The aim of this Master’s thesis is to study how public librarians’ view mediation of fiction: the knowledge needed, the thoughts expressed about their own and other adults reading of fiction and how the informants define their roles as mediators of fiction. The method used was qualitative interviews with six librarians at main libraries in Swedish cities of different sizes. The theoretical starting points are Louise M. Rosenblatt’s reader-response theory, Michail Bachtin’s theory of speech genres and Åse Tveit’s and Jofrid Karner Smidt’s theories about mediation of fiction. For the empirical material concerning the librarians knowledge in this field of the library work the theory of three different kinds of knowledge; episteme, techne and phronesis, was applied. Furthermore, the term communities of practice was used regarding how the knowledge is acquired. The results show that reading is regarded an important activity with various functions, which the informants reflect over in their work with fiction. Three roles as mediators of fiction can be identified, not excluding one another, but instead possible to combine. The role that emphasise dialog with users is viewed as very important and is also the role that can be seen to play a great part in the development of the work with mediation of fiction. The knowledge required for this part of the librarian profession is shown to be complex and acquired in different ways. Several ideas about how the work can develop in the future are expressed.

The purpose of our research was to examine whether the acceptance and diffusion of RFID technology among the employees at public libraries in Sweden, follow the classic diffusion of innovation model. RFID or Radio Frequency Identification, is a technology that uses radio frequency and microchip technology to track items, in our case, library books and other library materials. Diffusion is the process by which, in our case, the RFID technology is adopted by the library staff. The purpose of this study was to examine what factors influenced the acceptance and adoption of RFID among the library staff. We used Everett Rogers' Diffusion of innovation theory as our framework. According to this theory, there are a multitude of keyfactors, such as relative advantages, compatability, trialability, and observability which interact and influence the acceptance of new technology. For the purpose of this study we formulated a set of hypotheses, and to test them we conducted a nationwide quantitative survey. We used a questionnaire as our data collection instrument. The questionnaire was sent to the top-level employees (head librarian or equivalent) at all the Swedish public libraries. We used x^2 statistic test to analyze the data from our questionnaire survey. The findings show that the adoption of the RFID technology in Swedish Public libraries is in accordance with Rogers' theory of diffusion, and that the attributes which determined the rate of adoption of RFID were: relative advantage (RFID will cause perceived improvements for employees as well as for patrons), compatibility (RFID is consistent with needs), complexity (level of difficulty to use RFID), trialability (RFID may be tried and used), observability (the results of RFID is visible to others). The findings also show that RFID technology was adopted faster when they have financial resources, time and interest in RFID in general, if the library was located in regions with at least 25.000 inhabitants, and in public libraries with at least 10 employees. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this master’s thesis is to examine the accessibility for persons with disabilities to service, materials, and the library building in one Swedish public library, and also to see what guides the development of accessibility at this library. In order to do this we have studied guidelines and political documents to se how this library responds to them. To our case study, data have also been collected by qualitative interviews, and observation of what this library offers impaired persons at the library’s web site, in special materials, facilities, and the functionality of the library building. Our theoretical starting point of the analysis has been Professor Buckland’s six different aspects of barriers the user has to overcome in order to get access to information. The results of this study were interpreted though a qualitative analysis, which shows that this library is well available for people with disabilities in the sense that awareness of political requirements is high among responsible employees. The library gives priority to provide a wide range of materials adapted to the needs of disabled persons. Deficits in availability are mainly insufficient space, and not quite well-functioning information signs and light sources at the ground floor of the building. Computers and desks are not customized for the needs of disabled persons. Insufficient funding and guidance to the employees are the main obstacles to eliminate these barriers to accessibility. Buckland’s theoretical framework has been helpful for our analysis, with a small adaptation of the barrier called acceptability. / Program: Bibliotekarie

In the paper we bring up and analyse the attitudes librarianshave towards youth and youth programs in the public library.The purpose is to raise awareness among librarians and tomake the process of change and development. We have usedsemi structured interviews in order to answer our researchquestions and conducted the interviews with five librarians incharge of the youth programs in different public libraries. Inthese interviews we asked about their views on youth as auser group, youth programs and how this affects theiropinions on the roles of the public library. We have also triedto see how the librarian’s opinions differ from how thelibrary runs their youth programs today.We have used two different models as theoretic framework.One of them has defined three different roles of the publiclibrarian and is constructed by Maj Klasson and the other is adeveloped version of Andersson & Skot-Hansen’s classicmodel of the roles of the public library made by Jochumsen,Rasmussen & Skot-Hansen. These models have been used tostructure the analysis of the material gathered from theinterviews.The informants in this paper show a positive attitude towardsyouth as a group and express a wish to make theirexperiences with the public library as good as possible.Overall they are satisfied with the way the youth programs intheir libraries work today but would like to develop it furthergiven more time and resources. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The object of this bachelor thesis is to examine how publiclibraries are working to reach out to boys in their early teens,and from a relationship marketing perspective see howlibraries are using marketing as a tool in creating long-termrelationships with this user group. The following questionsare asked: How do public libraries market themselves toboys in their early teens? How are children’s and youthlibrarians working to create long-term relationships with thisuser group? How do children’s and youth librarians viewmarketing as a way to create long-term relationships with theuser group? The theoretical framework of the study is EvertGummesson’s model of relationship marketing. Interviewswith five children’s and youth librarians make up theempirical data. The results from the study include that noneof the libraries have strategic plans for their marketing andthat the librarians do not seem to have adopted the view ofrelationship marketing. The results also indicate a differencein the professional roles, where the youth librarians giveboys in their early teens a higher priority in their work thanthe children’s and youth librarians. A certain confusion as towhat role libraries should have in relation to boys in theirearly teens can also be discerned, where the main purposesof marketing to this user group are seen as promotion ofreading as well as a wish to change this user group’sperceived image of the library as merely a collection ofbooks. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this study is to look at censorship and attempted censorship of books about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual (GLBT) people in public libraries in the USA. People from the public can submit formal challenges to a book at the library when they find the material offensive which can lead to those books being taken away from the library shelves. The questions asked are why GLBT- literature is being challenged, and sometimes banned, and how do the libraries deal with the challenges to the books.It is nowadays the people from the public, rather than the government or the librarians that are behind many cases of removal of books with homosexual themes. The study presents some of the fictional GLBT- literature that has been cause for much controversy in the USA. All the five examples mentioned are children’s books concerning GLBT- themes and are among the most challenged books in American libraries in the past twenty years. It is namely a majority of books that are challenged by parents, not wanting to expose their children to something they themselves find objectionable.The libraries in the USA are under pressure from different parties concerned with how the libraries handle challenges. They have to follow the laws that affect them as well as taking into regard opinions from the public. They also need to live up to certain standards set by the library-industry, including the American Library Association. Especially the library-industry and some people of the public have very different expectations on how the library deals with controversial material. / Program: Bibliotekarie

