This master thesis deals with the problem of integrated libraries. The number of integrated public and school libraries has significantly increased over time. These libraries are integrated for different reasons, most often because of economic considerations. The goal of the thesis is to investigate librarians´ understanding and perceptions of the professional role in this type of integrated libraries. I have investigated how librarians see and interpret their own professional role, and what factors influence their perceptions in an integrated library.The three main questions are: How do the librarians explain their professional role in an integrated library? How does their professional role change because of the fact that they work in an integrated environment? What factors, according to the librarians, influence and/or change the professional role mostly? The data has been collected through interviews with eight librarians at integrated libraries. They were employed as public librarians, school librarians or had a combined job of a public and school librarian. The method I have used is a combination of qualitative interviews and literature studies. The analysis is based on the topics emerging from the interviews with eight respondents and the literature.The study reveals that the professional role of a librarian is influenced and changed by an integrated public and school libraries´ environment. In this environment, a public librarian usually has to diminish the role and functions of a public librarian and also play a bigger pedagogical role. Another factor that influences the librarian’s role is that a librarian experiences fragmentation of his role and duties that is stressful. It is difficult for the librarians to decide the right level of service for the visitors of the integrated library. Despite this, librarians like their work. The reason for this is that they have very different work issues and also a very close contact with users. The librarians also work with different categories of staff and users and this is also a factor that influences their professional role. It is also difficult to give hundred percent of ones attention to any of the professional roles if one person has to fulfil both of them. It is also very important that a written agreement (or contract) is produced to regulate the work and activities of the librarians in integrated libraries. A school, a school library, and a public library have to negotiate this written agreement in detail and it is very important that all components of an integrated library are represented in this agreement. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this Master’s Thesis is to examine the importance of literacy and reading in a country like Jamaica. What role do public libraries and bookmobiles play in promoting literacy, and how does this work correspond with the UNESCO public library manifesto?To answer this, interviews were conducted with nine Jamaican librarians, and study visits were made to libraries and bookmobiles. In addition, development plans, policy and other relevant documents were analyzed. The themes that emerged from the interviews and the different development plans were compared. These themes and the observations from the study visits were analyzed from the perspective of Amartya Sen’s theories on development as freedom, in which greater freedom for people is seen both as the main goal of development and the most important means of development. The conclusions to be drawn from this are that both librarians and government consider literacy and information to be essential to development and economic growth in Jamaica. It is clear that libraries and bookmobiles have contributed to a more literate society and play an active part in the country’s educational system. However, the informal nature of this contribution makes it difficult to estimate its actual extent. The activities of the public library service in Jamaica correspond very well with the UNESCO public library manifesto, even though it is not clearly stated in any policy documents that the manifesto is important and should be followed. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this study is to investigate methods of collection development, the users’ influence on selection and quality aspects, focusing on non-fiction literature in Swedish public libraries. To find out opinions of collection development, I use the method comparative literature study. Antonio Gramsci’s concept hegemony forms the theoretical background, and hegemony as concept is related to a library context by using Maj Klasson’s text on the librarians’ different positions of authorities. The focus of the study is therefore on the librarian’s position as authority, in contrast to the users’ position, regarding selection of non-fiction literature. A short historical review leads to the factors influencing collection development today. Swedish library policy documents, the Swedish library constitution, Unesco’s public library manifesto are some of the formal factors influencing collection development at Swedish public libraries. The analysis consists of three macro themes found while reading the empirical texts: collection development, quality aspects and users. These macro themes are divided into micro themes in order to analyse the chosen empirical texts. The result of the study shows a difference in authority between librarians and users regarding collection development, the complexity of non-fiction literature and the users’ influence on literature selection. These authority differences is expressed in the texts as whether the librarians or the users are considered as the authority, and why, in developing methods for literature selection. Concerning quality aspects, a difference was found between the texts, since one of them acknowledges the users as the most important reference to select quality literature, and not the librarians. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The object of this paper is to examine the marketing of PUNKTmedis, a youth library. In order to do so we have looked at two different perspectives; how the library has marketed itself towards its target group, and how young people perceive what PUNKTmedis has to offer. The thesis’ foundation is a case study. Since the question at hand concerns the library’s intentions with and execution of its marketing efforts, as well as the target group’s opinion of them, the empirical data is based partially on an interview with the head of marketing at PUNKTmedis, and partially on a target group questionnaire. Two marketing theories, transaction theory and theory of relations, serve as frame of reference to the empirical data.The thesis establishes that PUNKTmedis has succeeded well at marketing in some aspects, not so well in others. The library’s strong points have been; creating an environment for youth and working hard at having fruitful dialogues with them. PUNKTmedis’ weakest point has been marketing in order to get new users to the library and the poll establishes that the few efforts that have been made have had little impact. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this master’s thesis is to investigate a possible connection between the development of mobile library services in Sweden and the development of cultural policy during 1945-2006. Our main question is: is there a connection between the development of the mobile library services in Sweden, as described in Biblioteksbladet, and the development of cultural policy as portrayed by Anders Frenander and Dorte Skot-Hansen? In order to answer this question, we formulated two secondary questions: - How are the mobile library services described in Biblioteksbladet between 1945 and 2006? - Are there any similarities or dissimilarities between the development of the mobile library services and the development cultural policy as described in our theoretical models? If so, in what way? Our study covers the entire time period since the start of the mobile library services in Sweden in the late 1940s. The final year for our investigation is 2006. Our theoretical framework contains Dorte Skot-Hansen’s model of the development of western European cultural policy in the post-war period, and Anders Frenander’s discourse analysis of the Swedish cultural policy during the 20th century. The methodological approach in this study is a descriptive analysis of ideas based on a number of questions, partly based on Skot-Hansen’s model. The result of our investigation shows that there is a tangible relation between the development of the mobile library services and the development of cultural policy. This connection diminishes during the 1980’s, by the time that the cultural practices become more instrumental. