The study explores the amount of books and other media containing LGBT themes available and the activities aimed towards LGBT people in Swedish public libraries. A comparison was also made between libraries with a LGBT-certification and a study of the librarians' opinions about the certification and their work with LGBT-issues. This is done through a survey sent to a sample of Swedish public libraries and all libraries with a LGBT-certification. The results show that media stocks and activities directed toward LGBT people is relatively small, the work of the LGBT-certified library was on average larger. The librarians were generally positive about the activities towards LGBT people but felt that these activities should be expanded.

The purpose of this thesis is to achieve new knowledge about how the public library roles and activities are described in the municipal library plans. Activities in these public libraries are varied and research about what should be included in these library plans are limited. That the municipalities should have library plans are determined by law but what these plans should contain according to the law is something that isn’t clear. It has been noted that the context of library plans differs from one municipality to another. Therefor it’s interesting to research how these plans describe public libraries. How does the public library depict activities aimed at library users in the library plans? Which public library roles can be identified in the library plans? These research questions have been answered in this thesis. The result of this thesis shows, among others, that there are multiple themes that can be identified in these plans. Qualitative content analysis in combination with Jochumsen, Hvenegaard Rasmussen and Skot-Hansen’s model “The four spaces” (2012) have been used to analyze the results. The conclusion is that the activities, in most cases, only are mentioned in the library plans and aren’t described. The same can be said about the public library roles as there are rarely any distinguishable descriptions of the roles and those values that the public library are expected to uphold in society.

The aim of this study is to gain deeper understanding of how older patrons (65 years of age and above) experien- ce the Stockholm Public Library: how the older patrons use the library, experience information about events and programs; experiences in contact with librarians; how user-friendly they find the library and what might attract or detract visits. The study consists of qualitative interviews with five older patrons of the Stockholm Public Lib- rary who were approached during a library visit. The study also contains interviews with two librarians from the library. The interviews have been transcribed and the results are organized into six areas: using the library and its services; digital aspects of the library; contact with librarians; the library space in a user-friendly context; the cultural value of the library building; library programmes; events and programs. The theoretical framework of the study is that of sociologist and philosopher Zygmunt Bauman and his ide- as about the individualised society and consumerism. Bauman's thoughts on the individualised society where on- ly the desired consumers are welcome even in public spaces have also been included. These theories are combi- ned with research on how society views aging and older people, international studies and studies on older pa- trons and libraries in Sweden. This study finds that a main issue in accessing the library's services and material is how they are placed: shelves that are too high or low to reach, and problems with finding material without help. The patrons are drawn to places where books are exposed, whether on purpose or not. The study concludes with the suggestion of crea- ting national guidelines for how libraries can make their spaces more welcoming to older patrons, such as ex- isting guidelines in the U.S. And Australia. Previous research shows the mere existance of guidelines may high- light the issue in itself and create a helpful start for libraries wanting to accommodate older patrons better.

The aim of this thesis is to deepen our knowledge of librarians' experiences of working with projects. Focus is on the characteristics of successful projects implemented in public libraries and how they are assimilated into the regular and ordinary activities of the library. A grounded theory approach is adopted and complemented with theory on learning and change in organizations and from new public management. The study is based on semi-structured qualitative interviews with five librarians. The result reveals that librarians enjoy working in projects. The possibility of being able to develop new teaching tools, create new relationships and to form new network alliances between library, schools, associations and the business community increase the librarians' motivation to initiate new projects. Successful projects are defined by number of participants, cost efficiency, the opportunity to create new knowledge. Project inclusion in regular programs in libraries usually an objective and is likely to be pre-planned in advance.

The purpose of this Bachelor's thesis is to analyse how librarians approach selection and acquisition of children's and young adult literature written in languages other than Swedish. What aspects do they look at when making their selection and how do they decide that a book lives up to the library's standards if they cannot read the book themselves? In order to answer these research questions a series of telephone interviews were conducted with librarians working in different municipalities. The selection of municipalities to include in the study was based on official statistics depicting the amount of immigrants who moved to each municipality during 2015. The theory used in this study is based on Sanna Talja's study about different attitudes towards the library's collection. The attitudes are referred to as "General Education Repertoire", the "Alternative Repertoire" and the "Demand Repertoire". These attitudes were also used as a framework when analysing the information from my own interviews. The results show that all of the interviewed librarians are eager to fulfil their patron's demands while also staying true to their own ideas of what the library should provide in regards to content, diversity and quality.

