The purpose of this thesis is to examine the transition from SAB to DDC in the public libraries of Sigtuna.More specifically, it aims at investigating why the decision was made to adopt the DDC and how the system has been implemented. Particular attention is drawn to the difficulties and problems that have arisen while organising the libraries open shelves with DDC and to the ways in which the difficulties have been handled. These questions are examined through a pragmatic perspective on Knowledge Organization that focuses on the contexts and domains in which the classification system is used. The empirical material is drawn from qualitative interviews with the former director of Sigtuna public libraries and with the in-charge of the catalogue department.

The purpose of this thesis was to find out whether the main class C (religion) in the Swedish classification system Klassifikationssystem för svenska bibliotek is well adapted to classify materials published in or imported to Sweden, and handled by Swedish libraries today. The questions we put to ourselves were:1.How easy to understand, and how useful is the main class C religion today?2.What, in the main class C, is satisfactory?3.What, in the main class C, is inconsistent, anachronistic or incorrect?4.What, in the main class C, is in need of change or renewal?The method that was used was a number of interviews with librarians and cataloguers. We have interviewed eight librarians from six different libraries, of different types, but all with a relatively large collection of religious materials.Though all of our respondents have expressed a feeling that all the major religions deserve equal treatment in the classification system and a similar division of space, after some pondering on the subject, our respondents have agreed that a larger space for Christianity is warranted considering the composition of the current collections and publication. Our respondents have in some cases expressed that there is a lack of instructions as to how the subdivisions of the main class C (religion) is meant to be used. Several of our respondents have experienced difficulty in reasoning theoretically about classification. Our research shows that the main class C (religion), according to our respondents, is well adapted to classify materials published in or imported to Sweden, and handled by Swedish libraries today. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The SAB-system (Klassifikationssystem för svenska bibliotek) was created almost a hundred years ago and has often been viewed as insufficient among many academic libraries. KB (Kungliga Biblioteket) has therefore decided to change to DDC (Dewey Decimal Classification) which means that the Swedish libraries are now facing a challenge that involves a change to a new classification system. This is a comparable situation that occured when the SAB-system was created. The aim of this Master’s thesis is to examine the Swedish library sector´s approach to a new classification system, first to the SAB-system and then to DDC. The Swedish library sector is demarcated into four groups. The character of the discussion, approaches and discourses within the discussions and the consequences of the approaches will be examined. Discourse analysis serves as theory and method. Laclau’s and Mouffe’s discourse theory is used together with Neumann´s three step model to analyze the research material that consists of different types of documents. The analysis shows three discourses in the material about the switch to DDC: the rational discourse, the economic discourse and the instrumental discourse. Three discourses were also found in the material about the switch to the SAB-system: quality discourse, the national discourse and the rational discourse. Five approaches are identified within these discourses: the uncritical approach, the national approach, the rational approach, the economic approach and the instrumental approach.

The aim of this master's thesis is to examine how shelving is organized among Swedish libraries that have switched from the Swedish classification system SAB to using the DDC, and what problems arise in this process. The method used is interviewing librarians at Swedish university and special libraries. The Swedish national library announced their swap to the DDC in 2008, and several libraries followed suit. The reported advantages with a switch were mainly that using an international classification system meant that Swedish libraries would no longer have to undertake a time consuming classification work, since most of the foreign literature already is Dewey classified. Disadvantages were that the DDC is not adapted to Swedish circumstances. Research on open shelving show that obtaining a browsable book collection requires a broad shelf classification. If libraries motivate their shelving solution by wanting browsable collections, efforts will be made to keep shelf classification broad enough. Certain categories have by tradition been shelved separately in Swedish libraries, and this study seeks to find out if a classification shift changes this custom, and if so, whether or not this is only attributable to the change of classification. Findings show that libraries motivated their swapping of classification mostly by the perceived flaws of the SAB system, and not by the promise of saving time, nor by the benefits of the DDC system. Most librarians seemed to lack sufficient knowledge of the DDC, which may be a reason why librarians claimed that the workload necessary to re-shelve the stock was the biggest drawback with switching to the DDC. Most libraries desired browsable shelves, and therefore used shelf lists to better be able to adapt the classification system to the stock. The custom of shelving certain categories separately survived the classification swap for some categories, but not for others. In the latter case this can be ascribed to a dwindling use of these specific categories by the patrons.

