*Nr 1 Per Hedlund: XML i praktiken: En studie om erfarenheterna av en deskriptiv uppmärkningstyp (XML in practice: A study of experiences with a descriptive markup type)
The purpose of the study has been to investigate the application of the extensible mark up language, commonly known as XML, in one defined institute. The institute already marks up existing documents with XML and its goal is to promote linguistic research. The documentation in XML will later on be represented in a lexical database reached by the world wide web. The study is based upon interviews with three computer-linguistics, with the aim to identify and illustrate their experience in working with XML. The application of XML is considered necessary in the need of a tool that in detail define document structures on the world wide web. However the group shows an attitude that is directed towards presentation as well as definition of structures when using this technique. Although XML is perceived as an easy tool to work with, it requires extensive preparatory work to function in practice. Since the institute is in the initial stage of development, the discussion focused much on this issue. Firstly, the construction and development of different software that have to operate in accordance to XML. This work is regarded as difficult. According to the informants, the difficulties are due to the XML standard not being fully developed and the often indistinct rules about the software implementation. Secondly, with the aim to identify the different aspects of the text that have to be marked up, extensive document analyses have to be done. Because of the documents many different authors this becomes time consuming and troublesome procedures. The many variations and exceptions makes it difficult to build a uniform structure with XML.
*Nr 2 Johanna Adamsson, Maria Hultqvist: Phibi: Arbetslivsbibliotekets interaktiva referenstjänst online – en fallstudie ur ett förändrings- och kommunikationsteoretiskt perspektiv (Phibi- The interactive reference service online at the Library of the National Institute for Working Life – a case study from a change and communication theoretical perspective)
The main aim of this master thesis was to see the process of an interactive online reference service from idea to final product. The reference service we have studied is developed and used by the Library of the National Institute for Working Life in Stockholm, Sweden and goes by the name phibi. Our goal was to review the whole realization process from the reasons why a service like this was created, how the service was introduced and implemented inside the organisation and finally what the result and consequences were for both the library staff and for the users of the service. Phibi is designed to be a tool that fosters communication between the library staff and the remote users where the users get the opportunity to be helped with their questions by the library staff although they are not physically present in the library. To understand the process we conducted a case study with 11 interviews of the library staff, the superior and the initiator to phibi. We also carried out a questionnaire over the Internet to obtain the users' point of view. While the amount of answers to the questionnaire was limited, we nonetheless decided to submit the results. Based upon our research we found that the major reason, from the superior and the initiator, to starting a service like this was the opportunity to find a new way of communicating with users. Among the staff, the expectations were mixed. During the creating process the most important steps were educating and establishing the product among the staff. After the incorporation of the product into the daily work at the library, we find that the product is working well and fulfilling its purpose as a communication tool. The staff as well as the users find it useful and appreciate its availability. For the staff it has changed the routine of daily work, but the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
*Nr 3 Kristofer Gren: Bilden av kvinnan i Library of Congress Classification – En genusstudie av Library of Congress Classifications första och senaste upplaga (The Picture of the Woman in Library of Congress Classification – A Genderstudy of Library of Congress Classification's First and Last Edition)
I have done a comparative gender study of Library of Congress Classification from 1900 and 2001. I have also used a hermeneutic method and ideological critics to find out what picture of women the both systems shows. In my comparative study of the both systems I have found low update of classes which relates to women in the new classification system. Men seem to be a norm in the system, because men are not defined in classes related to both men and women. But many classes related to women are named Women as… and Women in… The study also shows that women are more related to subjects about family and marriage than men are. In classes for work and studies women are defined as another society group than the norm, the man. The old system from 1900 follows the historical context from the time of 1900. The new system follows a gender hierarchy where the man has the dominated role, according to Yvonne Hirdman’s theory about the gender system.
*Nr 4 Marianne Larsson: Bibliotekens roll i det livslånga lärandet (The role of libraries in lifelong learning)
The purpose of this master thesis is to investigate which role libraries play in lifelong learning among the group of non-traditional students. Here lifelong learning is defined as learning taking place in organized education and a non-traditional student is defined as a person who either studies part-time, has taken a long break in his studies or has started an education at the age of 25 or older. Libraries are both public libraries and university libraries. Professor T. D. Wilson's analogy of factors influencing needs and information-seeking behaviour is the theoretical base of this thesis. Qualitative interviews were carried out with eight respondents and the selection was based on convenience sample. The result of the study is that libraries play a very limited role for the non-traditional student. The reason for that can be both the fact that only a minor part of the respondents had been informed about how libraries can be used in connection with studies and practical obstacles such as short opening-hours or distance the student lives from the nearest library.
Nr 5 Annakarin Lindberg: Facklitteratur för barn – ett försök till analysmodell (Non-fiction for children – an attempt to create an analysis model)
This thesis is about how to criticize the large number of non-fiction for children which is published nowadays. I have noticed that both librarians and teachers do not know what perspective to apply with regard to this category of books. There are some good ones, but also a lot of bad ones and some really bad ones. The purpose of this essay is to search by means of criteria from history of art, history of literature – principally history of children's literature – and pedagogy, for prevalent attitudes towards non-fiction for children. The conceptions and discussions result in an analysis model which is applied to four non-fiction books for children. The focus of the essay is on the non-fiction book as an artistic and pedagogical product.
*Nr 6 Bodil Alvarsdotter: Barnbokens kön – Genusaspekter i litteratur och hos aktörer på marknaden (Gender in children's books – Aspects of gender in literature and among agents on the market)
This Master's thesis examines some aspects of children's books for 9-12 year olds, and the children's books market, from a gender perspective. The main objective is to make a gender analysis of attitudes among children and other agents in the book market towards children's books of different qualities. Children's reflections on gender roles in the books and the importance of gender aspects for publishers in the field, are investigated. A combination of methods are used, including literary analyses, surveys of publication lists of the BTJ group (Bibliotekstjänst) interviews with children and questionnaires sent to children as well as to Swedish publishers of children's books. The analysis of children's books clearly shows that images of gender roles vary in different kinds of books which supports theories of gendered literature. The thesis concludes that the division of girls' and boys' literature may influence images of the opposite sex. The girls more easily cross gender barriers (and are encouraged to do so) in their choice of books by title which is not true for the boys. Thereby they acquire more knowledge of the boys' world and can develop an understanding and empathy for the opposite sex. The publishers did not use any common criteria for valuation and had different opinions on the importance of a gender thinking when judging a script. Most publishers considered other aspects to be more important and would not necessarily refuse a book with sexist components. Finally the thesis suggests some methods for choosing and judging children's books to librarians and teachers who wish to encourage gender positive reading.
*Nr 7 Elisabet Svahn, Åsa Zetterling: Doktorander i fysik söker information : en intervjuundersökning av forskarens första tid som informationssökare (Doctoral students in physics seek information : an interview study of the researcher's first years as an information seeker)
The aim of this Master's thesis is to examine difficulties concerning information acquisition, use, and management experienced by graduate students in physics during their first years of research work. Semi-structured, qualitative interviews were carried out with nine doctoral students. The theoretical background for analysis of the material is based on the work of Patrick Wilson, with particular focus on the concept of cognitive authority, and on that of Lars Seldén, who has proposed the idea of an information seeking career running parallel to the academic career of the researcher. Results from the interviews indicate that most of the students, in the early stages of their information seeking careers, rely to a great extent on supervisors and more experienced colleagues when identifying material needed for the research project. In a situation where information of potential relevance is abundant and where experience and focus are not yet fully developed, senior researchers function as cognitive authorities and as guides to other cognitive authorities. As subject knowledge and experience grow, strategies for information seeking and evaluation develop and become more focused. Furthermore, the students are not yet part of the informal academic networks and are therefore dependent to a high degree on formal sources and controlled material. The difficulties experienced during electronic searches were however less than expected. In the students' opinions information search and management would be improved if all published material was converted into electronically searchable and printable full-text documents. They also express a desire for better tools and methods for importing, organizing, and indexing references in their own databases, thus facilitating access to their own collections of documents.
*Nr 8 Eva Forsberg, Kirsi Peltonen: Internetetik på bibliotek (”Internethics” in Libraries)
The aim of this issue is to study how Swedish public libraries deal with the principles of freedom of speech and freedom of information in connection with public use of the Internet. The authors’ intention has been to find out whether the public use of the Internet has caused ethical problems for library workers and how the libraries solve situations when they consider their principles violated by library users. The authors study the debate on the issue in a couple of Swedish library magazines published during the late 1990’s and they also give a few examples from the USA during the same period. They study the ethical principles and directives for schools published by the Swedish Board of Education as they claim that many of the public library users are students who bring along their ethical conceptions and thereby affect the ethical climate of the libraries. In their study the authors refer to ethical rules given to librarians by their trade union (DIK) and to the conclusions drawn from the hearing Good Ethics on the Net held by the Swedish IT Commission in 1998. They also refer to the European Commission’s Action Plan on promoting safer use of the Internet. The authors wish for a general code of ethics concerning the use of the Internet at Swedish public libraries and suggest that the libraries consider the work that is being done by the European Commission to promote safer use of the Internet.
Nr 9 Johan Eklund, Anders Stenström: En komparativ studie av fem rankningsalgoritmer för query expansion (A comparative study of five ranking algorithms for query expansion)
The purpose of this thesis is to compare five different ranking algorithms for query expansion. The algorithms compared are f4, f4mod, porter, wpq, and emim. This is done using a TREC collection, a selection of topics, and relevance judgements. Relative recall is measured before and after the expansion of the query. The study shows that all of the algorithms manage to increase the relative recall, f4 being the one most successful.
*Nr 10 Ann-Sofie Nilsson: Bilder av informationssamhället: En undersökning av några större svenska dagstidningars användning av begreppet ”informationssamhälle” 1995-2000. (Versions of the information society: A study concerning the major Swedish newspapers' use of the term ”Information Society” 1995-2000.)
This thesis deals with the popular and complex term ”Information Society” and the different contexts in which the term has been used by Swedish newspapers 1995-2000. The study is accordingly based on articles from the three largest Swedish newspapers during these years. The term ”Information Society” had during the 90's become an established concept in media, used in various context of which I focus on four main areas: culture, politics, education/research and economy. The term has been used by representatives from all these four areas. My purpose is to widen the meaning of the term from the traditional technological interpretation to a more nuanced term with many various meanings. I also discuss the term in a democracy perspective, which I found was a recurrent theme and ask the question if there has occurred any criticism of the term in the concerned papers. The conclusions are that the term (similarity to the term ”culture”) can be used in three different ways: neutral (interpret, understand), offensive (dominate, liberate) and defensive (survive, accept, slip away). This means that the conception of ”the information society” can be used as an instrument for gaining economical or political power and therefore we need a debate on who and what lies behind the frequent use of the term. The term is far more complex and open than we usually are presented with. The study also shows that the papers have been eager ”propagators” of this concept and that the term has been used without any considerable opposition. The lack of criticism is apparent.
*Nr 11 Magnus Cadier: Dokumenttypers prioritering på folkbibliotek (Priorities of medias in public libraries)
The aim of this master essay is to examine whether different types of documents are prioritied in different ways. The empirical study which this essay is based on, concerns the opinions from two chief librarians and three librarians with the responsible for the purchase of medias. Theories about priorities, valuation and interaction are presented. Authors like Bourdieu, Daun and Lyttkens are presented. Factors that influence the priorities of documents are for example the librarians viewed as a homogenous group, spokesmen for the book, economy and lack of room.
*Nr 12 Fredrika Fick, Anna Öjeheim: Materialurval på Internet: en undersökning av hur länkkataloger på Internet utför sitt materialurval. (Selection on the Internet: a study of how search directories conduct their selection process on the Internet.)
The objective of this thesis is to investigate how five different search directories on the web conduct their selection process when building and maintaining their collection of links. The selection process in the electronic context still is a quite unexplored field within information science. Therefore it is of highest interest to shed some light upon this process especially regarding to the impact of Internet that continues to manifest its position as a powerful means of locating and distributing information. Furthermore the essay explores if and how the selection process differs between the electronic context versus the printed context. The study addresses the objectives in two ways: interviews and chosen literature. We have performed interviews with representatives from five major Swedish search directories: Svesök, Mölndals stadsbiblioteks länkkatalog, Kulturnät Sverige, Spray and Länkskafferiet. As a complement to the empirical study we have also studied chosen texts within the subject of selection process and collection development. It is shown that the search directories in the survey carry out their selection process in a similar pattern to the way that it is being carried out at traditional libraries. In short, the process consists of the same components but they change features in the electronic context.
*Nr 13 Anna Berling: Valfrid Palmgren och vägledning på biblioteken i folkbildningens Sverige. (Valfrid Palmgren and guidance in Swedish libraries during the popular adult education movement.)
The object of this Master thesis is to investigate Valfrid Palmgren's ideas and views of the Swedish libraries, specifically about guidance and its prerequisites. Two questions were asked: What factors impelled Valfrid Palmgren to work for changes in the Swedish libraries? In which way does Valfrid Palmgren's striving for changes in the Swedish libraries show in her opinions about guidance in the library? The method which is used in this Master thesis is qualitative. I have chosen to work with this essay from a biographical perspective and it is a literature survey. In focus of this thesis is Valfrid Palmgren. The results show that the situation in society, her family, her education, her journey to USA, the Swedish government and her occupation all could have been contributing factors that influenced Valfrid Palmgren to strive for changes in the Swedish libraries. Valfrid Palmgren was very positive towards the American public libraries and she wanted to import the ”library spirit” to Sweden. She wanted the library to be an institution for popular education, it should be an extension of school, open to everyone without any exceptions and with well educated librarians. The mission of librarians should be to help the public find their way to the information needed.
*Nr 14 Elna Andersson, Malin Utter: Be Wise – condomise: a study in Botswana on the spread of AIDS information and how the information is being received (Be Wise – condomise: en studie av spridning och mottagning av AIDS information i Botswana)
AIDS is a huge problem in the world and it is spreading rapidly, especially in Africa. Botswana is one of the world’s worst-hit countries, with over one-third of the inhabitants infected by HIV/AIDS. The measures that have been taken to stop the spread of AIDS are to inform and enlighten people on how the disease is spread and how to protect oneself. The aim of this thesis is to investigate what different ways of informing people about AIDS different organisations make use of in Botswana. The thesis also addresses how some receivers of the AIDS information experience it. The receivers are limited to young women in Gaborone. The thesis is based on an MFS-study carried out in Gaborone, Botswana. The study was conducted through interviews and observations. The main question of the thesis is: Are the most common ways of spreading information about AIDS which the organisations we investigated in Botswana make use of also those which the young women appreciate most? The thesis investigates both sides in the communication process, the transmitters of AIDS information and the receivers. It makes use of Jarlbro’s theory on health communication and Ross Todd’s theory on information utilisation to analyse the work of the different organisations and the interviews with the young women. The result of the thesis is that the transmitters and the receivers do not always have the same perception of what are the best ways of informing people about AIDS. Mostly mass communication campaigns are being used, but the young women prefer to be informed on a more personal level.
*Nr 15 Linda Andresén, Liselott Anneflod: Klassifikationssystem på webben: Traditionella och nya (Classification systems on the web: Traditional and new)
The aim of this thesis is to investigate the opportunities of classification of web pages. Two classification systems are compared; a library classification system (traditional) and a system that is developed for use on the web (new). UDC is chosen to represent the traditional systems, and Yahoo! represents a so called new system. UDC is used by NISS Directory of networked resources, which is a directory that uses the system for organisation of electronic resources. Both systems are analysed from two different perspectives, a multidisciplinary and a timeperspective. The method used for this is a case study, which here includes interviews and literature studies. For the analysis, five different areas of knowledge are chosen; religion, education, recreation and entertainment, literature and history. The terms chosen to represent a subject are analysed to illuminate differences and similarities between the systems. This is done to decide which system is the most suitable for a computerised environment. One of several differences is that a new system, in contrast to a traditional, lacks notation. This means that the hierarchical structure in a new system is much less formal and new words and subjects easily can be added to the system. To add new words or subjects to a traditional system can be very time-consuming and it is sometimes hard to find an appropriate place for new areas of knowledge. Still, both new and traditional systems are suitable for the organisation of electronic material.
