The competition for people´s attention becomes harder and harder. If the libraries want to continue to attract visitors it´s important that their business is promoted. The purpose of this thesis is to in-vestigate how two public libraries work with marketing. The study is based on a marketing model, introduced by Philip Kotler and further developed by Eileen Elliott de Sáez. Kotler believes that marketing is a social process and that everything can be promoted. De Sáez has adjusted Kotlers model so that it better suits the environment in which libraries and information services operate.The marketing activities at the two libraries are investigated through observations of the exterior and interior of the libraries, the libraries´ exposure of media and advertising in the local press. I have also studied brochures, other marketing information and fi-nally conducted interviews with librarians responsible for the mar-keting work. My results are compared with each other and ana-lysed using Kotlers marketing model.My conclusion is that the two investigated libraries are marketing their services in several ways: through exposure of media at the libraries, advertising in brochures, in the local press and on the internet. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The purpose of this thesis was to examine reading groups inpublic libraries from a bibliotherapeutic perspective. Inorder to reach this purpose following questions needed to beanswered: What does the discussion in reading groups looklike? What does the reading groups fulfill for theirparticipants? What is the circle leaders’ role? The study isbased on the observations of three reading groups and offive interviews of its participants. With the help of CarolineShrodes theory the study shows that there are few signs ofbibliotherapy in the reading groups. But on the other handthey show similarities with other bibliotherapeutic readinggroups, by being a social venue for its participants. They canalso contribute to the participants wellbeing and their self-esteem and self-understanding. The results also show thatthe circle leaders role can be important for the discussion inthe reading group. The reading groups are in many waysimportant to their participants and the results in this thesisshows that bibliotherapy could play an important role in thepublic libraries of Sweden. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this bachelor thesis is to examine what expectations young adults have of the public library andthereby determine the relevance of the library guidelines, Påbarns och ungdomars villkor (2003), for young adults. The empirical data is gathered through focus group interviews consisting of 18 participants between the ages of 16 and 17. The conceptual framework for this study is based on Lee´s motivation model for customers in the public library (2007). The model focuses on three conditions for motivation: expectation, instrumentality and valence.The results reveal that young adults in this study have low expectations of the public library. They express little need for public library services because they see the possibility of finding the same things that the library offers through other alternatives, such as the Internet. Limitations consisting of library staff with no knowledge of what young people want, inadequate economic resources and the idea that the library is reserved as a quiet place are also reasons why the participants´ expectations of the public library are not high. The study also shows that the guidelines, På barns och ungdomars villkor (2003), are still relevant, but that there is a gap between them and the participants´ experience of the library. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The purpose of my essay is to study the current debate on public library as a meeting place in the Swedish daily press. I have examined how the meeting function is used and how it is perceived and what it might mean to the public library. Through a selection process, I chose 18 relevant newspaper articles from the year 2006 to 2012. By implementing a content analysis, three themes were distinguished; “the meeting place as a place to reside on”, “the meeting place as an inclusion” and “the meeting place as a culture and activity house” I have used Andersson, Scot-Hansen and Rabers theoretical models of the library's roles for my analysis. My study shows that the library's function as a meeting place is appreciated by the majority of the people. The library facilities are used for socialization as well as for the individual to be at peace. Many library users find social interaction through the cultural activities. The results indicate a development towards a library with sofas, cafeterias and scenes. The literature, however, has a secondary role in the modern library. Idea stores and hybrid library occurs in collaboration with other recreational activities to generate local hot spots. Ideologically, the library tends to give the market what it wants; it’s a populist strategy to ensure the library's benefit to the society. But the library´s social centers also remain a strong position among the library users. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this thesis is to study how public libraries in Sweden use alternative shelf arrangements that differ from the library’s original classification system, which in Swedish public libraries usually is the SAB-system. I sent out a survey to 169 public libraries, where I received 114 replies. 77 of these stated that they had some kind of alternative shelf arrangement, therefore these are the ones that are included in my study. I wanted to investigate in what way the libraries had changed their shelf arrangement and why this decision was made. I also wanted to explore the staff’s attitude towards this change, and how they perceived the user-satisfaction after the change. I came to the conclusion that most libraries had arranged their collections after category and genre. The most prominent reason to change their shelf arrangements was to make the library more user-friendly, the SAB-system was considered to be too complicated for the users to understand. Most of the staff had a positive attitude towards the change, they considered it to be an exciting project and something that would benefit both staff and users. They were of the opinion that most users had appreciated the change, and that it had assisted them, better than before, in finding what they were looking for in the library. