The aim of this Master’s thesis is to analyse how adult students in Swedish adult education seek information for school tasks. The focus is on how they use the public library and electronic information sources and their reflection on information and sources in this process. Also of interest in the study is the help they receive from staff in the public library and their teacher. Methods used in collecting and analysing data for this study were of qualitative nature. Four adult students were interviewed and observed when seeking information. Their teacher and the chief librarian at the public library were also interviewed. The main results of the study indicated that the adult students preferred to use the Internet because information was easily available. When using the public library they where pleased with the help from the staff, but often preferred to browse the shelves on their own. User education was restricted. It was mainly when contacting the reference service the students got the opportunity to learn information seeking from resources there. The librarians did not always have the time to help the students in the way they needed. Lack of information literacy was to a certain extent a barrier for three of the new students in using the library effectively on their own. Results also indicated that the teacher’s instructions were helpful in guiding the students in their task and their information seeking in suggesting information sources. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The main purpose of this Master Thesis is to describe students experiences of learning with Webquest för barnmorskor (Webquest for midwifes) at the University Library of Karolinska Institutet (KI), Stockholm. To investigate the possibilities of acquiring information literacy in higher education with the webquest model a qualitative case study is carried out, based on five interviews with students. The students’ perceptions of the webquest course and their ideas on information seeking and information literacy are being analyzed in relation to a framework of learning theory and information literacy expressed by documents and librarians of KI. A descriptive presentation is structured from the main themes that emerged in analysis within the frames of my research questions. The analyse shows that Webquest för barnmorskor carries a difference in theory and practice regarding the content of information literacy. In theory a processual understanding of learning is advocated with a broad definition of information literacy. In practice Webquest för barnmorskor mediates a concept focused on sources and technical skills in information seeking. The later source approach is also adhered by the students. Given that the students reflect upon information use and critical analysis of sources in their main studies at KI, this somewhat limited way of using the webquest model seems successful in adapting the course to the context and prior knowledge of the students.

The aim of this study is to examine how teachers and school librarians view the concept of information literacy in relation to their students, and to find factors that affect their undertakings to make their students information literate. In order to accomplish this, qualitative interviews have been carried out with teachers and school librarians at four Swedish junior high schools. The theoretical framework of this study is the seven faces of information literacy developed by Christine Bruce. The empirical material has been analysed firstly by finding themes that are of importance for the work with information literacy, and secondly by placing the interviewees’ commentaries on information literacy in Bruce´s seven faces of information literacy. This in order to be able to compare the two groups and find what differences and similarities there are. The study implies that factors such as the views of information literacy, the way to perform teaching, the division of responsibilities, the collaboration situation and the views of the students have impact on how well the students are able to develop information literacy. The study also implies that teachers and school librarians theoretically have much the same views on these issues, but that practice shows that there are differences. The study also implies that there are changes that can be made to improve the situation, and among them are mutual planning for librarians and teachers, incorporating the teaching of information literacy with subject teaching, and more focus on the role of the school library. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this master’s thesis is to examine the information needs in the character subjects of the students at a vocationally oriented program in the Swedish upper secondary school. I also examine from which sources the students get the information. I want to create a wider understanding of information seeking processes at a vocationally oriented programme. The main focus is the students’ own thoughts and opinions about their information needs and information seeking processes. The results are related to research on information literacy from a sociocultural perspective as represented by Roger Säljö. The literature that has been used consists of material from research concerning information literacy in a learning context. Two group interviews and eight individual qualitative interviews were conducted with students at the Vehicle Mechanics Programme at a Swedish upper secondary school. The results show that most of the students have a high awareness of their information needs and their information sources. It is distinct in my study that the interaction between teacher, students and context is decisive for what information needs they have and what information sources they have access to. Information needs depend on what school they are in and what tasks the students are getting and whether they are at school or are in a work experience period. The study shows that interaction between the vocationally oriented program and working life and also between teacher and students is missing concerning information practices. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this thesis is to describe the thoughts and attitudes that parents have regarding reading aloud. In today’s society the positive effects of reading aloud are often pointed at and in the perspective of the new learning theories I found the issue even more interesting.The two main questions posed are: How do the parents describe the practice of reading aloud?Is the parents’ life situation and background visible in their descriptions and in that case how does it show in their thoughts about reading aloud?The theoretical perspective of the thesis is sociocultural and can be divided into two themes. The first theme concerns the learning process that can be the result of reading aloud and the second theme focuses on social aspects. The results of the study show that parents think that reading aloud is valuable and positive. Reasons mentioned for reading aloud are relaxation, being together, language and fantasy stimulation. Most of the parents think that conversation and discussion are an important part of the reading aloud situation. The social life that the parents are a part of seems to be reflected in their attitudes and ways of discussing the issue of reading aloud. / Uppsatsnivå: C