*Nr 16 Monika Wilhelmsson: Informationssökning för barn och ungdomar – politiska dokument och konkret verksamhet (Information seeking for children and young people – policies and praxis)
The topic of this essay is information seeking for children and young people in municipal libraries. This is based in the growing need for information seeking skills in the Information Society. Policy documents on the topic are scrutinized and related to a concrete praxis. Data has been collected through two case studies; one carried out in Ronneby and one in Trandared, Borås. These cases where chosen because of the existence of a local policy for library skills and information search for 6 to 12-year-olds. Observations are complemented by interviews with librarians, teachers, politicians and officials in charge of information search. The study involves organisations which have recently started and are still in a phase of construction. It shows varying organisations and praxis, based in local needs and resources. It also points at the importance of collaboration, in particular between municipal and school libraries. The skills of librarians have been well used. They have developed a pedagogical approach in information seeking. Policy documents vary considerably between different levels in society. On the national level one can see an awareness of the need for information search skills to match the new technology. This is not visible in the local policies. The reason for the progressive activities in the cases studied is skilled and interested officials.
*Nr 17 Lars Jonsson: Söktjänster för akademiskt bruk: En utvärdering av Google och Argos med frågor från en akademisk ämnesdisciplin (Search Engines for academic use: An evaluation of Google and Argos with queries from an academic discipline)
The purpose of this MSc thesis is to examine the retrieval effectiveness of two Web search engines with queries from the academic discipline of Classical Studies. The two search engines are chosen to represent two different types – Google as a broad general search engine and Argos as a specialised search engine for the subject of Classical Studies. The search engines are compared for precision among the first twenty results returned for thirty queries. In order to avoid bias in the study, the queries are based on real users' information needs. Due to the subjective character of the concept of relevance, the study is performed with five different experiments with five different definitions of relevance. The formula for calculating the metrics measures precision with weights for ranking effectiveness. Wilcoxon's signed rank test is used to control if there are any significant differences between the results. Analysis shows that Google is the top service of the two, since it performs better than Argos in all of the five experiments. The signed rank test also shows that there are significant differences between all of the results. One possible reason for Argos' lower results is the many duplicate links that it returned. Other explanations discussed are Argos' limited number of search facilities in comparison with Google, and that the ranking algorithm Argos uses is not advanced enough for Information Retrieval in this context. Lars Jonsson vann Collijnpriset 2003 med ovanstående uppsats.
*Nr 18 Karin Nilsson: Insamling och hantering av omvärldsinformation: en studie av ett tjänsteföretag (Acquisition and managing business information : a study of a service company)
The purpose of this thesis is to discover an efficient way to collect and manage business information for a service company like Sodexho in Gothenburg. Since the importance of information and knowledge has grown, the companies of today are using knowledge as a strategic tool to compete successfully in the market. In order to keep the level of knowledge and competitiveness high, companies need a function for environmental scanning to be able to collect, analyze and present information efficiently. Through qualitative interviews with employees at Sodexho I have studied the companies information-need, their information and communicative behavior, which methods and sources they use to collect information, and how they manage information. The thesis shows that Sodexho in Gothenburg focus their scanning on competitors, but that they need information about new management approaches and collaborations with customers, competitors and suppliers, about the customers work-methods and development, about new markets, services and products, and about the new technology for communication transference. For that reason Sodexho needs to increase their environmental scanning. To be able to get this information, environmental scanning needs to engage four modes of viewing and searching. The four modes of scanning are supported by different information gathering and communication methods. Through four different groups of sources, companies could get sufficient business information. Sodexho uses mostly the secondary sources that are easily accessible to get information that helps the company to make decisions in the present position. To be able to manage the information Sodexho needs an information system, which the employees easily can use to collect, analyze and retrieve information.
*Nr 19 Magnus Velander: Industriforskning och informationssökning: en användarstudie av en grupp forskare vid ABB Corporate Research (Industrial research and information seeking: a user study of a group of researchers at ABB Corporate Research)
The thesis aims at, from a user perspective, examining how a group of industrial researchers understand the information seeking in their every day work. A qualitative method is employed. The empirical material consists of open-ended interviews with in all ten researchers. All of them work at the Swiss-Swedish Technology Company ABB's research laboratory in Västerås. The thesis is based on the opinion that the scientific knowledge production has become commercialised and that the scientific communication is going through certain changes. The result shows that the information seeking is an integrated part of the researchers every day work. The importance of accidental occurrences in information retrieval is emphasised. The informal information is of importance, to create a network of contacts is therefore important. Knowledge of changes in the surrounding world and the latest scientific and technological trends is searched for on the Internet and through personal contacts. Information is also needed for getting acquaintance with new research problems, in a short period of time, since the researchers are apt to start working with new projects. To get access to scientific and technical information of high quality researchers read scientific journals, which are peer reviewed. The researchers seldom search the information in databases on their own but apply for the service to the professionals in information retrieval within the company. The conclusions are that the ability to value information is crucial. The choice of source of information depends on the situation and on what quality of the information that is needed. To explain this Patrick Wilson's theory on cognitive authorities is used.
*Nr 20 Anneli Carlson, Madeleine Odén-Göranson: Studenter och informationssökning – Fem studenters upplevelser av informationssökning i samband med uppsatsarbete (Students and Information Seeking – The experiences of five students searching for Information in the context of writing a bachelor thesis)
The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of five students searching for information in the context of writing a bachelor thesis. The main questions regard what strategies they use whilst searching for information, their relevance judgements and their feelings. The method used is the qualitative interview. The students were doing their third term in psychology. All the students were interviewed twice while working on the thesis. The first interview was conducted at the beginning of their work, the second one at the end of it. The result of the study shows that three different strategies were used in order to get information. Those were browsing the library shelves and electronic sources, searching the reference list of books and articles and finally turning to another individual. As far as their relevance criteria are concerned the students all agreed on three main criteria: research based material, an author known as an authority and recently published literature. The results also show that students’ feelings varied during their work. In the beginning they expressed feelings of frustration and anxiety, and some of them showed lack of confidence. At the second interview they all spoke about their work in much more positive ways and seemed to be relieved.
*Nr 21 Maria Nielsen, Maria Olofsson: ”...alltså vad menar du egentligen med informationssökning?...” : En undersökning av lärarstudenters utbildning i informationssökning och skolbibliotek (A study of trainee teachers' education in information seeking and school libraries)
The purpose of this Master's thesis was to examine how and what trainee teachers are being taught about information seeking and school libraries related to problem-based teaching (method) in compulsory school. The questions at issue were: How have trainee teachers learned about information seeking? How have trainee teachers learned about using school libraries? We also wanted to know which education they have got in information seeking and school libraries. We examined this through both literature and empirical studies. We used a qualitative method in order to answer the questions at issue. We have interviewed eight trainee teachers, the director of studies, the teacher in the Swedish language and the teacher in social studies at one department of education. As a theoretical framework we have used Roger Säljö's theory about learning, Carol Collier Kuhlthau's theory about the process of information seeking and her model of the Information Search Process from the user's perspective and Louise Limberg's study about the interaction between information seeking and learning. We found that the trainee teachers would like to learn more about information seeking. We also noticed that there was a confusion of ideas about the concept of information seeking. There seemed to be a difference between the two of us, librarian students and teacher students, but also between the teacher students and their teachers. We came to the conclusion that it is because we belong to different ”activity systems” according to Roger Säljö's thoughts.
*Nr 22 Veronica Johansson: Bättre en bok i handen än tio på nätet? En studie av författares och förlags attityder till elektronisk publicering av skönlitteratur (Is a Book in the Hand Worth Two on the Net? A Study of Authors’ and Publishers’ Attitudes toward Electronic Publishing of Fiction)
This master thesis investigates attitudes toward electronic publishing of fiction among the key participants authors and publishers in Sweden with the overall purpose of analysing the nature of these attitudes and what sort of tensions that exist between the two groups. The major areas of concern were formulated as: ”what sort of attitudes do authors and publishers display toward electronic publishing of fiction?,” ”how do these attitudes affect the way the two groups relate to electronic publishing and to each other?” and ”how do they perceive the future of this practice?”. Everett Rogers’ diffusion of innovations theory was applied to characterise electronic publishing as an innovation cluster, and to investigate innovation attributes in form of relative advantages and disadvantages, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability. Data was gathered using quantitative questionnaires, but respondents were also given the opportunity to elaborate freely on some of the questions. These accounts were also included in the analysis. The conclusions drawn were that authors presented a more positive and publishers a more negative attitude toward the innovation cluster, but that they shared an appreciation of relative advantages in form of market oriented expectations to a high degree. Regarding disadvantages the publishers lingered on economic considerations whilst the authors primarily concerned themselves with legal, cultural and aesthetic aspects. Knowledge of attitudes toward and outcomes of the innovation was generally low. A mutual acknowledgement of traditional publishing and print values and practices emerged, along with sentiments bordering on technological determinism. A possible inherent strength in electronic publishing might paradoxically be deducted from attitudes reflecting only partial concordance between perceptions of the practice and dominant sociocultural values. The absence of centralised agreements on electronic rights remains pivotal.
*Nr 23 Louise Norman: ABF som folkfostrare: 1920-1949 (ABF (WEA) as Educator: 1920-1949)
The aim of this master thesis is to investigate how W.E.A. (Workers Educational Association), took part in the great changes of society and in the modernizing process in the period of 1920-1949. The examination is based upon three journals of educational material that were connected with W.E.A. The question at issue is to show how the people behind W.E.A. aimed to educate and indeed educated the workers to modern people and moreso to see how the articles in fact were written and to analyse in what way they turn to the workers and get their attention. I also want to examine if it is possible to observe a change in the upbringing-process through the time period and if the focus was altered in that very process. I have divided the articles into three parts: one moral, one physical and one educational which in their turn are subdivided on the basis of how the articles are written, not accordingly to their subject. The essay also contains a short review of the Swedish political history and what the modernisation in Sweden looked like between the 1880s and 1950s. Furthermore, I have studied the establishment of the W.E.A. as well as its development and cultural point of view. The results indicate that the W.E.A. intended to give a total education - the inner side through opinions, knowledge and moral, the outside through gymnastics, personal in addition to public hygiene. In these articles I have distinguished between three different ways in which the W.E.A. intended to educate. Firstly, a stupefying manner that manifested to what extent people ought to dislike certain phenomena. Secondly, a transmitting of opinions and values already accepted in the society and finally, the viewpoint that educating was to speak well about certain phenomena.
*Nr 24 Sandra Falk, Jenny Åhman: Filter = censur? En enkätundersökning om bibliotekariers rätt att begränsa information med hjälp av datorfilter. (Filter = censorship? A survey on librarians' right to limit access to information by using computer filters.)
The main purpose of this paper is to examine librarian's opinion of computer filters, to bring order in the debate on these filters and also to encourage future debate on this subject. The main problem is whether librarians themselves think they have the right to limit the public access to information on the Internet by using computer filters. We will also see how many public libraries are using filters, why they have chosen to use or not to use them, what is the librarians' opinion of filters, what rules exist regarding the use of the Internet, and finally if it is legal to use filter programs in public libraries. We have also included a short report on what filters are and how they work. This paper deals only with Swedish conditions on a number of public libraries. The methods used are principally survey and interview. The surveys are accounted for according to the themes we have discovered. The result of the surveys shows that the use of filter programs is yet relatively unusual. This is partly because some people mean that using them would be censorship, and partly because filters are not thought to be reliable. The opinion regarding what censorship really means is divided, and so are views about whether using filter programs are censorship or not. Not even the law can clearly say if filters may be used in public libraries. An animated debate on the subject exists, but the contributions are often too emotional.
*Nr 25 Ann-Katrin Perselli: Teknologistudenter och informationshantering – en studie om informationskompetens vid Linköpings Tekniska högskola influerad av grounded theory (Technology students and information management – a study of information literacy at Linköping Institute of Technology influenced by grounded theory)
The main purpose of this study is to investigate and understand how technology students handle information especially when they are working with their Master’s thesis. A further purpose is to examine how technology students use library resources of the Linköping University. The research method used is grounded theory, where description of the method is an integral part of the study. Twelve qualitative interviews were made with newly qualified graduates from the engineering programs of Linköping Institute of Technology. The respondents were divided into two groups, A and B, with six in each group. All of them had completed or almost completed their education and their final thesis. The six engineers in group A had not chosen any course in information seeking, whereas in group B all six engineers had chosen the optional course, TGTU 60, offered in information seeking. The results indicate that the technology students adopt their way of seeking information from their teachers and supervisors and from the study culture. The students’ adoption of information management is the social process that constitutes the core category of the research. The results also show that the engineering program is traditional and that the students seldom visit the library. A high rate of study, set course literature and traditional teaching are factors that scarcely stimulate the students to use the library. But after the course in information seeking, the respondents in group B had improved their information literacy and used the library more often.
*Nr 26 Johanna Andersson: All the Web, Alta Vista och Google: en effektivitetsstudie av tre söktjänster på webben. (All the Web, Alta Vista and Google: a study of the retrieval performance of three web search engines.)
The purpose of this essay is to perform an evaluation regarding retrieval performance of three web search engines. The search engines included are All the Web, Alta Vista and Google. These have been tested using ten queries within different subject areas chosen by the author. The first twenty hits for each question have been analyzed for relevancy. Relevancy is judged on a three-point scale; 0, 0,5 and 1 where 0 goes to irrelevant and inactive or duplicate documents, 0,5 point goes to partially relevant documents and 1 point goes to highly relevant documents. Criteria for these relevance judgments are formulated as to prevent hesitation and partiality. The measure used is precision. When calculating precision special methods are adopted to give credit to those search engines that present relevant hits early in the ranked lists. The number of duplicate, inactive and mirror links are also recorded for each search engine. The results show that Google is the best performing search engine of these three concerning precision. All the Web is the second best while Alta Vista performs worst of the three. All the Web has the largest number of duplicate links while Google has the least. None of the search engines have significant problems with inactive or mirror links. It is the author' s hope that more specified and unified methods for evaluating web search engines will arise since it would increase the possibility of comparing different results.
*Nr 27 Stina Jonsson, Ingrid Svensson: Högskolestudenters upplevelser av folkbibliotekariers bemötande och kunskap (Most of them are pleasant and all of them are knowledgeable, even though I’ve no idea what they know – twelve students in higher education experiences of public librarians attitude and knowledge)
The aim of this Master's thesis is to understand public library users' perceptions of librarians' attitudes to users and professional knowledge. The purpose was also to investigate the relative importance to the user of pleasant or a knowledgeable librarian. As a theoretical framework we use theory from business economy where the experience of the user is in focus. Answers were sought to the following questions:   How do users perceive librarians’ attitudes to users?   How do users perceive librarians’ professional knowledge?   How do users want to be treated by public librarians?   What kind of knowledge should public librarians have, according to users? We interviewed twelve students in university education that are users of public libraries. Most of them say that they have been treated well by public librarians. In cases where they did not think so it was usually based on the policy of the library on not providing course books for the students. All of the informants say that librarians are in the service business and want librarians to carry out searches for them. The informants have a limited conception of public librarians' professional knowledge, although they say that they have never met an incompetent librarian. Nine of the twelve informants prefer a pleasant librarian to a knowledgeable one.
*Nr 28 Marie Eriksson, Britt-Marie Jonth: Integrerade folk- och skolbibliotek. En studie av två tänkbara organisationer. (Integrated libraries. A study of two possible organisations.)