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The purpose of this study was to find out what different groups of visitors do when they are at Borås City Library. Three issues were formulated from the purpose and they were: What do users do when they visit the City Library in Borås? What occupations do those who visit the library have? What similarities and differences are there in the use of the library depending on the visitors’ occupations? To answer these questions a questionnaire was handed out among the visitors at Borås City Library. The theory that was used when the material was analyzed comes from the book”Gør biblioteket en forskel?” and the book is written by Henrik Jochumsen and Casper Hveneegaard Rasmussen. The results are presented by six diagrams and each diagram represent one question. The result shows that it is common to use the library to borrow or return materials and the second most common activity is to read at the library. Books dominate among the borrowed or returned items. The result also showed that several of the respondents read books, magazines and newspapers at the library. The computers are mainly used to search for information. Among the respondents approximately one third had participated in some activity that the library offered. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this Master’s thesis is to examine the professional discourses that can be identified in the public library field. My main focus is to look at the professional views on the added value of public library. Questions posed in this study are: how does the professional language look when it comes of speaking and reasoning about the public librarys added value and function, which discourses can be identified in the professional language about the public library, what could the discourses entail for the future of public library? The empirical data consist of four interviews where the respondents have been constituted by public librarians. The theory and method used is a discourse analysis from where the discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe have been utilized. In my analysis I have interpreted what is said by the librarians about the added value of the public library. From there I have been able to identify four discourses: market economy discourse, social entrepreneur discourse, democratic meeting place discourse and changes discourse. My conclusion is that the future public library holds changes and challenges where the role of the public librarian will be more strongely influenced by a market-driven mentality. Also I have concluded that it is of importance that public librarians are prepared for the challenges that are and the challenges that are yet to come. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The purpose of the study is to reach knowledge about how public librarians understands and describes environmental scanning as a working process in a Swedish public library. The study consists of 5 interviews with public librarians working within the same organization. The empirical material is presented in two ways. The first one is what aspects of the external world the librarians find important. The second is through a theoretical framework based on Magnus Hoppes model of environmental scanning, including communication and cognitive processes aswell as ways of analyzing information from the external world. Analysis shows that the relationship between the library it's environment requires different kinds of environmental scanning, often directed by the interests and professional ideals of the individual librarian. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this thesis is to study 15 and 16-year-olds’ perception of libraries. Despite the fact that the youth is seen as a prioritized group when it comes to library work, the focus is often drawn to the children, and there is a risk that teens and their needs are set aside. My focus is the public library and how the young people in my study use it in their leisure time. The theory of the thesis is a model created by Skot-Hansen, Hvenegaard Rasmussen and Jochumsen and it highlights four possible rooms or functions in a library, concerning inspiration, learning, meetings and creativity. I have interviewed six teenagers in order find out how they perceive the library and its functions.My conclusions are that the teenagers consider libraries good and important, but that the interior as well as the activities can be improved. They want to interact with each other and take part in various creative activities. If the libraries change these functions according to the needs of young people they can transform the library into an attractive place for the youth. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this bachelor’s thesis is to examine what expectations a few, adult, frequent library users have on librarians' competences at a specific library. We also aim to compare how well the library users' expectations relates to how the librarians describe their own competences.The method used to gather the empirical information in this study is the qualitative semi-structured interview. We interviewed six library users and the four librarians who are employed at the library where we placed our study. The results of our interviews were analyzed with the help of a model based on Anders Ørom’s librarian identities. The model was further developed by us with the addition of another identity which we named the affective and social identity.The conclusions of this study are that the library users' expectations are based on their individual library needs which differ from person to person. Individually they don´t relate to all of the competences that the librarians describe, but the expectations from the user informants as a group meet the librarians' descriptions fairly well. Both groups of informants emphasize that the affective and social identity is important for the librarians to recognize to be able to meet the expectations of the library users. Other competences that the users expect the librarians to have is competences about literature, IT, general and special education and the way the library's books are organized. / Program: Bibliotekarie