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg in the spring of 1999. Chalmers wanted to investigate how much their employees use electronic journals. To facilitate decision-making and be cost effective, the library needed to know about their customers&apos; opinions. The main purpose was to investigate the usage of electronic journals, how the library&apos;s choice of these journals affects the frequency of use and what the attitudes towards them are. A questionnaire was sent out to 2 400 employees; 477 replies were received. The result shows that 55% of the respondents use electronic journals at least once a month. The major advantages of electronic journals are, according to the study, the easy access and the option to work from one&apos;s own desk. The major disadvantage is the difficulty in scanning them. Two thirds of the respondents are willing to let go of the print journal at the library in favour of the electronic one, but only one fifth are willing to give up their departmental subscriptions. For a majority, conditions such as user friendliness and archiving must be fulfilled before electronic journals can be fully accepted. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how academic librarians seek information for themselves and for others, and what differences exist. The terms self-generated and imposed information seeking is used to describe the two different types of information seeking. Step 2 – define and understand the problem, step 3 – choose a search system and step 4 – formulate a query of Marchionini’s information-seeking model forms the basis of the theoretical framework, which is supplemented with Soergel and Katz. Qualitative interviews with eight academic librarians were conducted and analyzed in order to gather empirical facts. The results show that the greatest differences between self-generated and imposed information seeking lie within the definition and understanding of the information problem. The library user’s information need is specified through the reference interview; a process often seen as somewhat problematic by the librarians because of the difficulties involved in trying to understand another person’s needs. Librarians tend to approach imposed information seeking in a structured and pedagogic manner because of their desire to instruct the library user in the use of various databases and search techniques. The Internet is the most used information source during self-generated information seeking, while the library catalogue is the primary source during imposed information seeking. The results also show that only small differences exist in the way librarians use search strategies and search tactics during the two different types of information seeking. / Uppsatsnivå: D

With the volume and availability of information increasing as fast as technological development in society a phenomenon called information overload has emerged. The purpose of our thesis was to investigate how university students experience this increase in volume and ease in access to information. In our study we concentrated our focus on the student’s use of electronic resources. So as not to prejudice our study group our questions focused on different aspects of searching for information. To obtain essential data we interviewed six students and applied a phenomenographic approach in our analysis of the material. Two variations of a students experience emerged from our results, A information overload was positive or B the experience was not positive. The main conclusion of our study was that the phenomenon information overload can be experienced in two qualitative different ways. We hoped that our study could provide a deeper understanding for information overload and how we search for information.

The purpose of this study is to find out how and to what extent doctors use the hospital library’s collection of print and electronic medical journals. Major changes have the last years occurred in the journal collection. The journals are very costly and little is known about the user satisfaction with them. Therefore it’s important to examine how satisfied the users are with the collection and how they utilize it. The main questions are: How satisfied are the doctors with the hospital library’s collection of print and electronic medical journals? Is there a difference between how and to what extent the print and electronic medical journals are used? What do the doctors think about the use of electronic journals? The theories used are about marketing, marketing research, library collections and how the collection can be developed to meet researchers need. Five clinics at a Swedish hospital were chosen for the study. A group questionnaire was handed out to the doctors at different kinds of meetings at the clinics, 52 of the 53 respondents answered. The result shows that most of the doctors use the print and electronic journals more seldom than once a month and mostly to read selected articles. The majority of the respondents mean it is important that the library supply a print and an electronic collection of medical journals and they are satisfied with the present collection. Their opinions about electronic journals vary but are mostly positive. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to study an electronic reference service from a user perspective. By qualitative interviews with eight students the thesis examines their information behaviour, why and when they use the service, the user’s experiences of the service and the communication with the librarian. The users have all used the Swedish electronic reference service Fråga biblioteket – Forskningsbibliotek. We analyse the material by extracting conceptions of literature and earlier research concerning the questions our study is based on. Our theoretical framework is based on Brenda Dervin’s theory on sense-making and Carol Kuhlthau’s model of the information seeking process. The results of the interviews show that students want quick answers and a service that is convenient and easy to use, which they consider this service to be. They also want useful information but that does not mean that they actually use the information they receive, sometimes they change it to suit their situation.Despite being experienced users of the library, this new service can generate feelings of uncertainty but information on how to use the service and the reception by the librarian can alter this. Questions students have do not cause any thoughts on issues of integrity or anonymity and they seem to have a solid trust in libraries and librarians in general. The conclusion of this study is that users do not really know what demands they can have on the service, but that can change by clearer information about the service and by user education. / Uppsatsnivå: D

This thesis studies how readers of the electronic book (the e-book) use and perceive the electronic medium as a carrier of fiction. In this study it is assumed that fiction is mostly read in printed format. Therefore it is interesting to ask why some readers choose to read on screen. As there are all too few studies conducted on how readers perceive and use the e-book as a medium, this study aims to enrich an undeveloped research area. The study is based upon a qualitative questionnaire. It focuses on the e-book as a carrier of written text, which means that e-books such as mp3-books are not taken into account. The media theory Uses and Gratifications is used as a perspective from which the results are analysed. The theory also provides the reader of the study with a cognitive framework and a context in which the study is placed. The results are analysed using themes constructed from the answers of the respondents. Among the diverse result, the major conclusion is that there are two different reading situations, which decide how the respondents experience and use the e-book. The first reading situation is limited, because of the use of desktop computer or laptop when reading, in which the respondents are emotionally attached to the paper book. The other situation is flexible because of the use of palm computer or mobile phone, which makes flexible reading possible for the respondents who appreciate the e-book and the paper book as two separate media. / Uppsatsnivå: D

Med väl fungerande interna logistiska flöden kan hela produktionen effektiviseras samtidigt som man kan skapa mer bränsleeffektiva transporter. Ett företag som är intresserade av att både kunna arbeta mer effektivt med sina transporter och spara på bränsle både för miljön och för kostnadernas skull är Vargön Alloys AB i Vargön utanför Vänersborg.Vargön Alloys är en av Europas största tillverkare av olika Ferrolegeringar. Legeringar ger bl.a. stålet hårdhet och förhindrar korrosion. Företagets kunder är Europas ledande tillverkare av specialstål.Ett problem för Vargön Alloys har varit att man inte har någon dokumentation eller kartläggning över hur de interna transporterna sker idag. Syftet med detta examensarbete är därför att kartlägga hur Vargön Alloys interna transporter sker idag samt att ge förslag till effektivisering, både vad gäller arbetsmetoder och lagerplanering, som leder till minskad bränsleförbrukning samt mindre trafik på fabriksområdet.En kvalitativ undersökningsmetod har använts där observationer följts av intervjuer med personer med olika arbetsområden på företaget. Intervjuobjekten har till största del fått vara anonyma och intervjuerna har skett individuellt med öppna frågor. Användbara teorier studerades i lämpliga läroböcker.Observationer och intervjuer har resulterat i en värdefödeskarta över informationsflödena samt en spagettikarta över transportflödena. Efter analys av dessa har ett antal förbättringsförlag framkommit. Genom att använda nya moderna tekniker som hjälpmedel i arbetet skulle Vargön Alloys definitivt kunna effektivisera sina interna transporter till att bli mer bränsleeffektiva. Med hjälp av ett verktyg som t. ex. GPS timber skulle förtaget få ett system som innehåller både planeringssystem, lagerstyrning och ett GPS-system i fordonen.