The aim of this master's degree dissertation is to compile examples of different ways of planning, implementing and following up the organisation of two integrated libraries, which serve both the general public and the school. In order to respond to this, we formulated the all-embracing question: How best can the integration of libraries for schools and the general public be planned, implemented and followed up? This formulation gave rise to four further questions. In order to answer these questions, the problem formulated and our basic aim, we have studied the relevant literature on school libraries, libraries for the general public, and integrated libraries. These sources comprise official reports on this theme, dissertations, and more topical articles. In addition empirical studies have been carried out in the form of interviews. As our theoretical basis we have used Gunnar Berg's organisational plan for schools, which we have extended and used for the integration of the library. Berg's scheme is based on Bengt Abrahamsson's attempt to rationalise, of which we give a short account. In addition we have used Romulo Enmark's blueprint, which shows the breadth of activities possible in libraries for schools and the general public. Our conclusion is that in order to acquire a smoothly-operating integrated library with potential for development, there is a need for fundamental planning, organised objectives for the work and its educational contribution to the school, agreement as to shared responsibility and finances between school and library, and continual follow-up of the work in hand. Marie Eriksson och Britt-Marie Jonth vann SKTF:s uppsatsstipendium 2002 med ovanstående uppsats.
*Nr 29 Anna Eriksson: Referenssamtalet med barn : förhållningssätt och bemötande. Fem intervjuer med barnbibliotekarier (The reference interview with children : attitude and behaviour. Five interviews with children's librarians)
The aim of this study was to examine the social relationships between children and librarians during reference interviews. Using qualitative interviews with five children's librarians I illustrate attitudes and behaviours during a reference situation which take place in psychological, social and even in pedagogical contexts. The literature review comprises studies of the reference interview with children and youth, a description of interpersonal communication and finally social interaction and dialog between teachers and pupils. The main result of this study was the demonstration of a dichotomy in modes of interpersonal communication. In one mode, the social frame is emphasized. The librarians work actively and mobile to elicit questions and to create social relationships. They try to form an atmosphere of trust by confirming the child and showing approachability. In the other mode of interaction more traditional roles are played out. The social dimension of the reference interview is not stressed and the main goal is to find the ”right” source or book and the process which the children go through is not engaged. These two contradictory modes form a model of two interaction styles; ”the active and outgoing” and ”the dominate behaviour”.
*Nr 30 Sara Brissman, Sara-Lena Wiktor: Folkbildning i förändring? En studie kring ABF:s och IOGT/NBV:s folkbildning från år 1894-1999. (Have the adult education changed? A study about ABF´s and IOGT/NBV's adult education from year 1894-1999.)
The aim of this thesis is to see if adult education have changed in educational association of the Swedish Labour Movement ABF, and the temperance movement IOGT/NBV. We have chosen to study five periods and analyse these after four ideal of education. These are the ideals of self-education, polytechnic education, neo-classic character-moulding education, and citizenship education. We have studied the reports of the activities of the organisations during the years and the writings of anniversary. The analysis shows that the two popular movements have gone from an adult education where the ideal of citizenship education to an ideal of neo-classic character-moulding education was dominating. The other two ideals ideal are not so frequent as the above mentioned. In this study we also aim to see if there are any social circumstances in Sweden that have affected the organisations. Here we study the report of the popular movement's activity and educational programme, and see if we can find something that can be related to the social circumstances. Regarding this problem we believe that there are some social circumstances, like the two world wars, that have affected the organisations. We has also chosen to see if IOGT/NBV's organisation have been affected by ABF's start. Our conclusion here is that during the period in question we can't see that IOGT/NBV has been affected. The source material was the organisations' reports of the activities during the years and the writings of anniversary.
*Nr 31 Cecilia Herdenstam: Library anxiety: en undersökning av psykologiska aspekter kring studenters upplevelser av sitt universitetsbibliotek (Library anxiety: a study of psychological aspects in students' experiences of their university library)
This essay investigates the psychological aspects in students' experiences of their university library and the information seeking process. Focus of the investigation is library anxiety, a kind of fear towards the university library with cognitive, affective and behavioural aspects. Twenty students at Uppsala university, who was about to conclude or recently have concluded an academic essay, were interviewed about their experiences of the university library, Carolina Rediviva. Five respondents stated experiences of fear, anxiety and apprehension in the library and it is on these informants that the greater part of the analysis and discussion draws. The essay suggests a model of library anxiety where outer environmental aspects of the library, such as the library environment, roles and routines of the library and library staff, interacts with inner personal aspects of the individual such as personal experiences, intellectual capacity and sensitivity to stress and anxiety. It is suggested that library anxiety arises from this interaction where a sensitive individual is more susceptible towards new and complicated environments.
Nr 32 Ulrika Samuelsson: En buss kommer lastad – En undersökning av vilken roll bokbussen spelar för grundskollärares undervisning (A bookmobile comes loaded – A study about the role the bookmobile plays in compulsory school teachers' teaching)
This Master's thesis concerns compulsory school teachers' use of the bookmobile. The purpose of my study is to examine what role the bookmobile plays in the teachers' teaching and to establish what teachers think about the bookmobile and its service to the schools. I have carried out nine qualitative interviews with compulsory school teachers. From the interviews I have established how teachers and their students make use of the bookmobile and what the teachers think of its service and how they would like to change it. I have also examined whether or not there is a collaboration between teachers and the librarians working on the bookmobile. The study shows that teachers use the bookmobile in varied ways. It is used both for the purpose of providing the students with fiction and with non-fiction literature. Many of the teachers use the bookmobile when their students are working whit problem solving tasks. They then order literature about whatever subject the students are working on. In many ways the bookmobile is used as a complement to other sources of information, usually the school library. The teachers I have interviewed seldom have any well established collaboration with the bookmobile librarians. They sometimes demand the librarians' help with choosing literature for the students. It is not a question of a high level of collaboration. The bookmobile is nevertheless an appreciated source of literature. Most of the teachers in my study had something good to say about the bookmobile, and they were all thankful that the bookmobile serviced their schools. I have established that if teachers and librarians were to collaborate on a higher level than they currently do the bookmobile could playa bigger part in the teachers' teaching.
*Nr 33 Annika Olsson, Kerstin Olsson: Alternativ hylluppställning: en undersökning av hylluppställning och biblioteksmiljö på Västerviks stadsbibliotek. (Alternative shelf arrangement: a study of shelf arrangement and library environment at Västervik public library.)
The purpose of this Master’s thesis has been to study the changes made in shelf arrangement and library environment in a Swedish public library. The aim was to examine the reasoning done by the library staff regarding classification, the Swedish classification system SAB and changes in library environment. The basis of our study were three questions: 1. Why has Västervik public library made changes in the shelf arrangement? 2. What changes were made by the library and how did the changes affect the library environment? 3. Has it worked as planned according to the librarians? The study was carried out at Västervik public library in the spring of 2002. The library staff was interviewed and the shelf classification and library environment were examined. The reason for the changes was a desire to make the library more user-centred and user-friendly. According to the librarians, the users found the Swedish classification system SAB difficult to understand and to use. In an effort to help the users, changes were made in the shelf arrangement and in the library environment in 1992. The librarians’ perceptions are that the users were positive to, and have been helped by, the changes, but no user-study has been made by the library to confirm that view. The changes made in Västervik were compared to classification theories and to theories and practices in the area of alternative shelf arrangement.
*Nr 34 Maria Gullberg, Anne Heikkilä: URLen som förbindelselänk: en utvärdering av URLers pålitlighet som åtkomstmetod mellan webbresurs och bibliografisk post i LIBRIS och NetSök (The URL as a connecting link: an evaluation of the reliability of an URL as a link between web resource and bibliographic record in LIBRIS and NetSök)
The aim of this master’s thesis is to study the reliability of the URL as the link between a bibliographic record and a web resource. The Swedish catalogue services LIBRIS and NetSök have been evaluated on three different occasions, to study how these services have succeeded in giving access to web resources by using URLs. Because URLs are changeable, we have tried to find out common characteristics of the URLs in broken links. To accomplish this study we have used a quantitative approach and evaluated five percent of the web resources in the catalogues using a random selection. We have also used documentation relevant for our study, among other things to illustrate previous studies of the nature of web resources and alternative solutions to URLs as access points to web resources. The results of our study indicate that URLs are relatively reliable as access points and links. Our opinion is that to ensure the quality of a library catalogue, a regular link maintenance is a necessity. By shortening the URLs of the broken links, we often got access to the web resources, and thereby we carefully will state that URLs with only domain names are more reliable than more complex URLs.
*Nr 35 Mats Sjölin: Bibliotekariens kunskap: en diskursanalys (The Librarian’s Knowledge: a discourse analysis)
This Master's thesis concerns the professional knowledge of the librarian. The image of this knowledge is regarded as constructed in a social context, which is why the discourse analytic approach is selected as method. The empirical material consists of two texts concerning the education of librarians. A theory of knowledge, emanating from Aristotle, is applied to the results to find examples of the forms of knowledge that are excluded from the discourse. A number of themes, or ways, in which it is possible to discuss the phenomenon of the librarian's knowledge, are identified in the texts. The results also show the consequences, for the discursive constitution of the librarian's knowledge, of an antagonistic relation between two discourses. The application of the theory of knowledge reveals that the discourses exclude the possibility of constituting the librarian's knowledge as phronesis, ethical knowledge.
*Nr 36 Laura Järvinen, Senka Smailovic: Filmkatalogisering: en behovs- och regelanalys (Film cataloguing: an analysis of needs and rules)
The aim of this thesis is to examine the characteristics of film cataloguing, and to compare general (as in library use) and specific (as in archival use) cataloguing rules. Most rules, both in archives and libraries, use the book as a point of reference. This is somewhat unfortunate on account of the great difference between books and films. The method used is studies of literature and qualitative interviews with three persons whose professional duties include cataloguing of films. The sets of rules which are studied are Katalogiseringsregler för svenska bibliotek (KRS) and The FIAF Cataloguing Rules for Film Archives. Theories about cataloguing including Cutter among others are presented and used as a basis for the discussion. The study shows that different media have different characteristics which have to be considered in the cataloguing. It depends on the institutions and the users which characteristics are the most important, and which rules are the most relevant.
*Nr 37 Ing-Marie Hassel: Skönlitteratur på skärm: En explorativ undersökning om ”e-boken” och dess konsekvenser för litteratursamhället (Fiction on screen: An exploratory study of the ”e-book” and its consequences for the literary society)
This thesis should be regarded as an integrated research synthesis. The purpose has been to analyse how the literary sociologist Lars Furuland’s model ”the literary process” correlates in relation to today’s book market for fiction. The central problem has been: In what different ways can some of the main actors featuring in Furuland’s model of ”the literary process” use, produce or provide copyright protected works of fiction which are electronically distributed? Three questions have been considered to penetrate this problem: In what different ways can (to judge from some projects which have been carried through at common public libraries) electronic works of fiction be provided to their presumed readers? What reasons could there be (as it appears in a number of texts) that four Swedish authors have chosen to disseminate their works of fiction by the aid of the Internet? Which main functions may, according to current research, be supported by electronic media in connection with editing and retail of fiction? During this study a picture of two quite disconnected processes of publication has materialized. These processes seem to proceed parallelly to each other, without any close contact, in a traditional respectively an electronic circuit. In contrast it seems possible that individuals have some opportunities to move freely between and within these two separate systems. Nevertheless, the major impression is that Furuland’s model still has a certain kind of relevance, but it basically fails at two points. Firstly, it does not take enough consideration of the context. Secondly, the model is focused upon the roles of individual actors, not on the crucial professional functions involved.
*Nr 38 Lina Karlsson, Linda Malm: Elektroniska vetenskapliga utgåvor av skönlitteratur på webben – en studie av hypertextualitet, interaktivitet och hypermedialitet. (Electronic Scholarly Editions of Literary Works on the Web – a study of hypertextuality, interactivity and hypermediality.)
The objective of this thesis is to examine which form value-adding qualities specific for the Web take and to what extent they exist in a selection of electronic scholarly editions of literary works. The examination was concentrated on the qualities hypertextuality, interactivity and hypermediality. Besides extent and form, the research questions focused on whether or not the form of the editions correspond to theories and guidelines about how electronic scholarly editions should be designed to generate an added value from a scholarly point of view. The empirical approach was qualitative and the selection consisted of 31 editions. They were examined according to theories about the value-adding features of the qualities. The results showed that a majority of the editions did not incorporate all of the value-adding aspects. It was mainly the ability to use hyperlinks to bring larger amount of material together, and the use of links to show inter- and intratextual relations, that was realised. Only a minority of the editions exploited the possibilities of interactivity, especially the ability to read and give user comments within the editions. The conclusion of this study shows that the electronic editions seem to reproduce features of the printed media and do not fulfil the potential of the Web in any larger extent.
*Nr 39 Katrin Fredrikson: Automatisk indexering på webben - en studie av sökmotorn HotBot (Automatic indexing on the web – a study of the search engine HotBot)
The web has made an incredible amount of unorganized information available to anyone. There are search engines that help us structuring the information, but it is still difficult to find what you search for on the web. The purpose of this master's thesis is to investigate whether the already existing techniques for automatic indexing are suited for the new information retrieval context on the web and how the choice to support these techniques, or not, affects the search results. This is examined through a literature study on automatic indexing and other related concepts, such as information retrieval and information searching on the web in order to get a theoretical frame to the work and by an observation of the search engine HotBot to approach the purpose of the thesis. The observation is carried out by searching HotBot's database and investigating the search results in order to try to identify patterns that can reveal something about how HotBot's automatic indexing is done. Even after a number of searches it has been difficult to see clear patterns in HotBot's indexing and the search engine has rather been found inconsequent in several ways. The web presents an information retrieval environment where automatic indexing is necessary, but the information systems of today can not stand up to the demand, that they should represent the content of a text. It is not possible to draw any general conclusions after observing one search engine, but it might be so that the existing techniques for automatic indexing need to be improved to better suit the text collections on the web by further research.
*Nr 40 Victoria Fareld: Kunskapens konstellationer: om ämnesanalys och tvärvetenskaplighet (The constellations of knowledge: subject analysis and crossdisciplinarity)
The aim of this study has been to discuss ideas of knowledge within classification theory and subject analysis in the light of theories of fundamental changes in the production of scientific knowledge. Guiding questions have been: How have the conditions of knowledge production changed? How has interdisciplinarity as part of this development evolved? What assumptions lie behind theories of classification and subject analysis? How do these stand in relation to the alleged changes in the production and understanding of science? Three works about the changing conditions for knowledge production and the growth of crossdisciplinarity have been presented and discussed. These works stress the loosening up of boundaries between traditional knowledge domains and open up for discussions about how to organize knowledge production in the light of these changes. In the study it is argued that their works also could open up for discussions about the way knowledge is organized for retrieval purposes. Crossdisciplinarity seems to change the conditions for a subject analysis which is founded on traditional disciplinary boundaries. The views of knowledge expressed by two researchers in library and information science, Jennifer Rowley and D.W Langridge, have been analysed and related to the theories about the changing production of knowledge. Both Langridge and Rowley show how different and contradictory views of knowledge coexist in theories about subject analysis and classification. Ideas of the stability of knowledge categories appear to exist beside pragmatic efforts to let the categories reflect the evolution of knowledge; a tension which appears even stronger in the light of a knowledge structure whose boundaries are in flux. The study argues that a critical and selfreflective classification has to relate actively to discussions about knowledge production. By emphasizing the historical character of the present disciplinary structure and the priorities involved in classifying documents according to their subject, a clearer understanding of the difficulties of subject analysis is possible as well as a subject analysis which to a higher extent reflects the evolution of knowledge.
*Nr 41 Josefine Andersson: Typer av sökfrågor på webben: En effektivitetsstudie (Query types on the World Wide Web: A study of retrieval performance)
The purpose of this thesis is to examine the performance of different types of queries in the AltaVista query-based search engine. Thirty information needs have been collected from an ask-a-question service on the World Wide Web, which means that they are based on real users information needs. This is done to avoid partiality in the study. The author has invented different types of queries for each and every one of the information needs in accordance with the search syntax available for AltaVista. The types used are Boolean expressions, queries including proximity operators, phrases and queries directed towards a specific field. The ten first hits for each query type have been evaluated for relevance on a three-point scale. Irrelevant, inactive links or duplicates are given the value 0, partially relevant documents are given the value 0,5 and highly relevant documents are given the value 1. Special criteria are used as to prevent that these relevance judgements are done in a partial manner. The measure used is precision and to give credit to those query types that present relevant documents early in the ranked list, the average precision is calculated instead of traditional precision. The results show that queries including proximity operators are the most effective with respect to precision, followed by Boolean expressions, phrases and queries directed towards a specific field. The proximity queries are also assigned the highest score for relevancy, which means that this query type in this study is the best at retrieving relevant documents.
