The aim of this master's thesis is a comparative study on units for civic information in Göteborg. The study is based on a project currently in progress at the main public library in Göteborg. It is observed that according to the library's mission statement the library aims to become the most competent intermediary of civic information in Göteborg. This statement suggests a competitive strategy towards other intermediaries of civic information. The mission statement does, however, also state that their goal is to be obtained in cooperation with other intermediaries. Thus, we will study how four public service units for civic information in Göteborg operate. These are then compared to the department of civic information at the main public library. Five areas are considered: 1) the definition of the concept of civic information, 2) mission statements, 3) target groups and users, 4) service offered, 5) personnel qualifications and accessibility of the information unit. The study is based on interviews with representatives at the different units. We conclude that for citizens to be informed, individual activity in acquiring information is necessary. Also, one service unit for civic information rarely offers the full range of the civic information. Consequently, there is a need for a number of information units. Each unit may have their own profile and thereby fill different needs. Thus, in order to provide the citizens of Göteborg with the best service possible, we find that cooperation between public service units for civic information is preferred to competition. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this study was to examine how children in ages 3 to 4 use the public library with the research questions: What does children’s, in ages between 3 and 4, information behavior look like when they visit a public library in leisure time with a parent? What is the nature of interaction between child and parent, child and the staff of the library, and between child and other visitors? What is the function of the cultural tools in relation to the children’s information behavior? The theoretical frame of reference consisted of Lev Vygotsky’s “the zone of proximal development” and Roger Säljö’s theory about using cultural tools. To answer the questions I have observed 4 children together with their mothers and siblings at a public library. From the result of the observations I found that every child had their own information behavior. Two of the children only used one kind of cultural tool – books. The two others used different kinds of cultural tools. They used the computer, the drawing table, read comics and books. They were on different levels in using those cultural tools, depending on earlier experience at the library. The ones who influenced the children’s information behavior most, were the mothers. The children did use the library like their parents did. All the children got some kind of help in their zone of proximal development from their mothers. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to examine how librarians perceive the importance of staff reading groups in helping to make fiction more accessible to adult users of public libraries. The study also examines how librarians perceive the learning processes in such groups, and what these learning processes involve and how they appear. The empirical data was acquired via observations of four staff reading groups and interviews with seven public librarians who took part in the groups. In part, the empirical data is interpreted by means of Lena Wilhelmsson’s analytical tool, which deals with changes of perspective within an organised group. The theoretical framework draws on theories regarding social and organisational learning, with an emphasis on interaction and reflection. The observations and interviews show that staff reading groups derive from the need to keep up to date with the enormous range of published books. They also show that the staff reading groups are viewed and appreciated as an arena for learning through exchanges of experience, which in the longer term leads to a wider fiction repertoire, an enhanced critical-analytical approach to the reading of fiction, and a broader understanding of the library user’s needs. In sum, the study shows that depending on the structure of the staff reading groups; in-turn- or dynamic structure, they serve as an aid to librarians by strengthening their literature-pedagogical perspective on literature, and thus making fiction more accessible to adult library users. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this master's thesis is to describe and analyse the origin and development of the library of Workers´ Educational Association in the community of Oskarström. This library is special because the organisation run it much longer than usual, until 1977, and to find an answer to why, we have the following questions: Why does the library of Workers´ Educational Association start their activity in Oskarström, and how does it develop, in relation to premises, librarians, financing, the stock of books and the numbers of books out on loan? What is the reason that the library in Oskarström is municipalized as late as 1977? The methods we use are hermeneutics and evaluation of the sources. The library is founded in 1914 and become important for the workers. Important sources of income are the subventions given by the state, municipality and other associations. The library acts as a public library during all its time. After the final reforms of the municipalities in Sweden, the new municipality Halmstad take over the library in 1974. The reason why the organisation runs it until 1977 is because the municipality wants to build new premises for the library, and these are not finished until that year. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this master’s thesis is to explore what learning potentials there are in Demoteket. Demoteket is an on-going project that preserves and exhibits young people’s artistic creations. The idea is that public libraries receives and lends out the young people’s artistic creations. We want to examine what both the young people and librarians involved could learn from this project. Since the project is dependant on the young people’s creativity, we also want to find out what they can learn from their artistic creations. Finally we want to compare the ambition of the project with how it works in practice. We have chosen a socio-cultural perspective of learning for our background theory. According to a socio-cultural perspective learning is a social activity that is dependant on social interaction. As a method we use literary and documentary studies and interviews with the project leaders at Demoteket, librarians who work with the project, and the young people who have contributed. The results show that there is great learning potential in Demoteket’s activities for both the young people and the librarians, but it isn’t certain that this potential is realized. It demands a lot of activity and creativity from both the librarians and the young people involved for this to happen. We think that it is very important for librarians to be aware of pedagogical theories. It is all about knowing why you act like you do. Demoteket can play an important roll in the public library’s informal learning environment. