The aim of this bachelor thesis is to examine the different discourses related to freedom of expression linked to collec-tion development that can be identified in and around the public library field. Questions posed in this study are: What discourses can be found and how do they interact? How is the public library’s mission described in relation to freedom of expression and collection development within each dis-course? Which subject positions are visible in the debate? The theoretical starting-point is Ernesto Laclau’s and Chantal Mouffe’s discourse theory. The used method is discourse an-alytic, but since Laclau and Mouffe provide no explicit step by step method how to use their theory, we have had to find inspiration in other discourse analytic papers. 38 articles from library journals and daily newspapers were analyzed. The re-sult of the analysis reveals three discourses: a libertarian dis-course, a profession-centred discourse and a reflexive dis-course. From a professional point of view selection, based on professional considerations, is a necessity since no public li-brary is able to stock everything. From a libertarian perspec-tive, the public library’s mission is to serve the public with-out any censorship filters. The main position in the reflexive discourse is that freedom of expression is negotiated in dia-logue with vulnerable groups to ensure a public library for all. Based on the result of the analysis we draw the conclu-sion that the interpretations of laws and guidelines differ within the public library discourse. We therefore propose a clearer national coordination on collection development strat-egies.

This essay points at the importance of public libraries as arenas of meetings between refugees and the local population, and by this - creating social kapital in the society as a whole. The researchers Aabø, Audunson and Vårheim have created theories about low-intensive meeting places, that means – neutral, public places where accidential meetings with different strangers can happen, which can create social capital and trust among each other. To complement these theories I also use Vårheim who have implementet social capital-theories to the sphere of public libraries. These two theories complement each other and can help me investigate two public libraries in a rural area in Sweden. My purpose is to see how these two libraries are used as low-intensive meeting places for refugees and if the libraries contribute to build social capital in the society. I am interviewing library personal and the two heads of the libraries. I want to see what services etc. they provide for refugees and overall their thoughts and attitudes towards the library as a meeting place for refugees. In conclusion I have found that neither library is very strong when it comes to the function of creating meetings between refugees and the local population. But overall they have open attitudes towards it, and they try in different ways to provide services for immigrants. I can see in the material that these libraries have a good platform and possibilites of creating social capital in the society, and in many ways they contribute to this.

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to study the perceptions of accessibility among users and staff at a Swedish public library in a sparsely-populated area. The subject of public libraries in sparsely-populated areas has been studied in a number of previous theses, but a lack of user perspective is evident. This thesis poses two questions: What are the similarities and differences in the users’ and the staff’s perceptions of accessibility in the library services? What are the similarities and differences between users’ and staff’s perceptions of accessibility and their perceptions of the roles of the library respectively? The study’s theoretical frameworks was derived from Michael Buckland’s model of information barriers, and Andersson and Skot-Hansen’s model of the four roles of the public library. The method of data collection was primarily semistructured interviews with users and staff, to a lesser degree document analysis and observations. The results show that users focus on the barrier of too short opening hours, and lack of certain content in the library collection, whereas the staff view the strained human resources as the largest barrier to accessibility. Perceptions of the overall library operation can help to explain the differences. The users view the library as a somewhat static range of services associated with culture and knowledge, whereas the staff perceive the library as playing a active role in promoting culture and knowledge.

This bachelor thesis is a study of how librarians from five public libraries are working and perceive their role in the integration process. The purpose is to gain a deeper understanding of how librarians discusses about working with refugees. Qualitative interviews are used as a method to answer my questions and the theoretical framework was based on Jochumsen, Hvenegaard & Skot-Hansen´s "The four space" model, which sees the library as a meeting space, inspiration space, learning space and performative space. Five categories emerged from the empirical data about the librarians view of the library as a meeting place, the librarians supporting role in the integration process, the interaction between internal and external actors, media supplies and integrative activities. The analysis showed that especially three of the four categories based on The four spaces model were prominent; library as an inspiration space, learning space and meeting space. These three were discussed on the basis of an overall concept of the library as a living room. The least prominent category was library as a performative space. Respondents see their role in the integration process as a part of a democratic society, which means that the library is an open, public meeting place where people have access to information, learning and culture. Librarians highlighted three obstacles in their efforts in the integration process, which was about the lack of time, lack of resources and language skills.

This thesis focuses on the participants of the public library activity language café, where immigrants and refugees with the help of native Swedes practice the Swedish language. The aim of the thesis is more specifically to examine the function of this activity for its participant’s processes of learning and integration. To investigate this, four questions were asked: which experiences do the participants have of language cafés? How can the language cafés contribute to the process of language development for the participants? Which part does the language cafés play for its participants from a perspective of learning? Which function do the language cafés play for its participants’ processes of integration? These questions were processed through qualitative interviews with participants at language cafés in two public libraries. Concepts from the models the four spaces by Jochumsen et al. (2012), and The indicators of integration framework by Ager and Strang (2008) were then used to analyse the empirical material from perspectives of language, learning and integration. The concepts chosen were: meeting space, learning space, empowerment, language & cultural knowledge, social bridges, social bonds and social links. The result of this investigation shows that the language cafés play the role of a platform for the participants’ language development, retrievement of societal information, and crosscultural meetings. Although the participants integration processes did benefit from the social environment offered by the language cafés, the impact of this activity from a perspective of two-way-integration would have been more efficient if more native Swedes would have taken part.