*Nr 42 Therese Emilsson: Att tillgängliggöra kvalitetskontrollerade Internetresurser: en studie av två ämnesportaler och två samverkansprojekt (To make quality controlled Internet resources accessible : A study of two subject gateways and two co-operation projects)
The purpose of this master’s thesis is to study two subject gate-ways within the field of Swedish higher education and academic research, concerning structuring and selection of Internet resources to facilitate information retrieval for their target groups, and also to study two co-operation projects in the same field, one national and one European, to see how the co-operation is being carried through and how the gateways in the projects can serve from a wider perspective. The gateways, AGORA and NOVAGate, are being studied mainly by their Web sites and two e-mail interviews with persons responsible for the gateways. Facts about the national project are principally based on an interview with BIBSAM. The European Renardus is being studied out of articles and information on the Web site. From the results of the study it is being clear that the purpose of the gateways is to make a quality-selection of information accessible via the Internet and thereby facilitate for their target groups to find usable information. Structuring and link-presentation are based on traditional bibliographic methods, slightly simplified to be better adapted to Web resources. The purpose of the national project is to create a common interface for participating gateways and of Renardus to develop an information-service providing access to European gateways via a single inter-face. The study shows that an extensive co-operational work is going on between university- and research-libraries concerning structuring of Internet resources. It is also established by the study that there is a trend going on from simple subject-divided gateways to co-operation in networks via common interfaces.
*Nr 43 Sofia Sternberg: Abstract för rättsfall – ett alternativ till rättsfallsrubriken? (Abstracts for legal cases – an alternative to the headnotes?)
Examines whether the retrieval and relevance judgements of legal cases could be improved, by formulating their headnotes according to abstracting principles. Includes a literary survey of the functions, construction and types of abstracts. Describes the databases and printed collections of Swedish legal cases. Examples of indicative, informative and structured abstracts, for 16 legal cases from the Swedish supreme court and courts of appeal, were constructed and compared to the headnotes. According to the results, some of the headnotes are already equal to indicative or informative abstracts, but they often lack a proper topic sentence. The terms of the headnotes are not always ideal for computerised text searching, but the abstracts mostly add terms that are too specific for high recall searches. Only for the shortest headnotes could abstracts undoubtedly contribute to more effective retrieval and relevance judgements. Searching the headings of structured abstracts does not seem very useful for legal cases. The choice between indicative and informative abstracts, or their corresponding headnotes, cannot be determined without further research. A more standardised and uniform construction of the headnotes is recommended.
*Nr 44 Johanna Palmén: Att tala för döva öron. Döva och hörselskadade studenter om bibliotek, information och kultur (Speaking Up for the Deaf. Deaf and Hear-Impaired Students on Libraries, Information, and Culture)
The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to examine the attitudes of deaf and hear-impaired people towards libraries, information, and culture. The issues are: What are the attitudes of the informants towards libraries and culture? What do reference group theory and the theory of information access-/avoidance implicate concerning the information behaviour of the informants? In-depth interviews with five deaf and hear-impaired university students have been carried out in this qualitative study. The world of deaf and hear-impaired people is presented as well as a survey of political guidelines to make, for example, libraries and theatres more available to disabled people. The research overview analyses scholarly studies on deaf and hear-impaired people. The hermeneutic interpretation of the research material shows that the informants of this study have a general positive attitude towards libraries, though with certain reservations. The application of the two theories, implicate that due to the fact that they no longer regard themselves as members of Deaf Culture, these informants are likely to, to a great extent, use information from ”the hearing society”. These conclusions concerning deaf and hear-impaired people in relation to libraries, information, and culture are drawn: the environment of ”the hearing society” needs to be made more available to deaf and hear- impaired people; deaf and hear-impaired people need to be given chances to define their own needs. These conclusions lead to proposals for further research on deaf and hear-impaired people, in the field of Library- and Information Science.
*Nr 45 Sofia Carlenberg: Ett kulturcentrum i Ulricehamn? (A centre for culture in Ulricehamn?)
The aim of this essay is to investigate and evaluate the arguments made by municipal politicians in Ulricehamn, regarding the planned Knowledge and Culture Centre. A part from the search for these arguments, I also investigated the attitudes among politicians regarding municipal culture investments in general. I furthermore investigated whether any national, regional, or local culture-political strategies were important in the local debate. The time frame within which the local political culture debate was investigated was from 1997 until present time (2002). The investigation methods used were partly a study of official documents (such as political protocols, two articles from the local newspaper, and a clean copy from a web chat), and partly a qualitative study (I sent a question regarding the planned Culture Centre to every political party active in the Ulricehamn municipal assembly. The question was sent and mainly answered via email). I have chosen the knowledge-sociological theory, where the principle consists of the belief that our knowledge correlates with our interests. My results indicate that the main positive arguments regarding the proposed Culture Centre were the presumed good and positive content of the proposed Centre, the Centre would contribute to the development of the municipality, and the proposed Centre would educate the members of the local community. The most common negative arguments made were the lack of information regarding the project, and a concern over the cost. I have also come to the conclusion that culture-political strategies only played a very moderate part in the local debate. In my study, searching for the different persisting attitudes regarding municipal culture investments, I found three parallel outlooks. I call them Culture as pleasure, Culture as identity, and Culture as education.
*Nr 46 Dobrila Pejic: Att läsa under krig: En studie över läs- och biblioteksvanor bland läsvana invånare i staden Tuzla (Bosnien och Hercegovina) och böckernas status under krigsåren 1992-1995 (How to read during the war: A study of reading- and library habits among accustomed readers in the city of Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and the book's status during the war 1992-1995)
This master's thesis is about some book lovers in city of Tuzla in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war 1992-1995 when they never stopped to read their favourite books. This thesis gives a general view of the book's destiny during the war. The thesis is based on the life history method. My informants were 18 book lovers in the city of Tuzla who had to change their daily reading habits in consequence of different circumstances caused by the horrible war in the middle of Europe. The Public and University Library of Tuzla gave every opportunity to the people of the city to visit the Library and continued to look for their loved books in spite of the frightful war. During the war the Library organized many cultural activities and they also published new books. It's also important to mention the character of the Library staff who acted very bravely and professionally during the entire war. The Library became a central point and a meeting place for all ethnical groups of people irrespective of nationality, religion and cultural background. The Library worked very hard to maintain the multicultural traditions of the city. The books became the people's best friends when they didn't have access to any other media. Volumes like Bosnian classic stories, historical, religious and humorous literature and poetry were among their favourites. Reading books during the war became a source of inspiration and a new kind of life style for a lot of people in Tuzla, an opportunity to find the reality behind the war and at the same time to get a clear picture of the entire situation. Reading books was a way to fight back against ignorance and other cruelties caused by recent war.
*Nr 47 Nina Ström: Med informationskompetens som mål – en studie av den pedagogiska verksamheten på Karolinska Institutets bibliotek (Information literacy as goal – a study of user-education at the Karolinska Institute Library)
The explosion of information technology has given users direct access to an ocean of information. Increased availability puts increasing demands on the ability of students and researchers to search for, filter, and structure information. In response, the role of the research library has shifted from being primarily an information resource to being an educational resource with a focus on teaching users what is known as ”information literacy”. This thesis is a study of user-education at the Karolinska Institute Library (KIB), the largest medical library in the Nordic countries. KIB has invested significant resources in developing user-education, and has a full-time user-education developer and a formal pedagogical platform for user-education. The author begins with an overview of the theoretical literature on user-education and information literacy, seeking to map the ways in which information literacy is commonly defined and how it can be promoted through user-education. The core of the study is a phenomenographical analysis of interviews conducted with ten of the librarians at KIB that actively participate in user-education sessions. Through this analysis, the author seeks to compare the librarians' views on user-education and information literacy with the goals and vision outlined in KIB's pedagogical platform as well as with the theoretical literature. Additionally, the author attempts to identify some of the problems that the librarians perceive in their user-education efforts and ways that these problems could be addressed. The author concludes that user-education efforts are unlikely to have much impact if they are performed independently of students' other courses. Instead, the user-education program should be integrated as much as possible with other courses, as this greatly increases both the real and perceived relevance of the instruction.
*Nr 48 Ida Ross: Konstupplevelsen, platsen och företeelsen: Tillfälliga konstutställningar på folkbibliotek (The Experience of Art, the Room and the Phenomenon: Temporary Art Exhibitions in The Public Libraries)
The main purpose of this master thesis is to give the reader a picture of the experience of art and of it’s ”room” in the public libraries, but above all to examine the phenomenon ”temporary art exhibitions” in public libraries in the county of Östergötland. The study is limited to a specific activity of art, namely temporary exhibitions in libraries. Geographically, the investigation is limited to the public libraries and their branch libraries in Östergötland. Time concentrates on the present situation in 2000 and 2001. Methodologies are partly observations in some libraries, partly qualitative questionnaires to all primary libraries and their affiliates in Östergötland. A similar questionnaire has been given out to various kinds of artists – that is professionals and hobby artists – of which some have participated and some have not participated in library exhibitions. To my research Habermas' theory of ”Civil publicity” and Bourdieu's theory of ”Positions within a field” have been applied. According to Habermas the experience of art can be explained as a ”public debate” and the showroom as a ”public room”. With Bourdieu, one can explain the phenomenon of ”temporary art exhibition” as a ”battlefield of art”. My results, based on observations and questionnaires, show that art exhibitions do exist in libraries and their affiliates in the county of Östergötland. In some cases, cultural policy goals seem to have influenced the libraries’ decision on what pieces of art to accept for the exhibitions, in other cases personal taste seems to be decisive. Finally, my conclusion is that there is a large range of variation between cultural policy goals in the communities and the attitude toward temporary art exhibitions among libraries and the parties concerned.
*Nr 49 Mikaela Lirberg, Anna-Karin Skoglund: ”Ett vittert fruntimmer”. En studie av boktryckaränkor och speciellt fru Fougt (”A literary woman”. Women printers, in particular Mrs Fougt)
The purpose of this Master’s thesis was to examine women printers’ conditions in Sweden from 1483 to 1883. Women printers usually inherited their printing businesses from their husbands. We wanted to examine the circumstances surrounding women printers, how they managed to keep their companies and for how long. Of these 108 women we also wanted to focus on one in particular, Mrs Fougt. Mrs Fougt’s ownership of Kongl. Tryckeriet in Stockholm lasted for 29 years, from 1782 to 1811. Her ownership was both compared to other women printers and to men printers during the period of 1782 to 1811. Legally, women were treated differently than men during this period, for example they were considered minors. However, upon the death of her husband, the widow gained the right to take over the business. Though the regulations governing the printing industry applied equally to women and men, printers’ rules of ownership differed: when a woman printer remarried, ownership was transferred to her new husband, if he was a printer. We found that children and economy might have had an impact on how long a woman printer owned her company. In contrast to the men, women printers often were inexperienced in the printing process. Mrs Fougt may have been an exception. From her parents and her husband she gained knowledge of the printing process, the running of the business, as well as an extensive social network. She probably also possessed the personal qualities required to successfully run her business for such a long period.
*Nr 50 Jenny Andersson, Pernilla Zweiacker: ”Debutanter, fräsiga irländare och manliga amerikanska författare”: Om urval och inköp av skönlitteratur på svenska folkbibliotek. (”First time published authors, groovy Irishmen, and male American writers”: Selection and purchase of fiction in Swedish public libraries.)
The purpose of this Master's thesis is to examine the selection and purchase of fiction in Swedish public libraries. The main question is: Which factors influence the process of selection and purchasing of fiction in Swedish public libraries? To further examine the selection and purchase process, the following questions are also asked: What do librarians responsible for purchase of fiction say about selection and purchasing? Which actors can influence the purchasing process? Interviews with nine librarians responsible for purchasing have been carried out in this qualitative study. A minor quantitative study has also been carried out, concerning gender aspects of the reviews studied. Results of research and quantitative studies about purchasing, values of reviews and the discussion of quality is presented. The theories presented are the conception of power and the concepts concerning structures in society, brought forward by Pierre Bourdieu. The analysis of the research material leads to the conclusions that libraries spread their purchases on various sources. The process of selection is characterized by discussions of quality, users wishes as well as good reviews. Recognition is also an important factor in the selection process. Bibliotekstjänst/sambindningen, reviewers, librarians and users are all actors that influence the process of selection and purchase in Swedish public libraries.
*Nr 51 Eva Danielsson: "Nytta vet jag inte om vi har, men vi har roligt i alla fall": En studie av äldres IT-användning ("I don’t know if there’s much use in it, but we’re certainly having fun": A study of senior citizens’ use of IT)
The aim of this Master’s thesis is to examine the use of IT, that is the Internet and other applications of personal computers, among seniors (65+). It also deals with issues of access to IT for seniors in public libraries. The theoretical background of the study consists of Rogers’ "Diffusion of innovations", Hektor’s categories of information activities, and the Swedish IT-commission’s categories of motives and prerequisites for the use of IT. The research questions focus on factors motivating the use of IT, the extent and the purposes of IT use, the consequences and the barriers that IT-users experience, and views on IT in public libraries and IT courses, respectively. Qualitative interviews were carried out with nine senior IT-users. The conclusions are that the encouragement of close relatives is a great incentive in becoming an IT-user, as are individual needs, and the urge to keep up with developments in today’s society. The extent of IT use varies from person to person. The most popular applications are word-processing, e-mail, and searching the web for information on subjects of personal interest. Search engines are very little used. IT use brings both benefits and pleasure to the user, and transforms negative views of IT into more positive ones. Communication has become more diversified due to e-mail. The use of other media is only partly affected by the use of IT. Many types of barriers exist; the most essential ones are lack of IT knowledge and memory deficiencies. The seniors are positive to the introduction of IT in public libraries, but negative to using it regularly there. IT courses are often held at a pace that is too rapid for seniors and groups are often too large and diversified.
*Nr 52 Åsa Lundgren: Användarutbildning på webben (Web-based user education)
User education is an important aspect of university libraries' service to its users. This Masters' Thesis is about online user education. The aim of this study is to analyse five Swedish online user courses in relation to information literacy and learning theory. The web-sites were explored through textual analyses to find how concepts of information literacy and learning theory are expressed. The theoretical framework is based on Carol C Kuhlthau's three levels of user education, Paul Ramsden's three theories of teaching in higher education and Christine Bruce's different aspects of information literacy. The study reveals that the source approach to user education as described by Kuhlthau is the most common i.e. the library and its resources are the focus. I also found, using Bruce's different aspects of information literacy, that different aspects existed, but the information source approach and the information process approach dominated. This result differs a little from Bruce's own discussion where she meant that information literacy curriculum in higher education clusters around information technology and information source conceptions. Using Ramsden' s theories of teaching I found that the most common teaching strategy in the user courses was teaching as transmission of information.
*Nr 53 Gunilla Svensson: Talboksskifte med DAISY som mål – en kvalitativ undersökning av sex folkbibliotek (Change of Talking Books with DAISY as Goal – a qualitative study of six public libraries)
The Swedish government has made the decision to transform the talking book system from an analogue system to a digital system called DAISY by the end of 2004. The purpose of this Masters’ thesis is to examine how public libraries are affected by this system change. This is carried out by studying the current situation in public libraries concerning the transition to DAISY. This qualitative oriented study is primarily based on interviews with four librarians and three library managers at six public libraries. Management by objectives is here seen as a suitably theoretical framework since public municipal libraries are partly regulated by the governments’ goals and laws. The study focuses on the following issues: What problems occur when public libraries have to carry through a change like DAISY? What requirements do public libraries need for the successful implementation of DAISY? The study shows that the transition of the talking book system differs greatly between public libraries. The study also reveals that when and how the transition to DAISY takes place depends to a large extent on who is responsible for talking books in the public libraries. Despite relatively large freedom of action the responsible librarians are limited by economic frames. The responsibility for the technique transition ought to be the politicians’ duty both at the municipal level as at the regional and national level. The librarians experience that economic resources are the largest problem. It is also difficult to convince the borrowers. The lack of goals for DAISY within the organisation and lack of support by politicians are obstacles to a smooth transition. As a consequence the transition to DAISY partly depends on coincidences. There is a need to co-ordinate all authorities in taking responsibility.
