Librarians with a teaching role in higher education need to collaborate with the faculty. The aim of this thesis is to identify the importance of a well communicative collaboration and what difference it makes to the students. Information literacy is a central concept for librarian’s teaching, but it may not be well known by students. The collection of empirical material took place in Southern Sweden. Five librarians with a teaching role were interviewed at their workplace and it was four different universities. The semi-structured interviews were recorded and transcribed. The transcribed material was analyzed with Yrjö Engeströms cultural-historical activity theory to explore the terms of the teaching librarian’s success. The literature view was divided in three themes in order to understand the development and context of the teaching librarian. The meaning of the concept information literacy has not always been the same and is one of the themes in the literature review. Information literacy is the foundation of the supporting role of the librarian. Findings of the interviews shows that the collaboration is significant for student’s development of information literacy. Students need help from librarians with different kinds of matter. Librarians helpfulness is useful for senior student’s thesis writing. The teaching librarian´s objective is to support the students and researchers on the university. Knowledge and resources is a part of the tools librarians need to succeed. The collaboration between librarians and teacher is the key element to invite the students to the library and librarian’s knowledge.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the benefit of information literacy instruction in two student groups at Kristianstad University, in relation to development of critical information literacy and within the boundaries of the educational goals. This study takes on a critical information literacy perspective that combines critical pedagogy and standards for information literacy in higher education. Two methods have been used for data collection: interviews and questionnaires. According to the results of the study the information literacy instruction provided by the Kristianstad University Library is important and useful for the students in their academic studies. It also becomes clear that the information literacy differs between the two groups as a consequence of the varying information literacy instruction received by the two groups. Based on these results recommendations are made on how the information literacy instruction can be elaborated upon to secure development of a higher degree of critical consciousness in students and to ascertain equal conditions for different student groups. The findings of this study are not only valuable for those immediately affected, it can also be useful for others involved in higher education. Further research within this area is important for the development of critical information literacy and information litracy instruction in higher education.

As information becomes more widely available, the library finds itself in a position where new paths need to be explored on which to reach out to users. Learning Commons have developed internationally as a way to stimulate active learning and to prioritise social interaction over the material collection. By using Chalmers University of Technology as a case study, the aim of this study has been to clarify the concept of Learning Commons from a Swedish perspective and to contribute to the representation of diverse interpretations worldwide by so doing. Chalmers was the first Swedish library to institute a Learning Commons in 2016 and so the study has come to focus on organizational factors driving its establishment and on how the term is used locally. The library’s perspective has been point of departure with a rich material found in business plans, project plans and other officially drafted documents concerning its coming into existence and evaluation thereof. Complementary information was gathered from e-mail conversations with the prefect and a more informal perspective added through the library’s blog and some newspaper articles on the topic. All documents have been studied using a qualitative content-based analysis with a concept analytical angle. Theoretical premises were found in materiality and constructivism as concepts, in combination with an overarching starting point in organization theory. The analysis showed that the library and the Learning Commons were seen as two distinct concepts, where the main distinguishing characteristic was found in the focus on the collection and user respectively. The Learning Commons further functions as a testing ground for new ideas, which fit more easily in a new context. Related to these questions of organizational development, the physical structure has shown to be an efficient mediator of change, imprinted as it is with symbolism prompting certain behaviour. A closer collaboration with Chalmers University and a more perceptive way in relation to users has, together with adjustments to prevalent pedagogy, environmental thinking and strengthening of the profile internationally as well as socially formed the Learning Commons of Chalmers. It has shown to be an appreciated part of the present and future library.

This Master thesis concerns Swedish Academic libraries current lack of ability to offer interlibrary loans of e-books to their primary users. Today it is possible for university-and college libraries primer user to make request of inter library loan for physical books, however, they cannot make such request for e-books. We will argue for that this problem should not be viewed as a simple inconvenience for the users. Our argument will be built on the assumption that access to information is an essential part of a well working democracy, and that libraries therefore should prioritize the question of inter library loans.  In our study we have interviewed librarians who is currently working with interlibrary loans and digital media. After that we have interpreted the transcriptions of those interviews with a phenomenographical perspective. Our aim with the study has been to examine how librarians experienced the phenomenon of interlibrary loan of e-books. We have therefore attempted to answer three research question: How do librarians work with inter library loans and which values do they connect to them? What difficulties and possibilities do they see in making inter library loans of e-books possible in the future? How do they view interlibrary loans in the digital era and how do they view the future of inter library loans of e-books?  We have found that librarians connect inter library loans with a will of sharing information and that they believe that libraries will have to cooperate to make inter library loans of e-books possible. Furthermore, we have found that our informants believe that interlibrary loans will still be needed in the near future, even though they might become irrelevant in far future due to increase in open access publications. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

The aim of this thesis is to examine how library employees view and work with UX or User Experience. It also examines how they view library users, the library and their own professional roles and how these views are connected with the concepts of documentality, legitimacy and identity. The concept of power is also used. The study was carried out thorough a series of ten semi-structured qualitative interviews with employees at Karolinska Institutet University Library and Linköping University Library and is based on a social constructivist perspective. The results show that UX is viewed as a mindset where one tries to look at the library from the users’ perspectives and adapt the library after their needs. This was seen as a new perspective where the library aims to stand in the users’ shoes. Through the use of methods like interviews, observations and usability tests the informants try to understand their users and their needs. However, there was a strong emphasis on balancing the users’ wishes with the aims and conditions of the library which indicate a strong internal legitimacy. It also shows that UX does not indicate a loss of power in the informants’ minds. The study shows that an emphasis on the users’ perspective can also be linked to the core of librarianship further strengthening the internal legitimacy. The results also show that arguments can be made for the importance of both constitutive and performative documentality in academic libraries today. Among the informants there was a strong emphasis on a communicatively oriented professional identity with its focus om dialogue and cooperation with library users. In conclusion, the study shows that UX can be viewed as a way for academic libraries to cope with the many changes the last decades have brought and continue to be relevant in years to come. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