This thesis aims to identify bottlenecks in the internal communication of aSwedish public library. Specifically, it addresses the behaviour of the library staff when they seekfor work-oriented information through interaction with their colleagues. A fundamental assumptionof this study is that the information-seeking process depends on organisational culture. I have madean exploratory case study in a medium-sized Swedish public library, where relevant issues areidentified and correlated with the culture of the organisation.I have used Schein's three-level model to describe the culture of the library; this model definesculture as a set of basic assumptions and the actions of people as expressions of their culture. Datafor the study were gathered using several approaches, including interviews with the library staff andobservations of them. In order to describe the interaction of the staff during their informationseeking, I used additional theories, including the politeness theory and Morrison's model ofinformation-seeking within the organisation. Finally, qualitative content analysis was used to drawconclusions.The results of this study suggest that issues such as conflict avoidance, strong sub-group identities,and strong values concerning 'the daily work' may complicate the information seeking process. Ialso identify and discuss additional relevant contributing factors, such as task-specific issues. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to examine how some university students, who are using the libraries extensively, use and experience the public and the university library and what they expect from the two different library types. I also compare their expectations with the different tasks and aims of the two library types. To answer this I have interviewed seven students at the department of history of literature at Göteborg University. I have also studied some literature and research related to this subject, for example user studies about students and libraries and the information behaviour of distance students. In addition to this I have studied the description of the aims of four public and four university libraries. In my empirical study I have used the qualitative interview as a method. To find the informants I wanted to interview I made a short questionnaire study within the students of history of literature at Göteborg University. From the answers of the questionnaires, I chose seven students who I interviewed. The results of the interviews show, among other things, that the informants use the university library entirely for study purposes. The public library is also used for other purposes, such as a meeting place or a cultural centre. The results of the study also show that in the description of aims of the public libraries the university students as a group only are mentioned in one of these documents. / Uppsatsnivå: D

This master’s thesis aims at examining and structuring different viewpoints concerning the assignments of the Swedish public library system. The method used is ideology analysis.The main questions are: what are the overriding goals connected to each of the different assignments? How are these goals motivated? By which means are the goals to be reached? And how does our analysis relate to earlier research on the assignments of the Swedish public library? The thesis can be said to consist of three main parts. Part one is a theoretical framework introducing the concept “ideology analysis” and the concept “schools of thought”. Part two is an examination of different documents regarding the public library and its assignments. Analyses of political documents such as the Library act and other documents, such as documents from the Swedish Library Association and from periodicals are included. Part three is the analysis. The examination in part two leads to the structuring of four sets of schools of thought, each with a slightly different view of what the public library should and should not do. The first school of thought focuses on the public library as a beacon for an open and democratic society. The second school of thought focuses on the public library as a mediator and promoter of reading, learning and language. The third school of thought puts the public library's strong connection to the education system and knowledge in general in centre. The fourth, and last, school of thought stresses the impact the public library is liable to have, and in some cases already has had, on the economical growth in a region. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this paper is to study the ongoing discussion concerning e-books at Swedish public libraries. The e-booksituation has as of late gained a lot attention in the media. The main distributor of e-book in Sweden - Elib - is in the centreof this discussion and our goal has been to study the opinions and arguments that have been expressed within articles and blog postsconcerning the situation.We have analysed our articles and blog posts through a qualitative text analysis in order to find the main problems of the e-bookdiscussion and which arguments are used. We have also studied the effect Elib might have on the libraries' collection developmentaccording to the articles and blog posts.We found that the major issues within the e-book situation include Elib's price model - which is costly for the libraries - thewatermarking and the selection of books available to the libraries. It is also considered, according to the author's of our articles and blog posts, that the collections at the libraries are affected byElib's system since the choice of which books to include is given to the publishers, not the libraries or its users.The articles and blog posts agree that a change needs to occur for the e-books future survival at the public libraries. / Program: Bibliotekarie