*Nr 54 Gunilla Halvarsson: Kritiker debatterar: en undersökning av litteraturkritikens debatter i Sverige under 1980- och 1990-talen (Critics on debate: An investigation of the debates of literary criticism in Sweden during the 1980's and the 1990's)
This Master's thesis is an investigation of the Swedish critics' war of debating literature and criticism during the 1980's and the 1990's. I do also talk about criticism in a context of some literary theories: Formalism, Marxism, Structuralism, Post structuralism and Feminism. The main question is: in what war do the critics debate the role of literature and criticism in society? From this I have formed the following questions: what is literary criticism and critics? In what war do the critics debate the existence of criticism, its quality, theory and meaningfulness? In what war do the critics debate the critics and the mission of criticism? The method is discourse analysis. I have formed from my material, including debates from daily press and periodicals, three different discourses: Criticism and reality, Criticism and crisis and the roles of critics and criticisms. The results show that there are two main trends of thoughts. The first one is that literature and criticism should be interpreted in itself. This thought is the dominating one during the 1980's. The other trend of thought is that literature and criticism should be related to society and ideology. This is not a dominating thought, but there are some strong voices during the 1990's talking about literature and responsibility and the fact that readers want literature with engagement for society on a political and social level and that criticism should be alert in this matter. In the 1990's there are also discussions on the relation between media and criticism. The more and more accelerating pace in contemporary media is increasingly considered as a risk of hollowing out literary criticism and thereby making it more superficial.
*Nr 55 Annette Andersson, Victoria Nore: Biblioteksrummets förmedlande roll – en studie av Malmö stadsbiblioteks ungdomsavdelning (The Intermediary Function of the Library Room – a study of Malmö City Library’s juvenile department)
This master thesis in library- and information science is about the intermediary function of the library room from an environment-psychological point of view. Young people are a group in society who often reduce their visits to the library when growing up. There are lots of reasons for this – maybe more attractive activities occur outside the library doors, making the young choose not to use the library. But if the library interior is attractive in itself, and has a welcoming atmosphere, there might be a change and the young people may well choose to pay the library a visit. What is important to young people – how do they want their library room to look? Our purpose is to see how the physical environment affects young people in libraries. To make our research more concrete we have chosen to take a closer look at the city library of Malmö, and their section for young people. We have chosen to examine the demands and expectations from an environment-psychological point of view as part of the library’s inner intermediary of the users and orderer/designer of the city library of Malmö. To collect our material we have interviewed six young people and three people from the staff, in different positions. To be able to structure the empirical material and the analyses, we constructed themes and in our research we lean against two psychological disciplines: environmental- and social psychology. The most important conclusion we made, is that our respondents have various demands and expectations on the city library of Malmö, that is, the section for young people. It is in everybody’s interest to make young people a part of the environmental design.
*Nr 56 Anna-Klara Aronsson: Författare på kristna förlag – en intervjuundersökning (Authors at Christian publishers – an interview study)
Historically the Swedish church and the Free churches and movements of Sweden seemed to have their own literary circuit, including their own authors, publishers, distribution channels, and literature. The main purpose of this Master thesis is to study a few of those who produce Christian literature today from their point of view and to discuss if it is reasonable to see them as agents in an alternative literary system. The main questions are: Do they write to spread Christian belief? Do they have a certain target group? What are the connections between the churches, the publishers and the authors, and in what way could this influence the literature? What are the authors' perceptions of terms like Christian authors, Christian literature and Christian Publishing firms. The literature used in this essay mainly concerns Christian literature from different angles. Three texts dealing with authors as a group, and the relationships between authors and publishers have influenced the study. Models by literary sociologists are used to look at and describe different perspectives of reality. Qualitative interviews are used for the empirical study. The result of this study leads to the conclusion that an alternative literary system is not as evident as it was historica1ly. Regarded as a whole there still seems to be many connections between churches, congregations, authors and publishers, hut the system is more consistent than its parts.
*Nr 57 Jenny Andersson: Användarutbildning vid högskolebibliotek: en intervjustudie med utbildningsansvariga bibliotekarier (User education in academic libraries: an interview-study with educational librarians)
The purpose of this master’s thesis was to examine some central issues related to user education in academic libraries. How librarians perceive the educational role is the first issue examined. Since integration is considered a major strategy for developing information literacy, librarians' perception of how the content of user education is connected to disciplines’ is also investigated. Since integrating information literacy is dependent on co-operation between faculty teachers and librarians, the third aspect focuses on the existence of partnerships between faculty staff and librarians, where the forms of this co-operation and the librarians perceptions of outcomes is of special interest. The issues above are examined through an empirical study of qualitative interviews with nine academic librarians engaged in user education at three college universities in Sweden. A study of literature in the domain is also examined. As a theoretical framework, Carol Collier Kuhlthau's model including five levels for the educational role was used. The study shows that the librarians in the teaching context described themselves as instructors or tutors, who primarily could assist students with knowledge and support in terms of information-seeking activities. Support concerning the use of information is considered to require subject knowledge within discipline areas. The aim of integration is considered making progress slow, and the lack of connection between user education and subject is considered a major problem, especially in early stages. The outcomes of new forms for co-operation with teachers are considered very favourable, although this co-operation as a whole is associated with several problems.
*Nr 58 Annika Eliasson: Indexering av skönlitteratur i teori och praktik: vad kan forskning inom biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap och litteraturvetenskap tillföra praktiken? (Indexing of fiction in theory and in practice: what can Library Science and Literary Science provide for the practice?)
The aim of this master's thesis has been to investigate in what way Library Science and Literary Science could help in the practical work with the indexing of fiction in public libraries. The theoretical framework of the study is the facet theory from Library Science as well as genre theory from Literary Science. I have studied earlier research within Library Science and also the Mölndal catalogue and index term list "EDVIN". Mölndal's catalogue is used to view an example of an IR-system for fiction in one of our public libraries, and is also used to illustrate in what war theory can provide help in the practical work. User investigation, facet theory, indexing practice and genre theory point out that fiction has to be described in many different aspects/facets, to be retrieved in a good way. One of the researchers, Nielsen, suggests that fiction should be described by asking questions of the novel s about: Who, Where, What, When, How. In this thesis suggestions are given that Nielsen's question facets could be used when building an IR-system for fiction. The research of the indexing practice and the index terms for some chosen novel s in Mölndal's catalogue, also demonstrate that each question facet can be divided into a number of facets in its turn. In this thesis proposals are given for how genre theory can be helpful for the How-facets dividing in particular. Literary Science also shows that fiction has a variable nature and that it changes over time. The variability of fiction results in a viewpoint, that a flexible facet index system for fiction is to prefer to a traditional hierarchic system.
*Nr 59 Sara Perleroth, Alina Piekart: Den svenska kulturpolitikens ideologiska innehåll på 1990-talet (The ideologic meaning of Swedish cultural policy in the 90's)
The aim of this thesis is to describe the ideology of the Swedish cultural policy in the 1990's. An official report (Kulturutredningen) that reflects the indication of the cultural policy in 1990's is the main source for the research, which is accomplished using a text-oriented idea-and ideology analysis. The interpretation of the source is made with a hermeneutic base, where ideal types are used for the analysis. The ideal types are Geir Vestheim's models of rationality: humanistic-social, bureaucratic and economic. With these models, the most prominent ideas are participation, availability, identity, multiplicity, quality and renewal. The aims of the cultural policy are characterised with humanistic-social ideas, while the interpretation of the goals and their application is made in bureaucratic and economical terms. The ideas have a strong explicit position, but a weak implicit position in the text of the official report. Through the many humanistic-social formulations transpire the economical features that the cultural policy rests upon. In order to strengthen finances, the cultural policy declares openness for private enterprises on the market and accepts the necessary co-operation. Thereby, the market thinking is introduced in the cultural sphere. The investigation's strong focusing on evaluation as an expression for aim and result management is designated as "performativ management". Performativ management, as an expression for demands of efficiency, is clearly inspired by market thinking, which appears to be well established when cultural investments are motivated by profitability. The cultural policy uses art and culture as a medium to create economic progress. Thus, the culture policy of the 1990's could be said to be pragmatic.
*Nr 60 Carola Falk: Gymnasieelevers intresse för tecknade serier (Upper secondary school students' interest in comics)
This master's thesis deals with the interest in comics among students at the social science programme in an upper secondary school. The history of comics and the reading habits of comics have also been examined. For the completion of this study 54 students, 19 boys and 35 girls, took part in a questionnaire. The results of this statistical survey shows that the department of comics at Malmö city public library plays an insignificant role concerning the interest and reading of comics for the students. The main readings of comics for the students are in the daily paper, which resembles reading habits of adults. The majority of the students had the opinion that boys read more comics than girls do, which correspond to this survey and earlier ones. Most of the students knew about comics and got in contact with comics as children when their parents read to them. They have also had a subscription of a comic paper. The students showed a low interest in borrowing, buying and reading comics, which make me draw the conclusion that the interest in comic is low among them. The opinion of reading comics is connected to childhood reading and something you do alone. Lack of time and competition from other media might also play a significant role for their low interest in comics. If librarians and teachers would inform and encourage the reading of comics, and show the students the wide offer, there is a possibility that the interest in comics would increase among students in upper secondary school.
*Nr 61 Åse Hedemark, Jenny Hedman: Vad sägs om användare? Folkbibliotekens användardiskurser i tre bibliotekstidskrifter (Talking about the user: the public library's user discourses in three library journals)
The aim of this Master's thesis is to examine the user discourses that can be identified in the public library field. Questions posed in this study are: what discourses can be found, what characterises them, how are users categorised and what does this categorisation imply. The theoretical starting-point is Ernesto Laclaus and Chantal Mouffes discourse theory. The method is text analytic. 62 articles from three library journals - Biblioteksbladet, Bibliotek i Samhälle and Ikoner – are analysed through a model in four phases. These phases include designations of users, user categories, themes within which users are described and user discourses. A general impression is that users are used to legitimise library activity as such. The results of the analysis reveals four user discourses: a general education discourse, a pedagogical discourse, an information technology discourse and a market economy discourse. Among the three first a discrepancy is noticed between the rhetorical and practical contents of discourse. Both the rhetorical expressions and the discursive practice have consequences for the ways in which public library users are treated. These consequences may be direct – for example in the human interaction of the reference interview – or indirect – through the selection criteria. The general education discourse is based on a tradition of fostering and refining as well as educating the general public. This dominant user discourse produces and reproduces inequality between the user and the library. The public library institution holds a cultural viewpoint, which implies the importance of a certain cultural and intellectual education. This viewpoint is often unreflectedly taken for granted in society. What may be regarded as objective facts are, from a discourse analytic perspective, grounded in ideologically formed structures of power. Åse Hedemark och Jenny Hedman erhöll delat förstapris i Säffle biblioteks uppsatspristävling "Framtidsspanare sökes!" 2002.
*Nr 62 Mirja Berggren: OPAC på Internet: möjligheter för sökning på skönlitteratur. En jämförelse mellan en bokhandel på Internet och fem OPACs. (OPAC on the Internet: possibilities when searching for fiction. A comparison between an online bookstore and five OPACs.)
The aim of this master thesis is to investigate how the OPACs (Online Public Access Catalogue) used by public libraries have adapted the features and possibilities offered by online catalogues, for the purpose of searching for fiction. This is done by comparing five OPACs to Amazon.com, an online bookstore. The questions investigated are: Have the OPACs developed from the principles of the card catalogue and adapted to the features and possibilities offered by online catalogues, when searching for fiction? Can the library catalogue provide the same features as Amazon.com, when searching for fiction? How do the OPACs use the resources that online catalogues provide when searching for fiction, compared with Amazon.com? The thesis is based on two qualitative studies. The first study presents five OPACs from different library systems and examines which features they have in common with Amazon.com. The second study examines how five public libraries use the potential features of their OPACs. The OPACs have started to develop features and possibilities that online catalogues provide but they have not completely abandoned the principles of the card catalogues. Most OPACs still only allow keyword searches and do not support browsing through genres and subjects. They do not offer a designated area for fictional search only. So far the libraries have not developed the OPACs potential to include additional information such as covers and reviews. The users have some possibilities to interact with the OPACs to make them more useful for their personal needs.
Nr 63 Maria Broman: Ungdomar och nättidningsläsning – En kvalitativ studie av nio gymnasieungdomars förhållande till dagstidningar på Internet (Adolescents and Net Newspaper Reading – A Qualitative Study of Nine High School Students' Relations to Newspapers on the Internet)
This Master Thesis deals with nine high school students' relations to, and reading of, newspapers on the Internet. In the context of the Internet and net newspapers, adolescents represent a group that is particularly interesting to study. For instance, they have a positive attitude towards Net newspapers and they are the first generation to grow up with the Internet and thereby associated technology. Moreover, mass media is an important part of young peoples' daily lives. A qualitative approach was used, resulting in interviews with four girls and five boys. The study reveals that the adolescents visit a newspaper site primarily to read the news and not to utilise the interactive services available. Highly valued aspects of Net newspapers are that they are free of charge and easily accessible from home. Nevertheless, the informants almost exclusively read Aftonbladet, the singularly most popular alternative on the Net. Furthermore, it was found that Internet newspaper reading has a natural place in the adolescents' lives for the time being, a habit connected to other activities such as surfing the Net and practising sports and music. However, traditional print newspapers remain the basis for newspaper reading, as the Internet is still seen as a complement. No clear evidence of continued long-term Net newspaper reading emerged, and the development will likely depend on the adolescents' personal future situations as well as the technological progress in general.
*Nr 64 Jesper Pettersson: Sakprosans genrer: en analys av fyra universella klassifikationssystem (Non-fiction genres: an analysis of four universal classification schemes)
The aim of this paper is to investigate the implementation of genres, pertaining to non-fiction, in four different universal classification schemes (BC2, UDC, DDC, SAB). It is not the aim of this paper to answer the question why certain genres are more implemented than others, or vice versa. Instead it is intended to be an investigation into the concept of non-fiction genres with the aim of attracting attention to the many interesting aspects of this concept for library- and information science research. An analysis of the schemes’ general auxiliary tables is performed by comparison with a specific genre-system devised by Ottar Grepstad. This genre-system is organised by dividing different genres into groups according to linguistic criteria. The analysis gives us a characterisation of the individual schemes, and it also gives us, in a comparison of all of the schemes, an idea of which specific genres and types of genres that are the most general, or the most ignored ones. The results of the analysis show that genres of two specific types dominate in all of the schemes. Of these two the guiding type of genre is the most frequent one, consisting of such genres as handbooks, manuals, guides, dictionaries and encyclopaedias. The argumentative and investigative type of genre was also found to be dominating. Frequent examples of this type of genre were genres pertaining to scientific work such as theses and reports. The other types of genres could only be found to a much lesser extent, with the exception of some genres of the educational type. Narrative and descriptive types of genres were not implemented to any greater extent, and most genres within these types were not implemented at all.
*Nr 65 Elisabeth Bergström, Annika Lindhé: Gymnasiebibliotekarier och läsfrämjande – en intervjuundersökning av några gymnasiebibliotekariers tankar kring läsfrämjande och skönlitteratur i gymnasiebiblioteket (Upper secondary school librarians and reading promotion – an interview study of a couple of upper secondary school librarians' perceptions of reading promotion and fiction in the upper secondary school library)
The purpose of this Master's thesis is to investigate upper secondary school librarians' perceptions of reading promotion and the role of fiction in school. A minor purpose is to examine how these perceptions can be put into practise. Qualitative interviews were held with nine upper secondary school librarians. The theoretical framework was based on Smidt's five roles for the literature intermediary and Hultberg's three strategies for the role of literature in school and society. The result showed that reading promotion for the librarians in the study involved inspiring, stimulating and giving access to literature and that reading promotion was seen as needed also at the upper secondary school level. Reading promoting methods mentioned by several librarians were spontaneous book conversations and different ways of displaying books. More organized book talks were also mentioned, but this appeared to be a method not often practised by the librarians. The librarians themselves perceived their roles for the pupils' reading to be that of a literature intermediary, inspirer, counsellor and adult, but not teacher. Among Smidt's roles the roles of educationalist, social anthropologist and literary connoisseur/critic were more easily and frequently distinguished. There was awareness among the librarians that a number of factors, such as social situation, family, friends and school, can affect the pupils' reading. The librarians' views of the role of fiction in school were for most of the librarians a combination of pragmatic strategy, meaning that reading is seen as a means of developing an ability to read and acquire knowledge, and emancipatory strategy, meaning that the purpose of reading is to give the pupils increased understanding of themselves and their society. Apart from this, several librarians also mentioned the importance of reading experience. The traditionalistic strategy, however, where cultural heritage and cultivation is important, was not emphasised by the librarians.
