The aim of this master thesis is to examine how library managers have handled situations involving controversial lectures at their libraries. Lately, controversial lectures have upset public opinion and caused critical writing in local newspapers. Questions posed are: How do library managers handle controversial lectures, concerning freedom of speech, library directives and respect for human rights? The theoretical starting-point is Joacim Hansson’s definition of two ideological views on libraries, one educational and one liberal, and also an article about thoughts in post-modernism and modernism by Emily Knox. I have used the theoretical framework to define two ideological standpoints; the perspective of freedom and the perspective of responsibility, to illustrate the views of the informants. Semistructured interviews with library managers were conducted, and the results show that the informants more often expressed views close the perspective of freedom, than views close to the perspective of responsibility. The conclusion is that there is no complete consensus on how to interpret and follow the many directives being applicable to Swedish libraries. Public opinion and the risk of receiving criticism seem to have an important influence on decisions concerning controversial lectures. However, the study shows that both the perspective of freedom and the perspective of responsibility, in dealing with controversial speech, can be motivated by library managers in terms of acting in line with democratic values and library directives.

The purpose of this study is to analyse how Swedish public libraries work with media and information literacy towards young people. The research questions are What does the youth activity look like in public libraries? How do public librarians use the term media and information literacy? And how is the work with media and information literacy conducted? These are based on the conception of the librarian's knowledge of the concept media and information literacy and Swedish public libraries work for democracy and young people's popular education. In order to answer these research questions we interviewed six librarians working in different public libraries in different counties. The theory used in this study is based on Sanna Talja’s study about different attitudes towards the library’s collection. The attitudes are referred to as The General Education Repertoire, The Alternative Repertoire and The Demand Repertoire and these attitudes were also used as a framework when analysing the information from our interviews. The results show that depending on what resources the public library has access to, the youth activities look different and the concept of media and information literacy is not well used by Swedish public librarians and that the work with media and information literacy regarding young people is beyond the planned.

This study deals with author visits at public libraries, where the author perspective is the focal point. A questionnaire was sent online to the members of Författarcentrum and this study is based on the 87 replies. It was found that a majority of the respondents, 76 of the 87, had made at least one author visit to a public library during the last five years and that their main reason for visiting was reportedly to meet with the reader. Steiner's four categories of authors from 2019 was used to place the respondents in the literary field based on Bourdieu's theoretical framework, the categories being star authors, established authors, acknowledged authors and published authors. It was found that there were certain differences in the experience of the author visits based on what category the author belonged to, and that the authors with strong positions on the literary field were favored in some ways. Throsby's model from 2001 of the creative work process was used alongside Bourdieu's thoughts of the literary field, with the conclusion that author visits to public libraries seem to be a kind of work that produce both economic and cultural value for the author. However the sampling wasn't big enough to make certain general statements of how authors experience and view author visits to public libraries on a larger scale.

This study deals with author visits at public libraries, where the author perspective is the focal point. A questionnaire was sent online to the members of Författarcentrum and this study is based on the 87 replies. It was found that a majority of the respondents, 76 of the 87, had made at least one author visit to a public library during the last five years and that their main reason for visiting was reportedly to meet with the reader. Steiner's four categories of authors from 2019 was used to place the respondents in the literary field based on Bourdieu's theoretical framework, the categories being star authors, established authors, acknowledged authors and published authors. It was found that there were certain differences in the experience of the author visits based on what category the author belonged to, and that the authors with strong positions on the literary field were favored in some ways. Throsby's model from 2001 of the creative work process was used alongside Bourdieu's thoughts of the literary field, with the conclusion that author visits to public libraries seem to be a kind of work that produce both economic and cultural value for the author. However the sampling wasn't big enough to make certain general statements of how authors experience and view author visits to public libraries on a larger scale.

In 2020 a global pandemic began that affected libraries around the world. Due to government restrictions public libraries in Sweden were greatly limited in their operations. Within the public libraries' program activities, the amount of activities was halved. The library's response to continue to achieve the goals connected to the program activities was to undergo a shift from physical to digital.  The purpose of this study was to analyse the shift and its impact on the program activities, on the libraries' goals, and whether library staff believe that the shift has long-term consequences for the library. In the survey, representatives from the largest public libraries in eight provinces in Sweden participated in semi-structured interviews to share their experiences during the pandemic period and also their thoughts on the future.  The results showed a complete shift from physical to digital programs during the period. They had to change their way of working, acquire new equipment and skills to offer new programs and services to users digitally. But the shift brought problems: for example, when materials were to be published online, with digital participation, and because the program's goals became more difficult to achieve. Some benefits were also highlighted, including that digital activities attracted new users and an opportunity to participate regardless of distance to the library.  The conclusions that can be drawn from the survey is that the program activities will in part return to their original form before the pandemic. The respondents believed that some hybridization will take place, that selected physical programs will also be shown digitally, but that the digital development and the digital working methods will generally be limited to enable the library as a physical meeting place and the return of visitors.

<p>The papers purpose is to examine how the Botkyrka and Huddinge municipalities implement their juvenile law offenders' programs. The paper briefly and concisely outlines the history of juvenile offenders and the social services programs dealing with them. We focus on how two municipalities’, Huddinge and Botkyrka, implement these programs. The municipalities belong to the same judicial district,”Södertörns tingsrätt”. The paper has a qualitative approach with interviews with those responsible for the programs. Recent year’s criticism has been directed towards the lack of control and structure of the application of the program within the municipalities. This paper's conclusion is that implementations of the program vary a great deal between Huddinge and Botkyrka. However, it also shows that Huddinge and Botkyrka are making an effort to remove these differences between their respective programs. On the basis of the analysis of the material, this paper concludes that the programs can be seen as a creation of a mesosystem that include the young and partly its microsystem. Participation in the program will hopefully have a positive influence on the other systems that the young offenders are a part of. The control of that the young is managing its punishment is done by supervision. Trough this supervision the behavioural pattern of the young is influenced. The power and force to change the young offenders, and give them possibilities to change, to deploy and evolve lie within in the use of words and conversation.</p>

The papers purpose is to examine how the Botkyrka and Huddinge municipalities implement their juvenile law offenders' programs. The paper briefly and concisely outlines the history of juvenile offenders and the social services programs dealing with them. We focus on how two municipalities’, Huddinge and Botkyrka, implement these programs. The municipalities belong to the same judicial district,”Södertörns tingsrätt”. The paper has a qualitative approach with interviews with those responsible for the programs. Recent year’s criticism has been directed towards the lack of control and structure of the application of the program within the municipalities. This paper's conclusion is that implementations of the program vary a great deal between Huddinge and Botkyrka. However, it also shows that Huddinge and Botkyrka are making an effort to remove these differences between their respective programs. On the basis of the analysis of the material, this paper concludes that the programs can be seen as a creation of a mesosystem that include the young and partly its microsystem. Participation in the program will hopefully have a positive influence on the other systems that the young offenders are a part of. The control of that the young is managing its punishment is done by supervision. Trough this supervision the behavioural pattern of the young is influenced. The power and force to change the young offenders, and give them possibilities to change, to deploy and evolve lie within in the use of words and conversation.

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