The aim of this bachelor thesis is to find out how librarians working in combined school- and public libraries view their professional identity. The theoretical framework includes the seven librarian identities of Anders Ørom and Trine Schreiber combined with Beth Junckers theories of the culture sector with autotelic cultures and the education sector with instrumental cultures. The theoretical framework has been used in analyzing and discussing the results. The data has been collected through six semi-structured interviews, transcribed and processed for the analysis. The librarians were found to identify mostly with the culture intermediary identity in the culture sector. The information intermediary identity and the subject intermediary identity both were present in the school-librarian context, and the socialworking identity and the experience intermediary identity in the public-librarian context. Recommendations for further research are made based on the results.

The aim of this thesis is to examine how discourses appearing in a Swedish media de-bate in 2015 about the unruly public libraries relate to former, historical discourses con-cerning public libraries. Through a discourse analytical approach, I analyze the beliefs, norms and values of the public library as expressed by the various participants in the debate and how these statements relate to historical library discourses that have been prevalent in Sweden during the 1900s.Two discourses were identified: the literary discourse and a discourse that perceive the library as a democratic meeting place. Within the literary discourse, which is clearly influenced by the public library ideas that became influential in Sweden in the early 1900s, emphasis is placed on the printed book; the public library is expected to be a place where silence reigns. Within the competing discourse, which has its roots in the 1970s, the library is seen as an open meeting place for various activities, not only for reading.The literary discourse has been and still is the dominant discourse. Within the literary discourse the public library is seen as a tool for public education. In the early 1900s the workers and the less well-off would be formed into responsible citizens. In modern times, there have been changes within the discourse and now it is rather the well-behaved young people with an immigrant background that are subject to public library's attentions. The hegemonic position of the literary discourse makes the notion that there should be a careful silence in public libraries perceived as self-evident. This in turn affects the possibility to innovate and further develop public library activities.

The purpose of this bachelor's thesis has been to see in what way the relationship between the librarians' views on the users, and their views on the librarian acting as an intermediary, impacts on the choice of reading and on the way in which activities are designed in direct literature mediation toward adult public library users. The investigation has been based on four semi-structured interviews. A qualitative content analysis has been conducted within a thematic framework based on Jofrid Karner Smidt's mediation roles (1994) and Carl Gustav Johannsen's user images (2009). The key findings are that the librarian most often acts in the capacity of authority or as a critic (Smidt, 1994); however, in a process of personalisation and socialisation, in addition she takes the position as a normal being (Grøn & Balling, 2012; Smidt, 1994). Moreover, we have found that the librarians' views on the user vary depending on whether the mediation is planned or spontaneous – from this follows that she designs the mediation either vertically/authoritatively or horizontally/collaboratively (Grøn & Balling, 2012). Following from previous research (Hansson, 2005; Schreiber, 2006), we have, moreover, identified a new mediation role, i.e. the librarian as a social worker, and a new user image, i.e. the user as a normal being.

This is a study of how multicultural competence is supplied within a centralized purchasing group of librarians in Gothenburg. It is also an investigation in librarians' working methods in purchase of multilingual media and their approaches to multilingual users' needs and demands. The purpose is thus to reach a deeper understanding of these librarians' multicultural competence and their work with multilingual media in relation to user's demand. This since we in prior work experience faced obstacles with the acquisition of multilingual media. This is problematic in a diverse society where all needs and demands should be fulfilled within the public libraries. We based our theory in research regarding multicultural competence, with an approach to the concept as a process that is developing over time. The study is conducted in Gothenburg, we found that the city's primary working method is a centralized purchasing group from different branch libraries. Within this group we made semi-structured interviews to assemble data. These interviews concerned if and how the librarians use multicultural competence in the purchasing group, how they approach and use them in their working methods and strategies, and, if and how, they relate to Gothenburg's districts populations and their demands. We proceeded thus from the librarians' perspective. We found, along the interviews, that the librarians were all multicultural competent but that the working methods in some cases could limit their work. The working methods could also in some cases limit their work to satisfy demand.

The aim of this thesis can be split up into three parts. First, to examine if public libraries in Sweden provide a selection of comic books and graphic novels suitable for youths. Second, to seek out how many of those libraries use comic books and graphic novels in their literature promotion with youths. Third, to investigate if there are any connections and similarities between the libraries that do. Also, a hypothesis proclaiming that most libraries do have comic book departments designed for youths and that libraries in big cities use comic books in literature promotion more often than libraries in small cities, is tested in the study. The results are based on a survey that was distributed to 290 libraries, out of which 192 responded. The results indicate that most libraries have youth departments and departments for comic books but that a small majority, mostly in larger cities, have a comic book department designed to be interesting for youths. A majority of the libraries surveyed have used comic books in some sort of literature promoting activity but there is a clear distinction between libraries in larger cities and libraries in smaller cities where the big city libraries were more likely to have used comic books in their literature promotion. Most of the connections and similarities between libraries working with comic books are connected to the population of the city in which the library is located and with the library's work for youths in general.