*Nr 66 Therése Christensson, Sara Dahlin: Genusforskares informationssökningssituation (Information Seeking in Gender Studies)
This Master’s thesis concerns difficulties experienced by Gender Studies’ researchers in an information seeking context. The aim is to identify, and study the cause of, these potential difficulties by asking the following questions: How do researchers in Gender Studies seek information? What difficulties may arise when information seeking is carried out in Gender Studies? What may be the cause of these difficulties? What does Gender Studies consist of? In order to find feasible answers to these questions, particular attention is paid to the context in which the researchers exist and work. The database KVINNSAM serves as an example of how libraries have tried to overcome barriers in information seeking in Gender Studies. The method used is a qualitative one based on interviews and literature studies. Interviews were carried out with five researchers. The theoretical framework for analysis and discussion of the empirical material was sought in a variety of sources both from the field of Gender Studies and Library and Information Science. The data collected was divided into three main aspects based on the difficulties Gender Studies’ researchers may confront in an information seeking context. Results of the interviews indicate that factors influencing information seeking in Gender Studies are the interdisciplinarity, and the oppositional quality of Gender Studies. It is also argued that the way gender related material has been indexed in traditional information systems may form a barrier to information seeking in Gender Studies.
*Nr 67 Susanne Partanen, Nina Persson Tholin: Bibliotekschefer och stress – En kvantitativ studie av arbetsrelaterade stressfaktorer i svenska folkbibliotek (Head librarians and stress – A quantitative study of work related stress factors in Swedish public libraries)
This dissertation discusses head librarians in Swedish public libraries and the stress factors which affect them. The aim is to map out potential stress factors which head librarians come across in their day-to-day work. The purpose of the dissertation is to answer the following question: what stress factors affect library managers in Swedish public libraries? The dissertation was conducted through a literature study, informal interviews and a quantitative questionnaire. The results of the quantitative questionnaires show that the factor that produces the highest level of stress is having too many different tasks. Other high stress factors that can be discerned are: deadlines and time pressure; heavy workload; budget and lack of resources; too much information and being interrupted at work. The following significant differences were discerned: women are more stressed than men by too many different tasks; a heavy workload; budget and lack of resources; being interrupted at work. Head librarians who have other tasks than just managerial tasks are significantly more stressed by too many different tasks than the head librarians who only have managerial tasks. Head librarians from the category Big municipality are significantly more stressed by a heavy workload than head librarians from other municipalities. Head librarians in libraries that are organized under a committee with responsibility for Culture are significantly most stressed.
*Nr 68 Anna Westerlund: Beslutsprocessen kring offentlig konst. En undersökning av Borås kommun. (The Decision-process concerning Public Art. An examination of Borås municipality.)
The purpose of this Master's thesis is to examine the decision-process concerning public art in Borås municipality. My questions have been from where the initiatives come, who the decision-makers are, how the decisions are taken and which questions are discussed. I have examined this through partly interviews with the members of the deciding organ in Borås municipality, partly through literary studies. I have also analysed texts such as debates and protocols from the Swedish parliament. I have also been present at two of the committee’s meetings. I have through the protocols from the art-committee examined six projects, which they have carried out during 2000 and 2001 to be able to get a more clear view of the committees’ work. In Borås the decisions concerning public art are taken by an art-committee, which consist of five municipality politicians who are entitled to vote and three experts who are not entitled to vote but have great influence on the decisions. The committee have 500 000 SEK which are to be spent on public art every year. There are many factors that influence the decision-process, both on a national and on a municipality level, such as the relation to the users, the art-unions, politicians and The National Public Art Council. Both on a national and a municipality level there are few factors politicians agree on, for example the relation to the users, which some think is adequate and some don’t.
*Nr 69 Elena Martos: Folkbiblioteken i Ryssland: bibliotekens roll i det postsovjetiska samhället (Mass libraries in Russia: the role of libraries in the post Soviet society)
The aim of this thesis is to answer the question of what role the mass libraries in Russia play after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The study is based on qualitative interviews with librarians in the city of Voronezh, situated in Central Russia. The three main questions are as follows: How do librarians understand the mass libraries' role in the post Soviet society? What was the economic situation of the mass libraries like during the 1990s? How are the libraries' collections being formed during this period? Lenin's and Krupskaja's principles for the socialist mass libraries are presented. Klassovost' and partijnost' are the main ones. A concise history of the mass libraries in the Soviet Union is given. Some viewpoints on the public libraries in the USA and Great Britain are presented while special attention is devoted to A. Black's notions "community librarianship" and "liberal librarianship". Applying Black's notions to the mass libraries in the Soviet Union, these can be characterized as an extreme example of community librarianship. One of the main conclusions of the study is that the mass libraries in Russia have acquired some features of "liberal librarianship" in spite of the break with some essential principles of the public libraries, such as loans free of charge and supplying a wide range of literature for all the community without any specialization. The librarians in Voronezh are still seeking their new role in a period of transition from dictatorship to democracy and from socialism to capitalism.
*Nr 70 Jenny Betmark, Emma Lang: Att vara eller inte vara informationskonsult – en studie av entreprenörers motivation (To be or not to be an information consultant – a study of the motivation of entrepreneurs)
The main aim of this thesis is to examine what motivates people to become entrepreneurs and how they are motivated to continue being it. We have decided to focus on four elements: the driving force of being an entrepreneur, the environment, the individual background and important personal characteristics of the entrepreneur. Qualitative interviews were carried out with six information consultants. The theoretical background has its focus on entrepreneurial motivation. A model of entrepreneurial motivation by Naffziger, Hornsby and Kuratko (1994) is presented. Thereafter the entrepreneur’s driving force, environment, individual background and important characteristics are discussed from a theoretical point of view. The part of the thesis called result gives a picture of the information consultants’ situation as entrepreneurs and is divided into the four elements stated above. We found that neither of the respondents had planned to become an entrepreneur. They have chosen this career because as a cause of various coincidents. Their goal in their entrepreneurship is, among other things, the independence and security this profession gives. All respondents have received positive reactions towards their choice of being entrepreneurs. The respondents are well educated, but this study also shows that experience is more important than education. We also found that the respondents had some common characteristics: high achievement, high self-esteem, internal locus of control and inclination to take risks.
*Nr 71 Maria Apelmo: Både chef och bibliotekarie: om chefsrollen på folkbibliotek (Both library manager and librarian: management role at public libraries)
The majority of managers of public libraries in Sweden also work as librarians on an operative level within the organisation. This thesis discusses how the manager role is affected by his/her specific assignments and multiple tasks. Seven public library managers, who work in districts with around 10 000 – 25 000 inhabitants, have been interviewed. They reflect upon their experience of leadership and different assignments. The main focus lies on: - leadership - communication - decision making - organisational development The interviews show some positive effects, the manager is present most of the time, has a great knowledge about everyday work and daily routines, and is also able to represent the library successfully in the local community. However, having a close working relationship with the rest of the staff can include some difficulties on a psychosocial level, e.g. in conflicts and salary negotiations. Long-term planning also seems to suffer in favour of daily assignments. In times of reduced resources in the public sector it seems to be even more important to manage the resources in the most efficient way. An increased priority of the management role and the managerial activities would probably imply more examples of organisational development.
*Nr 72 Carina Sundström, Margareta Söderlund: Att nå ut med patientinformation – en fallstudie av sjukhusbiblioteket i Västerås. (To reach customers with consumer health information – a case study of the hospital library in Västerås.)
This study is an attempt to examine a hospital library's difficulties in reaching customers with consumer health information. The method was a case study of the consumer health service in the hospital library in Västerås, a town in Sweden. Qualitative interviews, observations and written material were used. The approach was from the actor's point of view with the intention to look upon the problem with the eyes of those who work at the hospital with information to patients, that is librarians and medical staff. Theories about marketing in service organizations and how to develop new services were used in the study, as well as theories about communication and different cultures within organizations of different kinds like the library and the hospital. The result points to the fact that librarians and medical staff of the hospital have different opinions about health information and don't understand each other. Marketing attempts from the librarians to the staff of the hospital have had no effects in better understanding.
*Nr 73 Petter Cederlund: Cross-Language Information Retrieval: En granskning av tre översättningsmetoder använda i experimentell CLIR-forskning. (Cross-Language Information Retrieval: A study of three translation methods used in experimental CLIR research.)
The purpose of this paper is to examine the three main translation methods used in experimental Cross-language Information Retrieval (CLIR) research today, namely translation using either machine-readable dictionaries, machine translation systems or corpus-based methods. Working notes from research groups participating in the Text Retrieval Conference (TREC) and the Cross-Language Evaluation Forum (CLEF) between 1997 and 2000 have provided the main source material used to discuss the possible advantages and drawbacks that each method presents. It appears that all three approaches have their pros and cons, and because the different researchers tend to favour their own chosen method, it is not possible to establish a "winner approach" to CLIR translation by studying the working notes alone. One should remember however that the present interest in cross-language-applications of information retrieval has arisen as late as in the 1990s, and thus the research is yet in its early stages. The methods discussed in this paper may well be improved, or perhaps replaced by others in the future.
*Nr 74 Eli Bytoft-Nyaas: Library Development in Moldova : the Impact of Tempus Tacis CP 99-20591 (Biblioteksutveckling i Moldavien : resultatet av Tempus Tacisprojektet CP 99-20591)
For two years I participated in a European Commission, Tempus Tacis Project, Library Management Development in Moldova. Sheffield University, University College of Borås and the International Independent University in Moldova / Universitatea Libera Internationala din Moldova were the partners in the project. During the project I undertook research to investigate the change process at ULIM Library. The method I used was action research. This felt natural as the features of the project design coincided with the main characteristics in action research, intervention with the intent to achieve changes, strong involvement by the target partners and emphasis on learning. The project achievements were very good and there is a good chance for sustainable changes. There are several reasons for this. The timing of the project proved to be optimal and the enthusiasm and engagement of the staff was very strong. The history of the country and the history of the ULIM also had a positive impact. The economic situation of the country and the economic system within the university are a serious threat to further changes and development. The most striking result of the project was the emancipation of the librarians from their previous roles. New services such as computerised catalogues and databases, together with new premises with open access to shelves made the competencies of the librarians more visible. A new organisational structure and new assignments for the librarians increased the contact and interaction with both students and academic staff.
*Nr 75 Anna Hansson, Lena Holmberg: Ungdom och inflytande – en diskussion om hur ungdomar upplever sina möjligheter till makt och inflytande i samhället (Youth and influence – a discussion of how young people view their possibilities of exercising power and influence in Swedish society)
The purpose of this master's thesis is to discuss how young people view their possibilities of exercising power and influence in Swedish society and politics. To accomplish this we have used several different sorts of relevant material. As an introduction, we review the development of the Swedish research concerning youths, with focus on the development in the last two decades of the twentieth century. We continue with a study of important Swedish youth-political documents, especially of the Government Bill På ungdomars villkor: Ungdomspolitik för demokrati, rättvisa och framtidstro (On the terms of the youth: Youth-policy promoting democracy, justice and hopes for the future). The Bill is the foundation of a new youth-policy in Sweden. Following this is a section where we discuss a few central issues, for instance "democracy" and "power", since they are central to our research. The most important part of this master's thesis is however the empirical research, a questionnaire distributed among young people in the ages of 15-25. The research was conducted in the cities of Borås, Gothenburg and Stockholm during the autumn of 1999 and the spring of 2000. This group of youths is heterogeneous and the questionnaire not extensive enough for us to be able to draw any general conclusions. The objective is however to be able to discuss how young people view their chances of exercising power and influence. After an analysis of our results, we reach the conclusion that the young people are interested in politics but that they don't see their possibilities of exercising influence as great. The objectives of the new youth-policy are positive, but we think that the political system must change, if everyone is to feel as a part of the society.
*Nr 76 Anna Karin Nilsson, Ann-Sofie Skoglund: Bevarande av dagstidningar i Sverige – en probleminventering (The preservation of newspapers in Sweden – an identification of problems)
The main purpose of this thesis has been to identify and discuss problems connected with the preservation of newspapers in Sweden. Another purpose was to see if the preservation of newspapers has been influenced by the fact that preservation studies in general concerns printed monographs and digital materials. This qualitative study is partly based upon interviews with four librarians experienced in working with newspapers and preservation. The thesis deals with cultural heritage in general and on a more specific level with newspapers where the following questions are dealt with: Why preserve? Who preserves? How to preserve? and What is preserved? Strategies used for preserving newspapers such as paper, microfilming and digitization are described as well as legal deposit, the Swedish microfilming programme and TIDEN, a digitization project of newspapers. We have found that the main problems concerning preservation of newspapers are economy, storage, handling and poor paper quality. The tension, which lies in the libraries' task both to preserve and provide effective access to materials, is found to be a fundamental problem, especially when it comes to newspapers. We have come to the conclusion that preservation of newspapers is neglected and more research needs to be done in all preservation strategies, not only concerning digital materials.
*Nr 77 Anders Jansson: Om ISKO-konferenserna, 1990-2000 (The ISKO Conferences, 1990-2000)
The aim of this master’s thesis has been to investigate the research focus of the ISKO conferences from 1990 to 2000. In the first part of this thesis, a content analysis was conducted to determine the subject focus of the conference literature, and to identify the major issues, trends and developments. Throughout this period of time, three subject areas were more popular than any other, Theoretical foundations and general problems of knowledge organization, Classification Systems and Thesauri and Knowledge representation by language and terminology. Overall, the result of the analysis points at a strong emphasis on information retrieval (IR) and on classification in general. In the second part of the study, a qualitative analysis was conducted to examine the argumentation of the LIS-researchers within the ISKO-conferences. This revealed that the LIS-researchers reject central parts of the traditional theory of classification, like the discipline-base for classification, and the argumentation that classification system can be neutral and objective. The result also shows that the LIS-researchers use the philosophy of postmodernism and pragmatism in their argumentation against the traditional classification; and that they, in the light of the information technology discourse, form a speech of defence for the classificatory principles in knowledge organization, and for the LIS-domain as a whole.
*Nr 78 Jessica Carlström-Svensson: Behöver Internet regleras?: En undersökning av hur Internet regleras på svenska folkbibliotek och hur diskussionen kring frågan ser ut i Sverige och USA. (Is there a need for Internet regulation?: A study of Internet regulation in Swedish public libraries and how the issue is debated in Sweden and The United States.)
The aim of this master thesis has been to investigate discussions about public access to Internet in public libraries. Areas of interest were the debate in Sweden as well as in the United States. The approach was qualitative and questionnaires were distributed by e-mail to a number of Swedish public libraries. The results from the survey were then supplemented with a theoretical background and a literature study. The usable questionnaires obtained from 20 libraries showed a rather uniform approach among the Swedish librarians of how the Internet is best provided by public libraries. Likewise did the Swedish library journals. Practically, there were no debates on the subject. The American debate however, showed a rather large interest in the issue, both from library organizations and other groups.
*Nr 79 Christina Hurtig, Eva Johansson: Folkbibliotekarie på lika villkor? – en intervjuundersökning om folkbibliotekariers kvalifikationer och vad kvalifikationerna betyder för folkbibliotekarierna och folkbibliotekets verksamhet. (Public Librarian on Equal Terms? – A study based on interviews on qualifications of public librarians, the understanding of the librarians of the required qualifications, and the activities of the public libraries.)