The thesis aim is to get an understanding of how Uppsala University Library teaches about information searching and with this gain an insight on positive and working aspects in the teaching and how it can be developed for the better. To achieve these aims, three didactic questions were used as an overall theme and as a base for the research questions. These questions consisted of what (content), how (methods) and why? (goals and purposes). The methods consisted of observations and semi-structured group interviews that were conducted from December 2017 to April 2018.  Another method that was used is a directed content analysis of legal texts and guidance documents that the informants deemed important for their work. In regard of what, the result showed that lectures were more basic on earlier semesters, and more advanced later into the education. The content was also adapted to students by subject-specific databases, search examples and exercises that reflected students’ subject, future profession and everyday life. However, I could also see signs of less adaption in some search examples and because certain content was more frequent and used on several occasions. For example, many lectures focused on going through databases, source evaluation, reference management, various types of material and the meaning of scientificity. Also, many informants meant that they were generalists and did not have time to familiarize themselves with students' subject in a greater extent. In the question how, it became apparent that active actions were frequent as well as adaptation in teaching. This was shown in the form of exercises, own search time, regular use of questions and that an active dialogue occurred with students and was deemed important. Various rhetorical aspects of the teaching were that the frequent use and need of computers made the informants’ eye contact and body language less apparent and limited. The informants often seemed well prepared on the content. Some exceptions from this occurred a few times where some signs of uncertainty in body language and speech were shown. In regard of this, most informants indicated that they had sufficient planning time; however, they could also have other tasks that took priority. Regarding the question why, many goals and purposes could be identified. The most common ones focused on information sources. Many informants, law texts and guidance documents emphasized the importance of getting knowledge about different types of materials, their advantages and disadvantages, using appropriate databases and to being able to search, evaluate and find information. The conclusions of the thesis are that the informants recognize and use many positive and working aspects that pedagogical literature and research says is important. Some examples are that they adapt the content in various ways to the students, let the students be active under the lessons, ask many questions, use evaluations and integrate guidelines. Regarding how the teaching could be developed, a conclusion is that it could be more adapted, advanced and more subject-specific if there was more time for librarians to teach and plan lectures. This could also contribute to a better relationship with the students, more time for collaboration with their teachers, being able to develop pedagogical methods and become familiar with the student’s subject. To achieve this, it could be appropriate that some librarians have a more dedicated role as well as prioritized tasks as library educators. This is a two years master's thesis in Library and information science.

This thesis examines how school libraries and academic libraries work with certain aspects of academic literacy in order to prepare pupils for higher education. The starting point of the thesis is the proposal for a new national strategy for Swedish libraries, published in March 2019, where educational libraries are presented as a coherent chain. The aim with the thesis is to find out whether there is a gap between upper secondary school libraries and academic libraries, in how they work with academic preparation. The purpose is to map the work already executed in the area and how the libraries’ mission has been stated. Data is collected in two web surveys: one sent out to staff at upper secondary school libraries and one to staff at academic libraries. The respondents answered questions about their current work and how the mission is perceived. The scientific method used is influenced by on-going evaluation. To define preparation areas, theory about academic literacy is applied.   To define the mission of educational libraries related laws, documents and other relevant information has been analysed. Responses from  the surveys help answering questions about executed work, perception of mission and experiences of a possible knowledge gap.   In documents related to statements of the libraries’ mission it is clear that school libraries play a part in helping schools reach common goals such as academic preparation. Academic libraries have less of pedagogical missions stated for them but out of tradition both libraries already work pedagogically with academic literacy. A gap could be surmised when staff at the school libraries say they work with a specific area of literacy and staff at academic libraries perceive new students to have insufficient knowledge in the same area. The thesis concludes with suggestions to improve the libraries’ work with college preparation. On a national and municipal level there is a need for a more clearly defined mission to assure equivalence for all pupils. Schools are suggested to develop business plans on their own to adapt the national and municipal mission statements to local conditions. Academic libraries are suggested to start cooperating with upper secondary schools. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

Introduction. The aim of this thesis is to investigate problems that users face when using a library discovery service, and determine which problems can be solved by UX design and which problems must be solved by information literacy teaching. A second aim is to examine how UX specialists and user instruction specialists cooperate and how these two specialties are shaped by each other and by the discovery service. Method. User problems were identified by analyzing documented reference questions from the library support chat. A survey based on the user problems was sent to UX specialists and user instruction specialists. The survey was followed by a focus group interview with the same participants. Survey data and transcripts of the focus group interview formed the data for analysis. Analysis. Qualitative analyses were carried out on the data. Theories on organizational structure and professional specialization formed the basis for analysis. Results. The results imply that UX design can be used to solve problems related to wayfinding and problems that can be solved by providing short on-screen instructions, while information literacy teaching can be used to solve problems that require a wide set of information literacy skills. Conclusion. Users’ successful use of the library discovery service requires information literacy teaching as well as continuous UX assessment and design. In the studied organization, UX specialists and user instruction specialists have found ways to cooperate in providing users with high quality services. For UX to be successful, a ”UX mindset” must be employed by all members of the organization. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

This is a two years master’s thesis that studies five libraries. The purpose with the paper was to look at a specific material and study how it expresses itself around the architecture of the buildings, an if the descriptions were different depending on the library, public library or university library.  The conclusion is that the ways of describing the library buildings have varied; depending on one part time and one part evolution. The way library buildings look and have been used has changed over time also, and as well how people perceive and talk, or in this case write about them.