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this thesis is to investigate librarians’ experiences and opinions about a system for fiction retrieval based on the subject headings list Att indexera skönlitteratur. I want to know if librarians experience that subject headings searches for fiction literature are a good working tool, if there according to librarians are other resources and means that makes fiction available and searchable, and how they estimate the possibility of non-professionals to use subject headings for fiction retrieval. Six librarians at public libraries in Göteborg where interviewed. The interviews dealt with their work with fiction literature, their experiences of subject headings as a fiction retrieval tool, and with their contacts with patrons. The study revealed a great variation among the six librarians. Some said they used subject headings regularly and found them useful for fiction retrieval, while others said subject headings had a minor role in their work with fiction. As alternatives to subject headings where mentioned handbooks that describe fiction literature, the competence of librarians, shelf classification and exhibitions. Some librarians thought most patrons have limited use of subject headings, while others thought subject headings can be a good help for patrons. It is a common experience among the librarians that students ask for fiction dealing with certain subjects, and a common view that students above others can benefit from subject headings. To improve the retrieval of fiction in public libraries in Göteborg it is suggested that the structure of the subject headings list is exposed to the persons searching. / Uppsatsnivå: D

This Master’s thesis concerns the public librarian’s professional identity. The complexity of the mandates of the public librarian, and the public library, raises questions on how librarians understand their professional identities. The empirical material consists of qualitative in-depth interviews with librarians. Two theoretical approaches are used in the analysis of the material with a focus on the public librarians’ knowledge and professional role. The informants’ statements are categorised according to different models. The results reveal that the librarians express various attitudes, some of them contradictory, for instance, towards the users of the library. Some tensions characterise the professional identity of the public librarian, for example, between practical and theoretical orientations. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this Master’s thesis is to examine in what way the introducing of library plans in three municipalities have affected the work in library organizations. We base our study on a new institutionalist perspective, which focuses on changes in organizations from a social and interpretative perspective. By using this theoretical framework, it is possible to study how interpersonal relations affect the development in library organizations. Through qualitative interviews with ten librarians, we investigate how the establishing of library plans has influenced, and been influenced by, the library field and by the environment, i.e. politicians and the public. Further, this thesis investigates whether the library plans are articulations of traditional values and norms of the field, or if the plans have implied new ideas in the daily work. We observe that it is of decisive importance who initiates the establishing process of the plans, and that communication with politicians is crucial in the working process. The library work in the investigated municipalities is directed by institutionalized norms, values and routines, which are articulated in the library plans. Our study shows that this articulation works in two different ways. In one aspect it reinforces the institutionalization and has a legitimizing function. In another aspect, it has a limiting impact on the library’s ability to environmental adaptation and organizational change of a revolutionary nature. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this study is to examine Swedish public libraries preservation of rare book collections. In this study a rare book is rare when it become over a hundred years. I will investigate if libraries have any written policies or plans when it comes to preservation and also what the librarians’ opinion about rare book collections are. This is of interest because public libraries have a lack of responsibility when it comes to preservation. The librarians’ opinions will be based on Svante Beckman and Magdalena Hillström’s theory of museums four idealtypes. The four different types are the treasury, the archive, the school and the theatre. The theory then will let us see if the librarians think their rare book collections are subject only for the audience or the collection. I will examine six librarians from six different cities in Sweden. To my help I will use a questionnaire. There will be for example questions about aims, problems, visions and care. The study will then be based on a method of qualitative content analysis. The result of the analysis reveals that the majority of the librarians’ think their rare books are subject for the collections. They includes in the Treasury and the Archive. No preservation documents were written at the chosen libraries and there were only two libraries that had written something about cultural heritage and preservation in their library plans.

This master’s thesis concerns the performance of professional children’s theatre in public libraries. With qualitative interviews I have looked into how four children’s librarians and two theatre consultants appreciate professional children’s theatre, and furthermore I have looked into their view on the importance of theatre for children. My intentions have also been to investigate their views on the function and status of children’s theatre in public libraries and also the relationship between library and theatre activities for children. The empirical findings have been analyzed using theory and previous research. The quality aspect of children’s theatre has been analysed using Willmar Sauter’s communication model, which analyzes the communication between the stage and the audience. The results show that children’s librarians and theatre consultants believe that the experience of quality is strongly connected to the theatre company’s treatment of the audience prior to the performance and their ability to maintain the communication with the audience through out the performance. The quality of the performance is also influenced by the children’s librarians and the theatre consultant’s perception of the working skills, intentions, conditions of production, and economical conditions of the theatre company. Furthermore the results show that the children’s librarians and theatre consultants are convinced that a positive experience of children’s theatre is potentially beneficial to children, due to its ability to confirm the child’s inner and outer world, and work as a means for processing and reflection. The results show that children’s theatre performed in libraries can serve a useful purpose in the relation between a child and its parents. The children’s librarians all consider children’s theatre to be an integral part of children’s libraries activities.