We studied the understanding of public librarians of the required qualifications for a public librarian, what these qualifications embody and how they should be used, and if there are any differences between geographic regions. We also compared our results to the Library Code, which describes the responsibilities of the public libraries. To complete our study, we interviewed fourteen public librarians at eight different public libraries located in both urban and rural areas in Sweden. Our results showed that even though the qualifications specified by the Library Code were identical, they were emphasized and used differently by the public libraries included in our study. This illustrates that the public libraries prioritize and focus differently on the various aspects of the Library Code. There are many possible reasons for this difference, including what segment of the population is using the library, the specific interest of the librarians, the geographic region, and the outcome of political decisions in the respective regions.
*Nr 80 Daniella Melin: Skolbiblioteket på friskolorna : en studie av friskolorna i Lunds kommun med fokus på de verksamhetsansvarigas inställning (The school library at the independent schools : a study of the independent schools in the municipality of Lund, with focus on the principals’ opinion)
The purpose of this master thesis is to examine the opinion about school libraries among principals at the independent schools in the municipality of Lund. In order to fulfil my purpose I used a qualitative method with an introductory questionnaire, which gave background material to the interviews. All seven principals answered the questionnaire and five of them agreed to participate in an interview. Another two interviews were made with two informants, this material was included in the background material. As theoretical framework I have used literature about the school library development, the role of the principal for development and David V. Loertscher’s taxonomy containing theories about the levels in a school library. The result of the study compared with Loertscher’s taxonomy is that the level of the school libraries is very low, it is in all cases used as a solid warehouse. From the interviews I have established opinions, work methods and thoughts about the importance of school libraries. The opinions of the school library were mainly influenced by personal interest in books, not by rules and regulations. The respondents mentioned impediments for investing in the school library such as, economy, time, knowledge and responsibility. The future of the school libraries is uncertain. However, the opinions, ideas and motivation to develop provide possibilities. The conclusion is that the importance to look for new models of how to develop and invest, combined with the motivation and intention as well as guidance, will make it possible to create developed school libraries even at private schools.
*Nr 81 Katrin Bjerhag: Bonniers och AB Mariebergs ställning på mediemarknaden – en analys av tre skilda debatter åren 1995-1998 (Power and Media. An Analysis of three Media Related Debates)
International media groups and the freedom of speech are two issues that have been questioned during the last years when large media groups control a large amount of public-oriented information. The master’s thesis at hand considers three debates that illuminate Bonnier’s and AB Marieberg’s (hereinafter referred to as the Bonnier Media Group) positions on the media market. The objective of such a study is to establish – in the face of the theory on hegemonia, for example – from which factors the media actors deduce their argumentation when discussing the above-mentioned topic and the meaning of such a discussion in our time. The thesis also discusses whether freedom of speech and free opinion are affected by the increasing power of the Bonnier Media Group and if they, as a result, have diminished their own cultural and liberal assets, features that are firmly associated with the company. I conclude that various features have come to change the media market during the last years. The widened variety of various kinds of media and new forms of communication has introduced new conditions to the media market. As a consequence of this development and the resulting uncertainty, the Bonnier Media Group is expanding thoroughly, thereby increasing its dominance. However, looking upon the debates and discussions from a hegemonian perspective, there are indications confirming that media in general and the Bonnier Media Group in particular have undertaken a position subordinated to the companies funding commercials. Thus, economic power has superseded political, ideological and cultural power putting the freedom of speech and the free opinion at risk. Accordingly, the Bonnier Media Group is less harmful to these two expressions of freedom than the powerlessness and the dependency arisen through sponsoring enterprises in other trades of business.
*Nr 82 Agneta Krohn Strömshed, Ingela Nilsson: Barnbiblioteksverksamhet i Norrbottens glesbygd – med Barnkonventionen som utgångspunkt (Children’s library activities in sparsely populated regions in the county of Norrbotten – in view of the Children’s Rights)
The purpose of this master thesis is both to interpret the articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child from a public library point of view and to investigate how children’s librarians in the county of Norrbotten view their working situation in their relation to the users. This purpose leads to the main question: How do the children’s librarians and the children’s library consultant describe the present and the future of the children’s library activities in the sparsely populated regions in the county of Norrbotten? The subquestions are: What articles from the Children’s Rights Convention are the most relevant for the public library? In what way can you notice the Children’s Rights in the way the children’s librarians work towards the users? What part of the children’s library activity is the most important according to the children’s librarians and the children’s library consultant? The thesis is based on qualitative interviews with children’s librarians and the children’s library consultant of Norrbotten and field observations. The result of the study shows that the articles we found most relevant for the public library are 2, 3, 6, 12, 13, 14, 17, 23, 28/29, 30, 31 and 42. The Children’s Rights can be noticed in several ways in the children’s library activities. The best interest of the child is among other things the access to literature and presence of a children’s librarian. One of the main priorities for the children’s librarians’ is language development and the mediation of literature. The children are shown respect in the way the staff greets them and listens to their views, and in the way the media are exposed in the children’s library department. Children’s librarians can help the child to develop by giving her/him access to information from different sources and letting him/her be part of the development of the library and by the librarians’ work with language development.
*Nr 83 Ylva Lundkvist, Mattias Nellde: SAB-systemet och Kunskapskällorna: En undersökning av en ämnesportal för årskurs 6-9 (The SAB system and Kunskapskällorna: A study of a subject gateway for children)
The purpose of this master’s thesis is to explore and compare how a number of sixth and ninth grade children in Gothenburg understand and cope with the subject gateway Kunskapskällorna, which is part of Kunskapsnätet, an Internet service created for schoolchildren, adult education students and teachers in Gothenburg. The emphasis lays with the classification used, which is SAB, a universal system used in public libraries in Sweden. The main question asked is if the service is user-friendly. The children were tested through a questionnaire, which resembled the layout of Kunskapskällorna. The results showed that it was problematic for the children to choose the right category for a number of given resources. It was equally difficult for the two age groups to accomplish the task and no significant difference was detected. The results were also compared to literature about classification on the web and children seeking information. A number of problems with Kunskapskällorna were spotted. The language used is much too abstract and complicated for the children tested. Related material is divided between several categories, which makes it hard for the children to choose the right one. Other problems were detected when Kunskapskällorna was compared to literature about the subject. Empty categories disturb the browsing process. The icons illustrating each category in the SAB system are generally too vague. The overall impression is that usability questions were largely overlooked when Kunskapskällorna was created. No adaptations were made despite the fact that the large and often abstract SAB system was created for grownups and the users of Kunskapskällorna are children aged 12-15. Several adjustments are needed if the system is going to be an effective tool for children seeking information.
*Nr 84 Johan Rasmussen: Bibliotekarier i privat sektor (Librarians at private companies)
The aim of this thesis is to accomplish an understanding on how librarians experience their professional role at private companies. The study is based on qualitative interviews with persons who have a degree in Library and Information science, but does not work as an ordinary librarian. To answer why the respondents work at private companies, this thesis dwells on how the education in library and information science prepares their students to face an alternative career; why the respondents wants to work at private firms instead of a library; if the salary is a key factor in order to choose a career; if the respondents think the companies appreciate their qualifications, and finally, if the respondents think they intrude on other professions' territory? Working at a private company, with a degree in library- and information science, is not, according to the respondents, easy. Although appreciated by their knowledge in the field of information, the interviewees think that the title ‘librarian’ is hard to cope with. Nevertheless, the salary is bigger and the tasks are more demanding than at a library. This paper discusses, and shows, how librarians can take another path in their search for a career. Librarians do not have to work at libraries. Their field stretches further because of new technology and digital information. Private companies are an option. The librarian also gets a new title, such as information specialist or information architect.
*Nr 85 Gunbritt Olsson: Fokusgrupper som undersöknings- och utvärderingsmetod på ett folkbibliotek: för användarundersökningar i ett mångkulturellt område (Focus group s as a research method for evaluating public library service: for user studies in a multicultural environment)
This study investigates focus groups as a research method in a multicultural public library environment as an alternative to other research methods that have proved unsatisfactory. The study has been carried out in connection with a quality evaluation of the libraries within a Swedish municipality. The research is based on literature studies and two focus group interviews. The following questions asked are: Can the focus group method contribute to our knowledge of public library users' attitudes to the public library in a multicultural environment? What expectations do users in a multicultural environment have of their public library service? Are focus groups useful as means of evaluation? The focus group method used is a self-contained model. The respondents want to be treated with respect, engagement and get individual service. A free service is important. They appreciate a silent library and are highly interested in having an influence on the library's collection. Even though the results of this investigation may not be generalised to a whole population, it is a useful method for evaluating the library's service. This work also discusses possible barriers preventing the use of the public library and its information resources.
*Nr 86 Gun Johansson: Barnbokens roll i förskolan : litteratursyn och litteraturpedagogiskt arbete (The role of children´s books : views on and pedagogical work in preschool)
The purpose of this master-thesis in library and information studies is to investigate how different views on children´s literature show up in pedagogical work in preschool. The aim is also to study methods used in the pedagogical work with literature. Are there any connections between views and methods? Is any view predominant or are they used in combination? The question at issue is: "Are there any connections between different views on children’s literature and pedagogical methods in preschool, and if so, how do they show?" The framework of theory is based on epistemological concepts viewing children´s literature by John Hultberg. In "Om humaniora, litteratur och tradition" he sorts out three strategies: the pragmatic, the traditional, and the emancipating. They focus on different points of view: the pragmatic stresses on the importance of literacy, the traditional on cultural values, and the emancipating on liberation in context of society. My aim is to see how these strategies show up in preschool context. The method chosen is qualitative: I have done interviews with six teachers at two preschools with adequate profiles. The results show, that views on literature can be assigned to all three strategies. At one preschool in this study the emancipating view is predominant, at the other the traditional view. According to my interpretation, emancipating views lead to pedagogical methods focusing childrens needs, traditional views to methods focusing literature itself: work on fairy tales and stories generate creative activities. My conclusion is, that there are connections between views on literature and pedagogical methods in preschool.
*Nr 87: Ann Johansson, Karolina Johansson: Utvärdering av sökmaskiner - en textanalys kring utvärderingar av sökmaskiner på Webben (Evaluation of search engines - a text analysis on evaluation of Web search engines)
The purpose of this thesis is to analyse studies that evaluate Web search engines. This is done in four categories; the researchers’ purpose, the evaluation measurements, the relevance, and the time aspect. Our method is based on a text analysis in which we use the direction of analysis of the content of sixteen evaluation experiments. Our results indicate fundamental differences in the way the researchers are tackling the problem of evaluation of Web search engines. We think that, despite the differences that we have been able to identify, it is necessary to perform evaluation experiments, so that methods can be developed that can guarantee the quality of the Web search engines. To provide people with the kind of information they need is the main task for Web search engines. In an increasing flow of information that task will be even more important. Evaluation of Web search engines can be a part of improving the efficiency of the Web search engines and in that way strengthen their roll as important information resources.
*Nr 88 Nina Halden Rönnlund: Skolbiblioteket som socialt rum. Om skolbibliotekets placering och utformning. (The School-Media Centre as a Social Space. About the localisation and design of school-media centres)
The aim of this Master's thesis is to explore how the localisation and the design affect the conditions for a school-media centre. A school-media centre is in this study a place where the students seek, find and evaluate information, discuss and exchange ideas. An active place for generating knowledge. The method applied in this study is "Space Syntax Analysis", a quantitative method with visual representation of the results. In the theoretical framework, space is the voids between walls, doors and ceiling, between furniture and bookshelves. Space is the social place where people interact, the interface between architecture and the organisation. A space is integrated when it is in contact with many other spaces and segregated when it is placed with less contact to the others. Syntactic depth is a measure of "steps" from one place to another. I have studied two architecturally different upper secondary schools and their school-media centre, built during various decades. The empirical data consists of plans of schools and their libraries. The plans have been processed in a computer program. The result of the study shows that if the school-media centre is placed in the integrated part of a school it generates a democratic and equal use of the library. When the library is placed more segregated in the building some groups have accessibility while others are discriminated. The school-media centres also showed significant differences regarding to the plans and design. The smaller library with four rooms in a suite was syntactically deep and the design counteracts with the aim of running an active student-oriented school-media centre. The other library was larger, but syntactically more shallow with a lot of possibilities for the students to meet and interact. The study showed that the space supported an active student-oriented school-media centre.
*Nr 89 Roselill Rapp: Är skolbiblioteket viktigt? En undersökning bland elever, lärare, skolbibliotekarie och skolledning om deras attityder, behov och förbättringsförslag på en utvald 7-9 skola i Bergslagen. (Is the school library important? An investigation among students, teachers, the school librarian and the management of education in a selected junior high school in Bergslagen.)
The purpose of this essay is to illustrate the importance of the school library in a selected junior high school. My investigation is based on both theoretical and empirical studies. The aim of the theoretical part is to create a platform and refer to thoughts, roles and laws concerning the activity of the school library. The empirical investigation consists of two parts: questionnaires among students and teachers, plus interviews with students, teachers, headmaster, school librarian and the management of education. Everybody shows a positive attitude towards the school library and considers it important for the students’ exams. Almost everybody involved in this investigation is proud of the school library and it seems that one of the most important functions the school librarian has, on this school, is to be some sort of ‘social worker’ for the students. First when the interviews take places, some critical opinions shows up. There are requests for employing an educated librarian, increasing the opening hours and installing computers with Internet-connection in the school library. There are also wishes made to buy new literature and improve the school library to create a cosier atmosphere for studies. The only one who is totally pleased with the school library, both with its function and what it looks like, is the school librarian herself. During the investigation it appears to me that even if the school library seems to be matter of course, the school library and its function hardly ever seems to be discussed in meetings about school activities. Even if both teachers and the headmaster say, during this investigation, that they want the school librarian to participate more in the school activities the school librarian says she won’t. Lack of education, money and will to change the present situation seems to be the largest obstacles for a deeper co-operation between the school activities and the school library activities.
*Nr 90 Susann Moritz: Gratis pengar? - om sponsring av kultur (Money for nothing? - on sponsoring of culture)
The purpose of this master thesis is to study sponsoring of culture. The questions asked are: What are the reasons for sponsoring? What are the advantages of sponsoring? What are the disadvantages of sponsoring? What is the relation between public grants and sponsoring? The thesis is based upon studies of literature and a case study in Malmoe. Malmoe Public Library received about a million SEK over a period of three years from the foundation of Foreningssparbanken Skane. The money finances two projects, one with new books, Nyhetstorget, and one with strengthened information for small companies, Projekt Förstärkt Näringslivsinformation. The definitions of sponsoring range from care of personnel to economic exchange. Exchange of value against something in return is fundamental for sponsoring. The main reason for cultural institutions wanting to be sponsored is financial needs. Sponsoring companies use sponsoring of culture as a marketing tool. Their main reasons are to gain goodwill and enhance their image, for which sponsoring of culture is considered especially useful. The main benefit for cultural institutions is extra working capital. Risks involved for cultural institutions are underestimating their own worth and name, economic dependency and indirect adjustment and influence. Public grants are meant to guarantee cultural political goals and the diversification of culture. Sponsoring can function as a complement. Considering the various economic, political and social influences on cultural life, my conclusion is that sponsoring of culture does fill a purpose as a financial complement under certain conditions.
*Nr 91 Ann Tobin: Mikroindexering i elektroniska böcker (Microindexing in online books)
The index along with the table of contents have for a long time been the tools for navigating in printed books. What will happen to them now that texts and books are migrating into the digital world? I was especially interested in finding out how the index was adapted to a digital surrounding. In order to find out I did a quantitative study of 100 e-books as well as a qualitative in-depth study of five e-books. 58 out of 100 digital books lacked any kind of index but all had a table of con tents. In the in-depth analysis of five digital books only two books had an index. All five however had a table of contents. The conclusion of both studies is that the index seems to become of secondary importance in digital books but the table of contents becomes more prominent. It seems that the index has yet to find its place in the online book.
