This study aims mainly to investigate what kind of role the public library plays in the regional and local development. The aim is also to investigate how the public library can strengthen the role as a factor of regional and local development. To explore the subject, the study is focused on the Swedish region of Västra Götaland. Three officials along with two policy documents, are included in the study as representatives of the region. Four public library managers are also interviewed but as representatives of the local perspective. To investigate the role of the public library in the regional and local development in more than one dimension, the theoretical framework consists of three different theories, which are used to answer the three research questions of the study. A qualitative analysis is performed to examine the relationships between the rhetorical statements and the theories. The study reveals that the major motives of the public library to work with regional and local development, are following the labels of the theory, the motive of enlightment and the motive of social issues. The study also shows that several functions of the public library, such as being a center of knowledge, a center of culture and a center of social issues, are particularly linked to the regional and local development. It is also clear that the public libraries of Västra Götaland, have the potentials to develop into more powerful factors in the regional and local development. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this Master's thesis is to study what public librarians' literature mediation looks like on Tiktok by exploring some librarians' experiences and perspectives and by mapping posts on the libraries Tiktok accounts to see which patterns emerge. The method for the study is qualitative semi-structured interviews with librarians as well as a quantitative content analysis of Tiktok-posts from the libraries where the interviewed librarians work. Analysis of the empirical material has been conducted within a thematic framework based on Jofrid Karner Smidt's mediation roles (1994). The key findings are that the librarian mostly acts as an educator and as a social anthropologist in the selection of literature, but that the librarian in the posts appears in the librarian's role as an ordinary person who conveys subjective experiences as a reader and tries to participate in the reading community Booktok on Tiktok. There is great possibility of designing videos on Tikok in order to reach users, but this requires knowledge of the aesthetics of the platform.

Introduction. The aim of this master’s thesis is to examine and interpret the role of the concept accessibility in the function of the public library in Sweden. Method. A qualitative method is used to carry out semi-structured interview with public library staff. A connection between the concept accessibility and regulatory documents is also made. Analysis. Through a hermeneutical approach and an understanding of accessibility in the Swedish language and a larger political context, an interpretation and analysis is done. The concept is mainly understood through its social, spatial and comprehensive aspects. Accessibility is also interpetreted through an active aspect. Results. The mission to create a library that is ”accessible for all”, as it is formulated in Swedish library law, is in many ways internalised in the organisation. Social accessibility is a way to make users feel welcome, and the staff plays the function of a portal to the library. Accessibility, as a feeling or an experience, through the interpretation of the individual, is shown to be important from the point of view of library staff. This subjective feeling interplays with the universal principle ”accessibility for all” and how the concept is tied to practical functions. Conclusion. Accessibility, as it is understood through an universal principle, creates an ”interpetrative space”, where fulfilling an equal access to the public library can be problematic. The study shows it’s the users interpetration of what the function the public library has is what steers its function and in turn its accessibility. It creates an interpetrative space where the public library can be constructed and function in different ways which makes the universal principle of equal access hard to uphold. This means a public library that is ”accessible for all” can be understood as a library that is in constant change to reach this goal.  This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.