This master's thesis examines the possibilities of correction and change in a classification scheme, with regard to the changes that occur in the world the classification system intends to describe. Applying a comparative method and classification theory, the classification of the example of the former Yugoslavia (1918-1941, 1945-1991), its republics and successor states, and the languages, formerly known as Serbo-Croatian are examined through a comparison of the main classes and divisions of language, geography, and history, in Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), and Klassifikationssystem för svenska bibliotek [Classification for Swedish Libraries] (SAB). Eight editions of DDC, from 1876 to 2014, are compared to seven editions of SAB, from 1921 to 2013. The editions have been selected in order to show the changes prior to, and following, the First World War, changes after the Second World War, and changes following the collapse of Yugoslavia in 1991. The examination shows that both systems have updated their editions according to the changes in former Yugoslavia over the years. DDC has well constructed facet schedules, especially Table 2 concerning geography, but fails, in some cases, to construct a logic and hierarchical structure for the republics and languages of Yugoslavia, partly due to the fixed classes and divisions that survive from the very first edition of DDC from 1876, but also as a result of the decimal notation, and its limitations, itself. SAB seeks to construct a hierarchically logic and equal scheme for the languages, areas, and states of the former Yugoslavia. Although the facets for geography and chronology aren't as developed as the ones in DDC, the overall result is that of a logically consistent and hierarchically clear classification, with short notation codes, thanks to the alphabetic mixed notation, which allows more subdivisions than the numerals and the pure notation of DDC. This study is a two years master's thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.

The main focus of this master’s thesis concerns the relation between subject representation, power and gender. Classification systems and subject heading lists are products of their cultural and social context and some subjects and disciplines are given a greater value than others. Our aim in this thesis is twofold; to discuss and critically analyse the prevailing gender norms that are expressed trough classification systems and subject heading lists and to examine how they manage to represent gender studies as a multidisciplinary subject in theory as well as in practice. We are also discussing the particular problems with the representation of multidisciplinary subjects in general. The analysis is grounded in the field of gender studies, where feminist, masculinity and queer theory are included, and the area of critical classification theory. The classification systems and subject heading list that are discussed here are DDC, SAB, SAO, LCSH and KVINNSAM. In the case of DDC and SAB, the analysis concerns the hierarchal structure and principal arrangement of subjects. The focus in the analysis of SAO, LSCH and KVINNSAM is on the assigned subject headings and the lists’ possibilities to adequately represent gender studies. The result of this study shows that both the systems and the subject heading list have considerable problems with integrating and fully representing gender studies as a multidisciplinary subject. It also shows that the available vocabularies for describing gender and feminist literature are very limited. The practise in indexing and classifying multidisciplinary subjects in general are neither sufficient nor consistent. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this master’s thesis is to examine how libraries can organize their collections in terms of library shelving and displays and to what extent these activities stem from a desire to create a user-friendly library. The thesis is based upon a case study of Arkenbiblioteket in Sweden and the material consists of a literature study and qualitative, semi-structured interviews with three librarians at Arkenbiblioteket. The theoretical framework consists of theories on information-seeking behavior, classification and displays. These theories form the basis of the analysis of the empirical material.The main reason for the changes in shelf arrangement at Arkenbiblioteket was a desire among the library staff to create a user-friendly library. Their experience of the previously used SAB classification system was that it was outdated and suited neither the collection nor the users’ information-seeking behavior. Many Swedish libraries have recently decided to change from SAB classification to the internationally used Dewey decimal classification. This, however, was not an option for Arkenbiblioteket as the staff believed that DDC, with its classification’s notation based on Arabic numerals, was likewise ill-suited for their users. As a result they created their own classification and shelving system using text in plain and colours for each category. Furthermore, the staff at Arkenbiblioteket focuses on library displays with commercial inspiration from bookshops. They work with face-front displaying techniques to inspire users. In conclusion, both the new shelving system and the library displays are designed to suit the users and their information-seeking behavior, whether they are conducting a specific search or merely browsing. The feedback from users on the new shelving system has been mainly positive.This study is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.

