This thesis addresses the creation of accessibility for people with disabilities at Swedish public libraries. The focus of the study was to investigate how libraries adapt their activities to meet the needs of people with disabilites. I was also interested in the barriers that the libraries experience in that adaptation and the libraries’ different views on opportunities for improvements in that area. The material used consists of a web survey and qualitative interviews. I used a univariate analysis and a thematic analysis as analysis tools. The analysis was based on theories from library and information science and disability studies. I found that Swedish public libraries have a thorough understanding of the importance of the creation of accessibility for people with different disabilities. However, the results from the survey and the interviews displayed a general lack of knowledge at the libraries about the needs of different members of this group.  That lack of knowledge was identified as a barrier for the accessibility at the libraries. Other barriers for inclusion and accessibility that were identified involved financial restrictions, lack of technical resources and nonexisting cooperations in municipalities and with different disability organisations. The study also showed that libraries, in their creation of accessibility for this group, tend to give priority to the access to the physical library and to literature, rather than to prioritise technical tools or program activities.

This essay seeks to investigate how the public libraries of Sweden market and advertise their services to the public and what circumstances effect that work. The method to investigate this was chosen to be a qualitative inquiry through interviewing six different employees of the Swedish public libraries, all who had different circumstances surrounding the advertising work they did at their respective libraries. The results of the interviews showed that the circumstances in which the different informants worked with marketing varied to several degrees and so their marketing work did also vary greatly. The conclusion of the essay was that most Swedish libraries seem to work with marketing in their own unique way and that the main circumstances that affected this work were dependent on the libraries budget, guidance from their leadership and the librarians marketing knowledge.

This thesis covers the topic about public libraries and their role in anti-consumption according to library users. According to previous research there is a lack of knowledge about how users motivate their library use. A knowledge that is important due to the fact that the libraries views on its patrons can influence the relationship between library and users. The purpose of this essay is to study which role the public libraries have in anti-consumption in a user perspective by answering these questions: - What motivates users to borrow stuff from the library? - What are the users’ views on borrowing different stuff? - What do users want to borrow from the libraries? This study has been done by sharing an online survey in social media and by using a snowball sampling to collect participants. A definition made by Lee et al. (2011) was used to explain anti-consumption, who divided it into three parts: rejection, restriction and recycling. These definitions were then used to help analyzing the results from the survey. Conclusions were made that the library has a restraining role according to the survey’s participants, which means that users avoid ownership of things by borrowing them from the library. The motivation for library use amongst the participants was foremost by economic reasons, the amount of need for accessibility for different things and to discover new things in a safe environment. In majority the participants were pleased by the things that the public libraries are already lending out.

The purpose of this master thesis is to study the correlation and meaning of current ideas and practice at the public library of Gothenburg. This was done by comparing the visions and ideas expressed by the library through the library plan, with how the daily practice looks. For the theoretical framework organizational theory is used and research data was collected both from public documents and through observations. The public library of Gothenburg were chosen for the study because of it's newly renovated facilities. The idea is that these facilities make a suitable study object of the current ideas and priorities of the public Swedish library in general.The results show that the public library practice in Sweden still rests on the original public library ideas such as offering information for free and treating every user as equal. It also shows the importance of legitimizing new activities by relating them to more familiar ingredients. When developing the organization it's critical for the library to remain recognizable as a public library to avoid damaging the brand name. The new facilities of the public library of Gothenburg do well to correspond to the ideas and visions expressed in the library plan. Generous opening hours and accessible facilities seem to help in attracting many visitors. Some questions are raised regardning the lack of dedicated reading rooms, when it is stated by the library that the meeting between the user and the information still should be regarded as the central aspect of the library practice. Room for improvment is also seen regarding the ambition of offering more ways of communication and participation. On the whole the realization of the library plan is deemed to be well on it's way, which is seen as a positive example of the much debated usefulness of the library plans. However, it is also noted in the study how some of the wide ambitions sometimes risks conflicting with each other.

In November 2008 the National Library of Swedendecided to switch classification system from SAB toDewey decimalclassification (DDC). SAB had untilthen been the main classification system in the wholeof the Swedish library field for 87 years. The decisionwas not limited to the national bibliography but alsoapplied to the research libraries of Sweden. Thisprocess developed according to the West Europeantendency to change in favor of the internationally wellspreadclassification system Dewey for more cooperationin the cataloguing process. The public libraries wassimultaneously recommended by SverigesBiblitoteksförening to switch from SAB to DDC in orderto create a uniform classification system for all Swedishlibraries. The purpose of this thesis is to examine howlibrary staff at two Swedish public libraries has beenaffected before, during and after the transition. To do so atheory on organizational change by Nadler and Tushman(1990, p. 80), have been applied. The theory is based ontwo different dichotomies divided into two dimensions;strategic versus incremental change and reactive inopposition to anticipatory change. The method used inthe study are semi qualitative interviews with four andfive informants respectively from two public libraries.Findings show that the transition to Dewey was reactive.According to my informants no larger change for theorganization took place.