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The main purpose of this thesis is to examine the process of selecting films at Bibliotekstjänst and at Swedish public libraries. The tools that have been used for analysing and interpreting the results from the interviews and the questionnaire are theory-based models describing the selection process concerning film and Carl Gustav Johannsen’s quality definitions. The result of the investigation shows that Bibliotekstjänst doesn’t really work with any quality definitions in their selection process. In spite of this, their way of working can be compared with Johannsen’s user-based quality definition. This definition is also used by librarians who as well as this use the transcendent definition. The product- and standard-based definitions are to a lesser extent used by librarians. The conclusion drawn concerning which external factors that influence Bibliotekstjänst, are that the main factor affecting the range of films available is the video rental license that each film has to have before libraries have the right to hire it out. When it comes to the question if Bibliotekstjänst control which films libraries can buy, there is a difference in the result from previous research and the result from this study. It could be that this difference has something to do with a possible change in the communication between librarians and Bibliotekstjänst. This thesis also shows results concerning whether libraries have a written policy for their film collections. Not many libraries do and it could be that this has a negative effect on how films are selected and the development of a film collection that is user-friendly. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The Internet has played an important role for libraries giving them a means of fulfilling their democratic mission of giving equal access to everyone, including people with disabilities. In order to achieve this it is of the utmost importance that they ensure that their web sites are accessible. In this masters thesis we have examined to what extent the web sites are accessible. The thesis is based on theories of human-computer interaction, information architecture, pedagogy and a checklist. The checklist is derived from established international guidelines from W3C, which has been adapted to, and is used by Swedish public authorities to achieve the mission of a “24-hour authority”. To carry out the examination a tool was created enabling the measurement of web site accessibility. This tool consists of the checklist and interviews via e-mail. Although the library web sites showed basic accessibility features and the library staff showed a commitment to accessibility issues this study concludes that the library web sites are, in fact, not accessible. However, the study predicts that with the legislation requiring a “library plan” by the year 2007 and the mission of the “24-hour authority”, the library web sites will be accessible in the foreseeable future. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this Master thesis is to increase the knowledge about how public libraries can contribute to fulfil political programmes aimed towards integration. To achieve this we have conducted an evaluative case study about a public library in Sweden and the activities they carried out within the framework of the metropolitan policy programme Storstadssatsningen”. The questions raised consider which the political aims for integration within this programme were, which activities the library did accomplish, what the result in comparison with the politically decided aims was, and what conclusions can possibly be drawn from this? The theoretical framework consists of theories regarding evaluation, political programmes, integration and segregation, and public library-activities. The methods used in the case study are qualitative interviews and document studies. Our evaluative approach is based on Vedung (1998). The result of our case study shows that the aims of the programme at most levels were indistinct and that the library didn't have any clear goals to reach. Hence it is impossible to show any fulfilment of goals. The library accomplished a multitude of activities, which the staff had decided about themselves. Several of the activities promoted multi culture rather than integration. The programme has been successful mainly on an individual level and this is also where the library has been able to influence. Furthermore it is obvious that the overall aim to prevent segregation is nearly impossible to achieve on a local segregated city district-level. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this Master thesis is to examine what knowledge and competence employers at public libraries apprehend that recent graduates of library and information science (LIS) have. We want to illuminate what qualifications employers demand and expect from LIS graduates and to what degree employers find that LIS graduates correspond to these demands. Our aim is also to see how these qualifications can be categorized and understood. Finally, we try to picture the employers’ apprehensions of the education received at LIS.As a method of gathering material for the analysis, we sent qualitative inquires with open questions to employers at public libraries in Sweden. The answers were analysed with a theory and a model to categorize the different qualifications. The results were compared with literature relevant for the subject. The conclusions are that many of the employers believe that recent LIS graduates lack the qualifications most wanted, which are mainly experience from library work, social competence, and knowledge about literature. The only qualifications that answer to the employers’ demands are those of information seeking and theoretical knowledge. Most employers think that LIS gives a basis for theoretical knowledge, but believe that the education also falls short. At the same time, some employers state that they don’t have enough knowledge about the education. The qualifications that employers’ demand from LIS graduates can be divided into different categories, and some of the qualifications fall into more than one category. This shows that the employers demand complex qualifications. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this master’s thesis is to study librarians’ views on children and young people as Internet users in Swedish libraries. It examines what types of problems and possibilities the librarians see with children’s and young people’s use of the Internet, how these problems might be solved, and what they think about regulations and filters. Qualitative interviews were conducted with nine librarians, and their statements were analysed with David Buckingham’s After the death of childhood as a theoretical foundation. Buckingham identifies three approaches. The negative view worries about children’s and young people’s wellbeing and claims that they are not able to cope with what they can find on the Internet so their access should be restricted by filtering. The positive view sees children and young people as naturally competent Internet users and wants to grant them unrestricted access. The pedagogical view identifies some problems but focuses on developing children’s and young people’s Internet competence. The results show that the negative view dominates when the librarians discuss potential problems with children’s and young people’s Internet use. The pedagogical view is represented when talking about solutions and desirable ways of working with development, and is the most common view. The positive view is the least common, but occurs in some statements regarding children’s and young people’s abilities. In general, the librarians seldom want to regulate the Internet differently based on age. They see filtering as a practical solution to problems with all users, not a way of protecting children and young people. / Uppsatsnivå: D