*Nr 92 Linnéa Sjögren: Mellanlitteratur på bibliotek och i recensioner (Middle literature at libraries and among critics. The reception of a popular contemporary novel.)
This thesis investigates the reception of middle literature novels among critics in Swedish newspapers and at Swedish libraries. Works by three authors were chosen as representatives for middle literature: Helen Fielding, Nick Hornby and Tony Parsons. The investigation is based on interviews with librarians at the Gothenburg City Library, the total purchased number of books at public libraries in Sweden and analysis of Swedish newspaper reviews. The result is compared with theories by literary sociologists as Jofrid Karner Smidt, Janice Radway, Erland Munch-Petersen and Staffan Bergsten among others. It was found out that literary scientists and critics had a different way of looking at middle literature. Scientists regarded it as something positive and strengthening for female readers. Literary critics, on the other hand, looked upon middle literature as depraved and retrogressive. The very word middle literature first appears in Swedish newspapers in 1997 and it has been given several names. Middle literature novels were found to have some characteristic features: humour, identification, journalistic language and an urban environment. These novels were entertaining, well written, realistic and gave a picture of the present generation. The librarians had difficulties characterizing middle literature novels and to determine whether it was light literature or not. The reviews of the novels differed. Some were positive, some were negative but no one was unconcerned. Critics were more positive to middle literature than the librarians at the City Library in Gothenburg were. What made the literature so popular turned out to be facts that were its characteristics. Even if the librarians had a tendency to recommend other better novels, they thought it was better reading light novels than not reading at all. For them, middle literature fulfilled its purpose better in English, their original language, as an educational tool. They decided to buy this literature mainly for that purpose from that on. The chosen novels were all purchased in high numbers by Swedish libraries, in English as well as translated into Swedish. They regarded requests of books by the patrons but checked out reviews very carefully. The request for quality was high and was even more important.
*Nr 93 Matilda Svensson: En utvärdering av två söktjänsters hjälpfunktioner (An Evaluation of Two Search Engines Help Facilities)
The objective of this master thesis is to evaluate the help facilities of two search engines: Alta Vista and Scirus. In doing so I wish to investigate how they are constructed and which information they provide for the end user. Besides evaluating the help facilities myself, an empirical investigation was conducted in order to capture the experiences and opinions from five actual users of the help facilities. The following six guidelines were at the core of the evaluation. Help should be available at all times It should be easy both to enter and exit the help facility The help facility should be well constructed The help should be well presented The language used should be friendly and well written Help should accommodate more than one user level The result shows that the help facilities of neither Alta Vista nor Scirus agree with the guidelines mentioned above. The links are located so that the user has a difficult time to both open and exit the help facility. Further more, the previous page has a tendency to disappear when the help facility is opened, which is a sign of poor construction. The users could not understand several words that were used on the help page of the website. Concerning the guideline, that the help should accommodate more than one user level, Alta Vista and Scirus accommodate the "one size fits all" model. No difference is made between end users, who independently of their level of experience are provided the same information. The result from my study supports earlier research, where the conclusion has been reached that help facilities are often deficient and counteract their purpose.
*Nr 94 Therese Svensson: Pojkar och dataspel: en enkätundersökning om pojkars spelanvändning. (Boys and computer games: a study of the meaning of computer games for teenage boys.)
What are computer games? On the basis of the research done in this Master's thesis I have tried to find answers to what computer games mean to the boys that participated in this study. 89 boys have responded to a questionnaire in which they were not only asked to describe their relation to computer gaming but also to give their views on the possibility of borrowing computer games from libraries. Theory from Turkle, Breitenstein and others is used to analyse the results of the survey. It was shown that computer gaming is a culture of its own, it is a kind of lifestyle for many of the boys and has become an essential part of their daily lives. Although some of the boys in the survey were sceptical to the possibility of borrowing computer games from a library, there were many of them that were positive to the idea. The conclusion reached is that if computer gaming can be regarded as a way of life and as a valid means of developing social relations for young people in a modem society, then perhaps libraries should be making them available on loan as a way of promoting equal opportunity for all. The only computer games available in libraries today are educational computer games for very young children.
*Nr 95 Veronica Mattsson: Framväxten av en svensk biblioteksersättning (The Swedish Public Lending Right (PLR) in a historical perspective)
This is a thesis on the Swedish Public Lending Right (PLR), from a historical perspective. Some of the questions which are investigated in this thesis are: why did the State decide to introduce a PLR and why did it take about 20 years to make the decision? The question why the PLR was not introduced on a copyright basis is also discussed. The focus of this study is during the period of 1934-1956 and it is a literature-study. Mainly there are four reports made by different committees that have been examined. The answer to why it took about 20 years was that the question of a PLR was complicated since it involved two different political areas: the cultural and the legal. The explanation to why a PLR was introduced was because the State could afford it. It was also introduced because the arguments proclaimed by the Swedish Author Association, {Sveriges Författareförening), of how the libraries had a damaging effect of the authors finances, also became the opinion of the State. The Swedish government never took the alternative, to let the borrowers pay for the PLR, into consideration. No legal adjustment in the copyright law took place though. That was probably because it would lead to difficulties, since the government wanted to make a difference between which author that should receive a PLR or not. Chiefly the State wanted to support Swedish authors who wrote fiction.
*Nr 96 Marina Sandström: SAB-systemet och Yahoo! – En jämförelse rörande traditionell och ny klassifikation ("The Swedish Library Classification System" and "Yahoo!" – A comparison between traditional and new classification)
The aim of this Master thesis is to investigate the similarities and differences between a traditional and a new classification scheme. Two classification systems are compared, "The Swedish Library Classification System" (the SAB-system) - and Yahoo!. The SAB-system has been used in Swedish libraries since the beginning of the 20th century, and Yahoo! has been online since 1994. Yahoo! has a Swedish version of its international original, which is used in this study to get a similar starting point with the SAB-system. The method used for this is a content analysis, which in this case is not a quantitative analysis. Instead it is based on the content of the systems and analyses how the systems are built. The analysis is concentrated to two selected parts of the systems, Geography and Linguistics. An introduction to classification theory and classification systems is the base of the analysis. A review of the structure of the whole systems are made and afterwards a thorough review of the structure of Geography and Linguistics. My results are that the biggest difference is that Yahoo! has alphabetical order and the SAB-system has systematic hierarchical order.

Kandidatuppsatser: abstract

*Nr 1 Katrin Andersson: Boken – ett stöd i livets slutskede (The Book – a comfort in the terminal stage of life)
This is a study of the importance of culture for persons who are in their terminal stage of life. The purpose of my study is to find out if culture, particularly literature, can be a comfort for persons who are about to die. The study is based on interviews with people who are working in the palliative team at Norra Älvsborgs Länssjukhus (NÄL) in Trollhättan. It is also based on study of literature. It is literature about hospital library, culture in hospital treatment, palliative care, bibliotherapy and ”own stories” from dying persons. The result shows that culture can act as a kind of treatment of the soul. The interviews with the staff at NÄL show that some patients felt better due to the access of culture. It is important with good collaboration between the members of the staff, and this is the case at NÄL.
*Nr 2 Sanna Yuen: ”Bara det att jag tycker att det är ganska bra i skolbiblioteket” – en undersökning av gymnasieelevers åsikter och användning av sitt gymnasiebibliotek (A study of high school students' opinions and use of their high school library)
The purpose of this thesis is to study how students in practically and theoretically oriented programmes in upper secondary school use their school library and their opinions about it (what they think about it). My investigation is based on the result of questionnaires that were answered by 86 students from one upper secondary school in Gothenburg, and interviews with school librarians and a director of studies. The study of relevant literature, as a basis for the discussion, describes topics such as the roles and functions of school libraries. The literature overview also contains some former surveys about high school libraries. The results show that both theoretical students and practical students like their high school library and that they are satisfied with the help from school librarians. I have come to the conclusion that there are differences both in visiting frequency and which resources theoretical students and practical students use at the library. For instance theoretical students are more frequent readers of newspapers and periodical publications in the school library and socialise with friends while practical students more often make copies and look for material for homework in the school library.
*Nr 3 Ann Östman: Gallring av böcker på svenska folkbibliotek idag – hur kan den se ut? Några exempel. (Weeding in Swedish Public Libraries today – How is it carried out? Some examples.)
The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate how books are weeded in some Swedish public libraries today. It tries to shed light on some of the problems and obstacles that may arise, and on the criteria used by staff for weeding. I also hope to build a model for weeding, based on the results of my investigation. The method I have chosen for my work is qualitative interviews. The results of my thesis indicate that weeding is not the top priority of the staff at the investigated libraries. Apart from one library, which had a very general local policy on weeding to aid the staff, none of the other libraries had a written policy. Time for weeding is claimed to be scarce. Different kinds of weeding aids are suggested, such as written weeding policies, handbooks on different literature genres, networks including experts etc. The model I propose suggests the use of written policies on collection development, the use of a more systematic approach to weeding, more discussion among the staff on weeding criteria and the use of weeding aids such as handbooks, computer systems etc.
*Nr 4 Fredrik Rasmusson: ”Känner du dig välkommen?” – En undersökning om användares upplevelser och åsikter av miljön och servicen i Högskolebiblioteket i Halmstad (”Do you feel welcome?” – A user-survey on users experiences and views of the environment and services of the University Library of Halmstad)
The purpose of this thesis is to explore the experiences and views some users have of the library environment and services of the University Library of Halmstad. The main question to be answered in this thesis is what importance the users attribute to the library environment and services while pursuing their most recent library errand. To answer this question a study of relevant literature on the subjects of library environment, library services and user-surveys in other academic libraries was carried out and a questionnaire was distributed to 22 respondents in the process of visiting the University of Halmstad Library. The literature background and the results of the conducted study were interpreted and discussed and led to the following conclusions: 3 respondents encounters with the library environment and its services were negative in part and thus their experiences and views were relevant to the completion of their library errands. The other respondents’ encounters confirmed their overall positive earlier experiences and views of the library environment and its services, but had no real concrete significance for the completion of their library errands.
*Nr 5 Ulf Georgson: Hur läser du? Om några iraniers läsning på svenska respektive persiska (How do you read? Iranians’ reading in Swedish and Persian)
The purpose of this thesis was to investigate how people from Iran experience reading in their mother tongue, Persian, compared to how they experience reading in Swedish and if there was a difference. The questions to be answered in the thesis were: What is the dominant purpose when people read their mother tongue and when they read in Swedish. Do they read because they need information, because they want to relax or do they, when they read, reflect on their own lives? The method was qualitative, interviews were conducted with 8 Iranians living in Sweden. The theoretical background consists of a description of theories on reading and theories on language and identity. The answers from the interviews reveal that many of the individuals that were interviewed, were reading in an instrumental way, i.e. they read mainly to find information and especially so when reading in Swedish, but at the same time they do reflect on their own life when they read. The results were then compared with theories. Furhammar’s theory on reading habits with the categories ”impersonal instrumental reading”, ”impersonal experience reading”, ”personal experience reading” and ”personal instrumental reading” seem to correspond with the results of the study. The other theories on reading which were used, i.e. Appleyard’s theory that people seek some kind of truth when they read and Ross’ theory that people read to get emotional knowledge, did also in part correspond with the results, but not as well as Furhammar’s theory. The theories on language and identity also seemed to correspond well with the results.
*Nr 6 Ulrika Gabrielsson, Carina Gerdin: Stads- och kommunarkivariers informationsbeteende i yrkesutövandet. (The information behaviour of municipal archivists/records managers.)
The purpose of this thesis is to examine how municipal archivists/records managers seek and use information in their daily worklife. Two mayor questions were addressed: 1. What information resources and information channels do the respondents use in their daily worklife and which functions do these fulfil? 2. How do the respondents experience their information seeking in relation to the work role and the tasks in the municipal organisation? A qualitative method with interviews was used. Tom Wilson's theoretical model over information behaviour was applied to the empirical material and was supplemented by models by Lars Höglund & Olle Persson and Anne-Marie Thunberg et. al. The result shows that social networks were highly used in the practice of work. Because of the work role qualities and complexity in tasks, communication with other occupational groups is necessary. Especially the competence from legal advisers, social workers and computer technologists are acquired. Communication with other archivists/records managers, researchers and public users play an important role of the municipal archivists/records managers' social network. Regular contact with other archivists/records managers is very important for the professional self-identity. In daily worklife, none of the respondents said they experience information overload, but lack of time was apprehended by everyone.
*Nr 7 Ann-Sofie Klason: På vilka sätt kan bibliotek vara användarvänliga för människor med dyslexi? (How can libraries be user-friendly to people with dyslexia?)
The purpose of this study is to find out how libraries can be user-friendly to people with dyslexia by focusing on how adult dyslectics experience the library. Data were collected through literature and interviews with adult dyslectic students. Two different types of user studies served as a theoretical framework; one was an individual-related study by professor Wilson and the other was a system-related one from professor Buckland. The findings in this study shows that dyslectic library users often experience difficulties when seeking for materials in the library, due to the libraries organisation of material according to the written language. Through technical aid and a more user-friendly organisation of materials it may be easier to find relevant material for dyslectics. Adapted material, such as talking books, can serve them so that they can use the library material to a greater extent. Further conclusions of this study shows the importance to the user of the librarians politely and sympathetic reception. Another finding shows that the libraries need to make themselves known to this target group, as dyslectics not often visit the library.
*Nr 8 Christina Friberg: Handledning i informationsfärdigheter för vårdämnen på gymnasiet (Counseling information skills applied to medical information: A study implemented at senior high school)
The purpose of this paper was to learn more about the strategies used by senior high school librarians and teachers in educating their students' information skills, such as criticism of the information sources. The paper was based upon qualitative interviews with one senior high school librarian and three senior high school teachers. The respondents were asked to spontaneously tell me about their counseling strategies when the students do research assignments in medicine-oriented subjects. The respondents’ narratives were analyzed with Carol Collier Kuhlthau’s theories about the information search process and its levels of mediation, as well as with literature about counseling strategies in mind. The results showed great range of variation. Two teachers didn’t give their student any counseling at all in criticism of the information sources for the assignment in medicine-oriented subjects. One of these, however, was positive to let the librarian help with giving counseling in information skills, in spite of the fact that she had no special competence in medicine. The third teacher said that medical knowledge was of great importance. The librarian herself thought that she could give counseling though her lack of medical education, since her counseling consisted of general criteria to be applied to medical information by the students themselves. When it comes to counseling strategies, respondents said that establishing a dialogue with the students was essential at the beginning of the Information Search Process in order to encourage an invitational mood and facilitate formulation. The literature proposed composing as a strategy, but none of the respondents spoke of that. The librarian expressed the feeling that students’ information skills were defective, so she spent much time on counseling general criteria. Two teachers recommended information sources, preventing the students from developing information skills, since they didn’t have to find and choose their information themselves. One teacher actively helped selecting information.
*Nr 9 Eva Fridlund: Vad spelar biblioteket för roll på folkhögskolan? (The libraries role in Swedish adult education (folkhigh-school).)
This report will focus on the folkhigh-school in its general form and the role of the libraries on these types of schools in particular. A library on folkhighschools have a tendency to be forgotten and ends up being somewhere in the middle of the libraryworld and the general educational organisations. The purpose of this essay is to examine and provide general views on the different roles that a library on a folkhighschool can have, as well as looking into the unique aspects of the type of school that a folkhighschool is in terms of influencing the libraries placed there. The methodology used in this study is qualitative. Interviews have been held on three different folkhighschools in south of Sweden. The interviewed on each of these schools was the person responsible for the library. To determine the level of the libraries examined, I have used the taxonomy of the American engineer David Loertscher. In a simplified way I have used this scientific system as a base and graded the examined libraries according to that research theory. The result of this study shows that the flexible form a folkhighschool provides together with its very strong tradition, to some extent isn't beneficial for the development of the libraries. The way of working is hard to change within these institutes which may cause the lead times for making necessary changes to be long. Bear in mind how very fast the development of the information technology has been during the pats few years on the libraries. The libraries are of importance on these schools but are not representing the pedagogical role you would expect in terms of acting as traditional school libraries. This is shown and discussed in this essay.