The aim with this thesis is to investigate how librarians experience communication with children in reference interviews. In today’s interactive community it is meaningful to study how children communicate with the librarian in virtual reference interview as well as in ordinary reference interviews in physical libraries. Focus has been on finding out what children ask about and how they are asking in virtual reference interviews and in ordinary reference interviews, what type of information needs the children have. The study also focuses on which barriers there can be in reference interviews. Empirical data has been collected by interviewing librarians who work in physical libraries and librarians who work with virtual reference interviews. The method used is qualitative interviews. The transcriptions were analyzed using Höglund’s and Persson’s theory about information needs and Buckland’s theory about barriers in information seeking. The findings show that the children’s own questions represent a subjective information need and the questions that children ask that come from school represents an objective information need. There are both similarities and differences between face to face and virtual reference interviews. The main differences are that the nonverbal communication is lost in the virtual reference interview and that the children are more anonymous in the virtual reference interview and therefore ask more private questions.

This master thesis aims to critically analyze the state of digital libraries in Swedish academic libraries. With the branching theory of sense-making and the methodology of DELOS and IFLA/UNESCOs digital library manifestos, this thesis hopes to bring to light how far Swedish academic libraries have progressed. By accumulating quantitative data encompassing all digital academic libraries in Sweden, and qualitative data from a select few, conclusions regarding the aforementioned are drawn. Focusing on content analysis, this thesis analyzed the different components that can be said to constitute the digital library and compared them to the different manifestos that dictate what a digital library can be said to consist of. By employing the elusive sense-making theory as a general modus of mind, one can begin to understand thought-making processes behind the tapping of digital library resources. Results from this thesis found that some functions and components are present within all academic libraries in Sweden, but that the digital library primarily tends to focus on resource acquisition and not so much on resource presentation. User environments are not prioritized. Different aspects are presented in regards to mobile optimization, social media, information organization, information design etc. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies. / Den här masteruppsatsen syftar till att undersöka digitala bibliotek och digitala miljöer på svenska högskole- och universitetsbibliotek. Med sense-making som huvudsaklig teoretiskt ramverk och DELOS och IFLA/UNESCOs olika manifest gällande digitala bibliotek hoppas uppsatsen visa hur långt svenska bibliotek har kommit i relation till det digitala. Via samlandet av kvantitativ data från alla svenska akademiska bibliotek, och kvalitativ data från ett fåtal utvalda, kommer uppsatsen till diverse slutsatser. Med fokus på innehåll och funktion så undersöker uppsatsen vilka komponenter som kan sägas utgöra det digitala biblioteket i jämförelse med manifesten och deras ideala digitala bibliotek. Med hjälp av sense-making kan man få en förståelse för tankessättet och hur användare angriper de digitala resurserna. Resultaten från uppsatsen visade att det finns en viss grad av framsteg och utveckling som alla bibliotek har nått, men att den digitala satsningen oftast endast inbegriper samlandet av resurser och uppbyggandet av databaser snarare än presentation och design. Miljöer som gör att användarna frodas prioriteras ofta bort. Olika aspekter presenteras i relation till detta såsom mobil-optimering, sociala medier, informationsorganisation, informationsdesign osv. Det här är en tvåårig masteruppsats inom Arkiv, Bibliotek och museum.