The foremost aim of this study is clarifying how university libraries in Sweden include visual materials in their work. Moreover, this bachelor thesis examines what kind of support employees of university libraries provide to search for, use and evaluate visual materials in their pedagogics. The theoretical framework for the thesis is based on Hattwig, Bussert, Medaille och Burgess (2013) Visual Literacy Standards model, that explains seven skill areas that librarians can apply in their work with visual materials. In this study, the model was used to identify and analyze how the informants worked with visual materials. For the collection of data, a qualitative method was used. Seven librarians from three different libraries were elected for the interviews. The result showed that the most important part of visual materials for university libraries was related to copyright. Many of the informants emphasized that there is a difference in the expression of text versus images. None of the informants had any kind of special training about visual materials, but they offered material on copyright on their webpage. Most informants suggested that the college libraries responsibility for visual materials was to meet the students where they requested support. Many of the informants said that they did not know if they had sufficient expertise about visual materials to contribute with something to their students. All informants agreed that students today have a greater habit of searching and using images but that they lack knowledge about the use of visual materials in academic work.

The aim of this study is to deepen the knowledge of how libraryusers, library personnel and the relationship between them are expressed in “strategicdocuments” of university libraries in Sweden. As used in this study, strategic documentshave the purpose of pointing out focus and strategic planning for an organization. Sixstrategic documents are chosen. The main theory and method used is critical discourseanalysis signed Norman Fairclough. His three-part method: text analysis, discoursepractice and sociocultural practice, is used as a toolbox. The study also analysesstrategic documents as a genre.The analysis reveals that the image of the user presented in the strategic documents isindistinct, focusing on what the library should do but not for whom they should do it.The library personnel were, with one exception, not mentioned in terms of “librarians”but instead in terms of the more impersonal and less specific “staff” or “co-workers”.This suggests that the library personnel are exchangeable and change is what definesboth the occupation and the library. Strategies of professionalization were protrudingand technology was the most significant motivator for the organization.The relationship between the library users and the library personnel is not as evident inthe material as could be expected; it is foremost expressed as existing between theuniversity and the library. We see this as problematic as the relationship between thelibrary personnel and the library users is the key to the legitimization of universitylibraries. The study reveals three main discourses; the discourse of effectiveness, thetechnical discourse and the discourse of change and renewal, which together point outfuture directions for university libraries in Sweden. / Program: Bibliotekarie

This thesis is about new technology in academic libraries in the form of Patron Driven Acquisition. As libraries take part in the digital era, a new model of patron driven acquisition has emerged. This model gives users more influence over the libraries electronic book collection. The collection development model changes libraries traditional role in the collection development process, from collecting for the future to the present.The purpose of this thesis is to gain knowledge of what acquisition librarians think about the effects of PDA on the collection, the acquisitions role and the cost structure. The theoretical framework relies on Christensen’s theory about disruptive technology and was used to interpret outcomes of new technology in libraries and its staff.Five librarians from four different Swedish university libraries were interviewed using a qualitative semi-structured method to carry out the investigative part of this thesis. The analysis of the interviews were performed using a qualitative content analysis and the answers were thematised using the theory and research questions. The analysis of the results indicate few changes done by PDA to the collection and the acquisition role, but a changed cost structure was identified. The results also identified that the academic libraries are moving away from the traditional acquisition role. There are signs of both sustaining- and disruptive technologies in the results. However stultification of the library and the librarians’ role in the acquisition as predicted by the theory of disruptive technology is not possible to see in the present extent of PDA. / Program: Bibliotekarie

This is a study on the electronic reference work of some Swedish university and university college libraries. The purpose of the study has been to find out how the service works at the different libraries, to study the electronic reference interview and to find what is important when you start a new electronic reference service in the light of Brenda Dervin's sense-making theory study. Furthermore, we examine the aims of the electronic services offered and the differences between electronic and traditional reference interviews. In the background to the study we place electronic reference services in a context by describing the role of information technology and electronic mail in the libraries. The electronic reference interview is studied with the help of literature on the traditional reference interview. The study is built on qualitative interviews with librarians who work with electronic reference service. The libraries receive between 200 questions a month and 40 questions in eighteen months. The results of the report indicate that electronic reference service is not greatly used at most libraries. This might be the reason for the lack of detailed written guidelines for the service. The interviewed librarians are uncertain about the goals of the service but some suppose it is to do with the fact that their library has a national responsibility for a certain subject or they mention a wish to provide better service to their users. The attitude to advertising is mixed. Some imply that they do not have the means to extend the service. The librarians find the lack of a reference interview difficult and most of them see problems communicating via e-mail only. Electronic reference service is seen as an extension of the normal reference service, no special thought has been given to the consequences of the fact that the service is given through a new medium. The interviewees are of the opinion that the questionnaire should be as simple as possible. The possibilities of a more advanced questionnaire to compensate for the missing reference interview are discussed in the light of Dervin's sense-making theory. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this master thesis is to investigate how librarians working in academic libraries are experiencing the reference situation from a pedagogical point of view, by applying a theoretical framework consisting of learning strategies and their different characteristics, to qualitative interviews. Other goals are to elucidate the fact that learning takes place every day at libraries during the reference situation and that this work must be seen as “one of the most important activities that takes place at the library”, using the words from one of the interviewed librarians, but also to make place for more discussions regarding pedagogic and library work. This is done by posing questions about knowledge, learning, information literacy, communication, the reference encounter, the roles of the librarian, policy and also architectural aspects of the reference situation. The interviews were taped, transcribed and categorized according to the earlier mentioned areas of interest. Results and analyses are presented with quotes from the interviews that are related to the framework as well as to research by participants in this, and other relevant, subject fields. This essay points out that academic librarians are aware of the pedagogical aspects of the reference situation and consider it to be a learning situation of great importance for the user. Results also show that the main pedagogical theories that influence the academic librarians work during the contact with the user in the reference situation are individual and social constructivism. According to the authors of this essay, the reference situation must be seen as a complex situation with interrelated elements, mostly affected by the context the librarian and the user find themselves in. In so doing, the pedagogical foundation of the reference situation may differ. / Uppsatsnivå: D

