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.

This Bachelor ́s thesis is about the conversations and meetings that take place in the mobile library. The research questions will try to answer: What do the staff talk about with each other, what conversations do the staff engage in with their users and what do the users talk about amongst themselves? The thesis main question is trying to answer of what is characteristic for the mobile library ́s conversations and meetings. Is the mobile library as a meetingplace any different in comparison with the city library? Focus lies on the eveningtours of the mobile library and excludes those tours that service schools and learning-centers. The intent is to capture the users that take advantage of the mobile library ́s services in their leisuretime. Methods used are observations on the eveningtours of the bus and qualitative interviews with the staff of the mobile library. The theoretical framework is Andersson and Skot-Hansens model of the public library ́s four different profiles. The authors have distinguished areas of use in libraries containing of a cultural-center, a knowledge-center, an information-center and a social center. The result of the study shows that the mobile library is an important meetingplace for it ́s users. The conversations and meetings that occur are not merely those of service to their users but also meetings and conversations on a more personal level. The mobile library is a place where users can socialize with the staff but also meet their neighbours and friends. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The project investigates features of Romani Architecture

This is a thesis in Information design with focus on Spatial Design. This study examines how information can be shaped and placed in a multipurpose building to make it easier for the visitor to understand the place and find their way. The examined place is Kulturhuset in Hallstahammar, where the target audience is visitor who has no experience or very little experience of the place. The purpose of the thesis is to explore how information design in a spatial context can be designed to facilitate the understanding and simplify the orientability of a multi-story building, in a house with multipurpose.    Through literature studies, place analysis, survey with expert users and an analysis of similar projects, a design proposal has been produced that has been presented through rendered images. The results of the study show that a map of the building provides a clear overview of the premises and the activities Kulturhuset offers. Together with color coding and pictograms, visitors can easily see where their destination is and how to get there. / Detta är ett examensarbete inom informationsdesign med inriktning på rumslig gestaltning. Denna studien undersöker hur information kan utformas och placeras i en komplex yta för att underlätta för människor att förstå en plats och hitta rätt. Platsen som undersöks är Kulturhuset i Hallstahammar där målgruppen är nya besökare som inte har någon eller endast lite vetskap om platsen. Syftet med examensarbetet är att utforska hur informationsdesign i en rumslig kontext kan utformas för att underlätta förståelsen samt förenkla orienterbarheten i en flervåningsbyggnad, som inrymmer flera olika verksamheter.   Genom litteraturstudier, platsanalys, frågeformulär med expertanvändare samt en omvärldsanalys har ett gestaltningsförslag kunnat tagits fram som presenterats genom renderade bilder. Resultatet av studien påvisar att en karta över byggnaden ger en tydlig överblick över lokalerna samt verksamheterna som huserar i byggnaden. Tillsammans med färgkodning och piktogram kan besökare enkelt se vart deras slutmål för att sedan kunna ta sig dit.

In the town of Södertälje, a great number of ecclesiastical denominations are represented, a majority of which with roots in the Middle East. To a person attending several various Christian services at many different churches, the diversified ecclesiastical scene offers many similarities among the different denominations, as well as many differences between them. An obvious difference is the view of ministry. In the Church of Sweden women may be ordained, whereas this is not possible in the Chaldean-Catholic Church or the Syrian-Orthodox Church. This paper describes how some ordinary worshippers, members of the Chaldean-Catholic Church or the Syrian-Orthodox Church, look upon their own religious practices in view of the fact that they belong to minority denominations in a secularized society in which the Church of Sweden is the major church. This paper has a Theological as well as a Sociological perspective, since these two perspectives have a reciprocal effect on each other regarding the creating of identities of both informants and churches. An important aspect of this paper is the informants’ view of the relationship between priesthood and gender. It will be obvious that the informants’ opinions of who may be allowed to take Holy Orders depend more on the person’s eligibility than on gender, irrespective of traditions in their denominations. In spite of the fact that women are not ordained in either of the churches dealt with in this paper, the informants hold the view that this may change with time. Instead, they mean that this is one in a row of adaptations that should be carried out by their churches, in order for them to be able to continue to exist in Södertälje and to achieve an ongoing increase in numbers. However, the question of priesthood and gender is complicated, partly due to traditions in their home countries, but also since the bodies of men and women, respectively, are regarded differently in Orthodox theology, not least so in comparison with that of the Church of Sweden. In this paper the informants also express questions arisen from encounters between their respective home countries and Sweden. Primarily, those questions are about the possible effects that may occur when ecclesiastical traditions meet secular values. That affects the informants’ views of culture and nationality, as well as the meaning of being an individual in a group, profoundly marked by church traditions in a society as individualistic as Sweden. / I Södertälje finns ett stort antal kyrkliga samfund representerade, flertalet med rötter i Mellanöstern. Det kyrkliga landskapet medför att det för den kyrkobesökare som rör sig i flera olika kyrkorum, är lätt att upptäcka många likheter mellan de olika kyrkliga samfunden, men också flera skillnader. En påtaglig skillnad är synen på prästämbetet. I Svenska kyrkan kan kvinnor vara präster, medan detta inte är möjligt i Kaldeisk-katolska kyrkan eller i Syrisk-ortodoxa kyrkan.   Den här uppsatsen handlar om hur några vanliga gudstjänstdeltagare, medlemmar i Kaldeisk-katolska kyrkan eller Syrisk-ortodoxa kyrkan, ser på de egna kyrkotraditionerna och -praktikerna i ljuset av att vara minoritetskyrkor i ett sekulärt samhälle där Svenska kyrkan är majoritetskyrka. Uppsatsen har ett teologiskt såväl som ett samhällsorienterat perspektiv. Anledningen till det är att dessa två perspektiv har en ömsesidig påverkan på varandra beträffande informanternas - och kyrkornas - identitetsskapande. En viktig ansats i uppsatsen är vilken syn på relationen prästämbete och kön informanterna ger uttryck för. Uppsatsen visar att informanternas uppfattning om vem som kan vigas till präst är mer beroende av personlig lämplighet än av kön, oaktat att de kyrkotraditioner de tillhör säger något annat. Trots att kvinnor inte vigs till präster i någon av de kyrkor som uppsatsen belyser, menar informanterna att det på sikt inte alls skulle vara en omöjlighet. Det är istället en i raden av anpassningar som de menar att deras kyrkor bör göra, för att fortsätta att leva och verka i Södertälje och för att tillväxten av medlemmar ska vara god. Dock visar det sig att frågan om prästämbete och kön inte är okomplicerad. Det beror dels på traditioner från hemländerna, men också på att mannens och kvinnans kropp betraktas på olika sätt i ortodox teologi, inte minst jämfört med Svenska kyrkans teologi. I uppsatsen ger informanterna också uttryck för frågor som har väckts genom mötet mellan deras respektive hemländer och Sverige. Främst handlar detta om vad som kan hända när kyrkliga traditioner möter sekulära värderingar. Detta påverkar deras syn på såväl kultur och nationalitet som vad det innebär att vara individ i en grupp, som starkt präglas av kyrkliga traditioner, i ett samhälle som är så individcentrerat som Sverige.