This study explores the physical location of public libraries, and how the functions and activities that the libraries provide can be affected by where in the city the library is located. Two of the libraries that have been examined are located in subway stations, one in a suburban shopping center, and two in very close vicinity to a city center and transportation nodes. Interviews with five employees working in the five libraries in Stockholm and Gothenburg have taken place.The theoretical framework that has been used is a model developed by Andersson and Skot-Hansen, that divides the public library into four different roles; the social center, the information center, the cultural center and the knowledge center. The four roles each connect with different parts of the library´s functions, and the model tells us something about which profile a library can have in the local community. The results show that the location has both positive and, to a certain amount, negative effects on the public library. The close vicinity to communications, and the easy access in connection with shopping and attending culture events, makes the library a more accessible place where the efforts to become a library user are low. This type of location however, also brings noise and disturbance, which worries some of the librarians who see the library as a place of peace and quiet, and inspiration. Although the libraries examined in this study all have new and innovative locations, the functions and activities that take place are equal to those of a traditional public library.

Syftet med den här kandidatuppsatsen är att öka kunskapen om hursvenska folkbibliotek kan arbeta med biblioterapi. Detta uppnåsgenom att belysa SPES-projektet vid Norrköpings stadsbibliotek,ett biblioterapiprojekt i bokcirkelform, där deltagare ochcirkelledare träffas regelbundet för att prata om den lästalitteraturen. Metoden jag har använt är kvalitativa intervjuer där jagintervjuat bibliotekarien och samtalsterapeuten som håller ibiblioterapicirkeln samt två deltagare. I analysen presenterasresultaten från informanterna i fem olika delar; introduktion tillSPES-projektet, cirkelledarnas syn på biblioterapi, rollen sombibliotekarie samt rollen som samtalsterapeut i biblioterapicirklar,bibliotekets roll i biblioterapeutiska verksamheter och till sistdeltagarnas upplevelser av biblioterapicirkeln. Min analysförankras kontinuerligt till tidigare forskning och i slutsatsen knyterjag ihop resultaten och lägger fram några riktlinjer som andrabibliotek och organisationer kan dra nytta av i uppstartandet avbiblioterapiverksamheter. Samtliga av mina informanter harpositiva erfarenheter av biblioterapi, trots detta är det ett ovanligtfenomen på svenska folkbibliotek idag. Jag hoppas att den härkandidatuppsatsen kan öppna ögonen för hur bibliotek kanimplementera biblioterapeutiska verksamheter.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how special education teachers in Elementary school use libraries and how they experience collaboration with the school and public librarians and also how the collaboration might be concretized in the library's activities for the students. To achieve my purpose I conducted interviews with six special education teachers. The result from the interviews showed that the students and the teachers use the library for many different purposes for example book loans and bringing desire to read but also for social training and communication by interacting with the librarians. The result also showed that there were no activities in the library that were just for the special need students. A common thought among the teachers where when the class doesn’t find anything interesting the librarian will because she is the one who knows about the libraries´ materials and has the ability to guide the teachers and students through the information load. Some teachers pointed out that if the librarians had more knowledge about the special need students’ disabilities the library visits could be more effective and collaboration between teacher and the librarian could make the visit better. As a theoretical framework David V. Loertschers teacher taxonomy was used. The teachers in the study most of the time were in the beginning and in the middle of the taxonomy scale, and never reached higher levels. This means that the teachers use and collaborate with the library quite passively.

This thesis is a qualitative study of "Bryggan" ("The Bridge"), a three-year co-operation project between the public library and different associations in Vastervik. The aim of the project was to find new forms for co-operation, which could help both parts in their marketing. "Bryggan" is characterized as an action-related research project, where experiences from the work have been evaluated regularly and have been incorporated to the following process. A study of literature, dealing with adult education activities, developing activities, library extension and democracy, gives the theoretical basis both to the project and to the thesis. The case study describes the different kinds of co-operation during the three years, both with the associations and with other groups and institutions involved. A qualitative interview study was made with five library employees and five association members. After having participated in the "Bryggan" project and analysed the interviews, I assert that it is possible to change and develop the activities of the public library through a purposeful collaboration with different associations.

Public libraries are facing new challenges to reach more and new users and to remain as a valid source of knowledge and information. Fewer visitors and books lent in the last years are the main evidence of public libraries’s decline. A proper develop of the internal and external communication may play a key role to prepare public libraries to perform better in this competitive environment. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how public libraries in Santiago, Chile work with Strategic Communication in order to reach out to a growing number of users while meeting the organizations’ goals. The study identifies five elements that need to be in place in a public library to probe the presence of Strategic Communication. These elements are the following: presence of a library vision and goals, staff commitment and awareness communicating the brand, focus on user satisfaction, campaigns and outgoing projects in promotion and presence in internal and external social media. Five semi structured interviews were conducted with the head librarians in five public libraries in Santiago, Chile, chosen randomly from a list of public libraries. The result shows that out of the five elements two of them are properly in place: 1) staff commitment and awareness communicating the brand and 2) user satisfaction. Conversely, factors that have low development are: 1) the library vision and goal, 2) campaigns and outgoing operations and 3) internal and external social media. Athough public libraries in Chile show commitment to develop strategic communication, evidence shows that there is considerabe room for improvement.