In November 2008, the National Library of Sweden decided to change their standard classification system from the Swedish Library Classification System (SAB) to the american Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC). One of the main reasons to this transition was the assumption of gaining the possibility to exchange and import catalogue posts by using an outspread international classification system. Throughout the years, it has been disputed whether DDC’s treatment of music has been the most suitable. The system has been criticized for being biased in favor of Western music and not being updated with the growth of new music. The purpose of this study is to examine the opinions among librarians connected to the music area on how this classification transition went, and how it has affected their work. The primary questions concerned with this study are if the interviewees perceive that there is a problem by using DDC for music and if so, how? Additionally, does this change also affect the library users, or is it only the librarians? The method I am using to examine these questions is qualitative interviews based on Steinar Kvale and Svend Brinkmann’s thoughts in their book Den kvalitativa forskningsintervjun. The theories that will be used for this thesis are theories concerning functional requirements of classification systems. The results show that the interviewees’ opinions are that DDC’s notation tends to be long, which affects the usability of the system. The interviewees’ perception is that DDC is also lacking in its treatment regarding musical recordings and the popular music area. One of the main reasons for this shortage is because there is basically no other library outside of Sweden that is classifying such material with DDC, which means that the information exchange with countries abroad has so far been rather exiguous.

<p>The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to study how well the online catalogue of The Music Library of Sweden works when ordinary users are searching for sheet music. The issues studied are: Why do the users fail to find the sheet music they are looking for? Do the users take advantage of the possibilities that the classification codes of the SAB system offer? If not, why?</p><p>The source material of the study is 144 comments from a user questionnaire about the online catalogue and, in addition, the search log for one day (513 queries). The comments were sorted into seven groups depending on the type of information need, for example searches for certain instrumentation or genres and problems with spelling. Each analysis ends with suggestions for improvements of the catalogue and its instructions.</p><p>The thesis show, according to the Zipf’s principle of least effort, that sheet music searching in the online catalogue is demanding too much effort and knowledge of the users. Searching with SAB classification codes is too complicated which may be the explanation why only 2 percent of the queries in the log are code searches. In 51 of the 76 cases where users failed to find sheet music the queries would have succeeded if the patrons had used classification codes. The SAB system is thus not used as often as it deserves.</p><p>The variety and amount of failed queries in the material show that sheet music is difficult to search, for several reasons, for example the complex construction of uniform titles of musical works and that the searchable vocabulary of the online catalogue often differ from the users’ own.</p>

The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to study how well the online catalogue of The Music Library of Sweden works when ordinary users are searching for sheet music. The issues studied are: Why do the users fail to find the sheet music they are looking for? Do the users take advantage of the possibilities that the classification codes of the SAB system offer? If not, why? The source material of the study is 144 comments from a user questionnaire about the online catalogue and, in addition, the search log for one day (513 queries). The comments were sorted into seven groups depending on the type of information need, for example searches for certain instrumentation or genres and problems with spelling. Each analysis ends with suggestions for improvements of the catalogue and its instructions. The thesis show, according to the Zipf’s principle of least effort, that sheet music searching in the online catalogue is demanding too much effort and knowledge of the users. Searching with SAB classification codes is too complicated which may be the explanation why only 2 percent of the queries in the log are code searches. In 51 of the 76 cases where users failed to find sheet music the queries would have succeeded if the patrons had used classification codes. The SAB system is thus not used as often as it deserves. The variety and amount of failed queries in the material show that sheet music is difficult to search, for several reasons, for example the complex construction of uniform titles of musical works and that the searchable vocabulary of the online catalogue often differ from the users’ own.