During recent years the professional role of librarians has changed considerably. Development in the areas of information technology and the Internet has had a strong impact on libraries. Today’s visitors are in greater need of librarian support for information seeking and other services. This has led to a shift towards the development of a more complex pedagogical role for librarians. The aim of this Master thesis is to analyse the pedagogic and professional role of librarians, and of the nature of co-operation between librarians and teachers. Our research is based on interviews with librarians at a University library and with teachers. The interviews were analysed through a qualitative, thematic approach. The most important conclusions of our research are that librarians are very motivated to work together with the teachers and that they use every opportunity to do so. The teachers need librarians’ knowledge about sources, methods and search strategies to be able to carry out relevant information seeking tasks in a class. Findings indicate that some of those tasks might have been impossible for the teachers to assist their students with without the co-operation of a librarian. Teachers and librarians have several forums where they can interact. One example is the library’s reference group. As a result new forms of cooperation have evolved. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to investigate how academic librarians experience reference work aimed at international students. International students are a growing usergroup in Swedish academic libraries. The study’s main research question is:- How do academic librarians experience reference work aimed at international students?The study was performed with a phenomenographic methodological approach where seven qualitative interviews with academic librarians were conducted. These interviews were transcripted in their entirety and analysed using three key concepts based on the study’s research questions that formed the different experiences that created the study’s outcome space. The results show three major viewpoints on reference work aimed at international students. These viewpoints are based foremost on variations on how the barriers that international students meet in their library use are experienced. Within experience category A barriers are perceived as a hindrance for effective reference service. Barriers are acknowledged within experience category B but are seen as possible to overcome. Within experience category C barriers are overlooked, international students are here perceived as user group in no more need than other user groups. Two of the experience categories also represent different views on the relationship between the library system and the user. Experience category A is characterised by a user perspective whilst perception category B has a system oriented view of the interaction. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this thesis, was to study decision processes and the importance of information management in the processes within an academic organisation, which led to the work with adaptions according to the law of Equal Treatment of Students in Higher Education, (SFS 2001:1286). A general question was formulated concerning how different information- and knowledge flows interact within an academic organisation and its library during the decision processes. The questions at issue we have tried to examine, concern the factors that have influenced the participants´ choice of information during the decision processes, in their work of adapting the law of equal treatment, and how these choices have influenced the priorities that were made. The theoretical starting point was basically Cohen, March and Olsens Garbage Can Model. We also found the author Chun Wei Choo´s descriptions of organisations, as systems of information processing, useful for parts of our thesis, especially the parts that deals with the role of information management within the decision processes. To answer our questions interviews were made with seven participants who had been involved in the work concerning the adaption of the law. The result shows constantly present interaction between the information- and knowledge flows during the decision processes. New information is processed continuously by the participants. The information processes can be transformed to knowledge in sense making processes, and be useful when the information- and knowledge flows coincide with each other and provide opportunities for decision making. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this master's thesis is to describe the visibility of the university libraries in the strategic documents from the actual universities to which they belong. And also, the image of themselves they send out, are examined. By examining different kinds of descriptions we want to get a clearer picture of how and in what amount the libraries are mentioned in highest level strategies. By doing this we expect to find out the libraries' strategic role in higher education and research. The research questions are: What role and function are assigned to the university libraries in strategies created by the schools' highest administrative levels? How do the libraries present themselves in their own strategies? The approach is cross sectional and the time frame is year 2008. The methodological basis is a content analysis. The results are discussed in the light of theories of strategic planning. The findings show that the university libraries are not as frequently represented in the universities' highest level strategic documents as we anticipated, thinking that the importance of libraries for the universities would be shown clearly in the documents. The content analysis was used to classify the findings in the library plans. We found four main categories in the material: organization, information, competence and locality. The most important role given to the university libraries seem to be the organizational one meaning to support students, teachers and scientists in their daily work and supply of needed information, when studying the view of the highest administrative level.

The purpose of this Master thesis is to examine how college library managers perceive shelves of book reservation system in an integrity perspective. Privacy is an important part of everyday life in the society of today and according to some people, for example a former library lawyer in the Swedish Royal Library, these shelves conflicts with the Swedish law of Secrecy (Sekretesslagen 9 kap. 22 §). I am therefore interested in how they perceive this system: what weaknesses and strengths it has, why they implemented it, how they have interpreted this law. To answer this I have used a qualitative method called phenomenography and done interviews with five college library managers. The result shows three different ways of experiencing this system. The answers as to why they implemented the system and what strengths and weaknesses it has were quite coherent among the managers. This is a system that first and foremost is very practical for both library visitors and staff. This is one part of the development towards self-services. They showed a fear that books could be lost (a small risk), other library users could see your book reservation and that it sometimes was much work for the staff to maintain the system. The conclusion is that the three different ways of experiencing this system are: the relationship (between the law and the system) is decisive, the relationship is important but practical circumstances even more important and the relationship is insignificant. / Uppsatsnivå: D