English title: ”They occupy our comfortable couches and armchairs” - the library staff’s view on problem patrons. The purpose of this study was to examine the views of problem patrons among staff at swedish public libraries to see if there was an overall view. We also wanted to look into which feelings these patrons bring up from the staffs perspective and to whom the problem patron is a problem for. We sent out an questionnaire to employees in public libraries and got responses from over 20 different counties. As a theoretical framework we used social constructionism and the results were analysed by using a modified version of Berger and Luckmanns Social construction of reality model.   The results of this study identifies nine different categories of problem patrons and the most common feelings these patrons contribute to were frustration and discomfort. Our results also shows that the problem patron can be a problem to both the employees at the library and to other library visitors, but not always at the same time, in the same situations, and under the same conditions. Whether a patron becomes viewed as a problem or not depends according to this study on society and library norms, which we try enlight in our analysis and discussion section.

The prevalence of digital media is more and more changing how service professions work is carried out, librarianship being no exception. With more and more focus and resources being laid on the digital side of the professions, with ebooks, e-service desks and interactions with users via social media, it is important to evaluate how these changes have transformed the librarian profession. This paper has had as a goal to find connections between the rise in use of digital media in the library workspace, and increased stress and burnout in the library profession. By compiling previous research and comparing it to my own quantitative research I have created a jumping off point for further research into the effects digital media has on mental health amongst library staff. In this study I have managed to present tentative evidence of rising stress and anxiety within the Swedish public library sector, as well as a rise in the use of various forms of digital media. This paper has not managed to find any concrete evidence linking these two trends together.

In 2015 the UN initiated the project Agenda 2030, which aims for all countries to work together for a sustainable world based on social, environmental and economic aspects. There is a known potential of the libraries role and opportunities to influence and work for sustainable development. Despite that, there is lack of policies and control documents for Swedish public libraries and work for sustainable development. There is also a lack of studies which shows how Swedish public librarians describe their work for sustainable development in public libraries and their driving force. The aim of this study is to contribute with knowledge about that work. Seven public librarians were interviewed. The interviews were analyzed with the help of practice theory and the three aspects of sustainable development. The result of the study showed that all partaking librarians have a big personal interest of sustainability, which they brought in practice of their daily work. Their actions, most regarding environmental and social sustainability, is grounded on value of solidarity and their professional knowledge, but also a personal knowledge of environmental issues. The study also showed that the few identified control documents were general policies for all activities in the municipality and not unique for the public libraries. The partaking librarians wanted more specific guidelines for their work with sustainable development, which they want to develop and work more with. With the help of librarians, guidelines can be drawn up and make the work clear, visible and possible to evaluate, as part of a social responsibility.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how public libraries in sparsely populated areas  work with integration-promoting activities and elucidate how the conditions of the public libraries affect this work. We have applied a qualitative  method in this thesis and the  empirical data were collected through five interviews with library staff from three different public libraries in Västerbotten. We have used thematic analysis to identify codes and themes in the empirical material. Among other things, library staff feel that lack of resources, good collaboration and infrastructure in the local community affect the libraries’ ability to work  towards integration. The study’s results were further analyzed on the basis of Andersson & Skot-Hansen’s theory of the library’s four main functions in order to consider within which  functions libraries work to promote  integration, and in what way the local community influences the work.

Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att studera folkbibliotekets ungdomsverksamhet genom att undersöka dess arbete med deltagarkultur som arbetssätt. Med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer intervjuas 6 yrkesverksamma personer som arbetar aktivt med ungdomar och/eller deltagarkultur i folkbibliotekssammanhang.    I intervjuerna beskrivs folkbibliotekets verksamhet och roll i relation till ungdomar som otydligt definierat. Det råder även delade uppfattningar om vad som anses vara bibliotekets egentliga uppdrag. Både verksamhet med fokus på litteratur och informationssökning så väl som verksamhet med syfte att ge social samvaro och öka individens aktiva deltagande i kulturproduktion framhålls som en del i bibliotekets ungdomsverksamhet. Biblioteket som en aktör med ett socialt ansvar att erbjuda ungdomar en meningsfull fritid återkommer som tema i det empiriska materialet. Vidare framkommer att ungdomar vanligtvis inte ses som målgrupp för arbete med digital teknik, med resultatet att folkbiblioteket inte i någon större omfattning arbetar aktivt för att stärka individernas kompetens för att delta aktivt i digitala sammanhang.