The purpose of this Master thesis is to investigate how the relation between users and librarians is affected by higher education librarians’ talk about information literacy. The thesis uses Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis in analysing four articles written by Swedish higher education librarians and in answering how information literacy, users and librarians are constituted. The analysis indicate that the questions have no distinct answers, there are discrepancies between, as well as within the texts. The results of the analysis are discussed in three different aspects with regards to the implications of them to the purpose of the thesis. What the users need to learn in order to become information literate is constituted either by use of a techno-managerial discourse, with the risk of limiting the way users perceive information and thereby constituting the relation as unequal, or a democratizing discourse, with the possibility of empowering the users by pointing to information as individually and contextually dependent. How the users are to become information literate is influenced in part by a user-centred pedagogical discourse, constituting the users as variably active co-creators in the educational process, thus creating the possibility of a more equal relation. This relation is somewhat hampered by the librarians’ emphasise of their own expertise in the struggle for acceptance as a pedagogic, educating institution. With regards to why the users should become information literate the librarian is at risk of reproducing unequal and ideologically invested structures both within the library and in society at large. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The main purpose of this thesis is to examine upper secondary school teachers’ views of their students’ information seeking practices and their perspectives on consider the concept of information literary. The theoretical framework consists of a sociocultural perspective and the empirical material has been collected through interviews with six upper secondary school teachers. The material is analyzed phenomenographically and revealed three practices. Social science teachers consider the library and librarian to be valuable resources for students’ information seeking, particularly in view of information overload in society today. Thereby information literacy is seen as controlling information and constructing knowledge. In the natural sciences the teachers also see the library and librarians’ role as important, but information seeking as an object of teaching is not on their personal teaching agenda. Information literacy is viewed in a process, problem-solving way. The technology teachers do not consider information seeking as an important aspect of their teaching. Information literacy is seen as locating and using sources for practical use and thereby extending the students knowledge. This thesis established that the subjects taught influence ways of looking at knowledge and learning, and that pedagogical methods influence the teachers’ way of understanding information seeking and information literacy. Further, the teachers’ own university studies influences their values, in particular, the period of time when they carried out their studies. The contradiction in terms of the lack of interest among technology teachers in information seeking skills yet seeing information literacy as knowledge extension, reveals a sociotechnical view of information literacy.

The aim of this study is to examine and map out the different ways that theconception of information literacy (IL) is used in the governing documents ofthe Swedish elementary school. IL is a controversial concept around which thereis no proper consensus. Despite that fact, the word is used in a vast number ofcontexts. In the school world as well as in the library sphere the different waysof using the concept often appear to overlap although rarely in ways that seemconducive to one another. My work therefore, is aimed at finding out how theconcept is used within these two discourses and if or in what ways the usagescoincide and are compatible. Using five ideal types constructed out of fivedifferent theoretical notions of IL I have carried out an idea analysis of thegoverning documents for the Swedish elementary school. The study implies thatthe concept of IL is used frequently within the governing documents, althoughwithout ever referring to the word itself. It also implies that the schooldocuments make use of the concept in a certain school manner as opposed to theditto library one and that the fact that the two fields essentially operate towardthe same goal therefore gets neglected. I claim that this may result in that theschool and the library possibly fail to benefit from each others competencies.The aim of my thesis is therefore throwing light on how the notion is expressedwithin the two discourses, possibly facilitating and bringing the two professionscloser together. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this Master thesis is, from a sociocultural perspective, to investigate the views the teaching librarians at Södertörn University Library (SHB) have on learning, information literacy, and their own pedagogical role, and how their views affect user education and their ideas about the future of user education.The research questions used were: How do the teaching librarians view learning? How is this view reflected in their work with user education? How do the teaching librarians envisage user education in the future, and how do they work to reach that goal?Five semi-structured interviews were conducted with the teaching librarians at SHB. The interviews were then analysed using qualitative content analysis.The results of the study show that the teaching librarians at SHB share a sociocultural view on learning, and take a communicative oriented approach to user education. They believe that communication and interaction support learning, and in the classroom they stimulate discussions both between librarian and student, and between the students themselves. In the future, they hope for improved collaboration between librarians and academic staff, and that user education will become a natural element of the curriculum. / Program: Bibliotekarie

In this bachelor thesis the aim is to explore how university libraries and researchers function together. I will do this through interviews with phd students and examine how they reason on the use of libraries and other resources available in campus and witch other methods they use to gather information. The graduate students differ in where they are with their research process, but all of them work in the field of social sciences. To help me in my analysis I have adopted Wilsons model of information behaviour and modify this to better suit my purpose. My findings show that they mainly use the library to access materials and avoid use of the librarians, due to perception of low usefulness. Also they rely on their own knowledge of information gathering. / Program: Bibliotekarie