*Nr 1 Stefan Borg, Monica Winiger: Företagsbibliotekets identitet – en fallstudie av förändring (The Corporate Library’s Identity – A Case Study On Change)
This thesis is an explorative investigation of a number of corporate libraries. The purpose of the investigation is to establish how these corporate libraries have changed, how the roles of the corporate librarians have changed, and what factors have triggered these changes. Key concepts in this context are change and identity. A survey of relevant literature has established some recent changes among corporate libraries, factors that have influenced these changes, and recommended directions in which corporate libraries may try to develop. The method used in the investigation is qualitative interviews. Staff at seven corporate libraries was interviewed. As a theoretical tool for analysis, The Big Three Model for change has been used. This model identifies certain categories in the change process. The conclusion of the investigation is that although many corporate libraries, due to economical, organizational, and technological changes, have been forced to close business, downsize, or radically change their ways of working, there are also corporate libraries that have seized the opportunity to develop their well-established core functions in a new direction. Different companies have very different demands and expectations from their corporate libraries, and therefore there are no general recommendations for all corporate libraries. If there were, they would be to customize according to the particular business ideas of the various companies. The investigation also raises the question how profound a change a library can undergo and still be regarded as a library.
*Nr 2 Åsa Jakobsson: Finns långserieböcker för barn och ungdomar på biblioteket? (Are series books for children and youth available at the library?)
The aim of this master’s thesis is to examine to what extent series books for children and youth are included in the acquisitions of public libraries. It also examines which needs series books fulfil among a group of 13-15 year old children. The main question of this thesis was: To what extent do libraries provide series books for children and youth? An inquiry investigation showed that a majority of the libraries in Sweden provide these books. The main reason to provide the books was that the demand is large. Many librarians think the books can function as an entry into the world of reading and that they also can be good for reading and language training. The most frequent arguments for not providing series books were that the quality is poor and economical reasons. Another reason was that it could be troublesome and also expensive to keep series books with many sequels complete. The thesis also includes interviews with 13-15 year old children. The main reason for reading series books mentioned by them was that they found the books thrilling and sometimes funny. They also thought an advantage with series books is that if you find one book good you can continue with other sequels in the same series.
*Nr 3 Berit Linden: Mästare med mullig modell eller försörjare med funktionshinder. Bilden av konstnären i bibliotekens konstlitteratur för barn. (A master and his model or a disabled breadwinner. The representation of the artist in children’s literature of art, available in Swedish libraries.)
This master’s thesis is a gender study of the role of the artist in children’s literature of art. The study comprises forty-three children’s books presenting the life of a historic, contemporary or fictional artist. The books are published from the 1960’s to the present day. They are written or translated into Swedish and available in Swedish libraries. The representation of the artist is examined separately in the text and in the illustrations. The text analysis is carried out with the elaborated gender questions of Lissa Paul. The analysis of the illustrations is carried out by semiotics and a model by Gustaf Cavallius. In the literature I find that the gendering of the artist remains biased through the years. A white western male artist predominates greatly. The story of a talented, but misunderstood and poor, young boy ends in a successful and world-famous artistry. When a female artist is portrayed she is either an illustrator of children’s books and a breadwinner, with artistry as a source of income, or disabled, with artistry as compensation for another profession. I also pay attention to gender representations in general. Men represent a greater variety and have a closer connection to society in comparison with the representation of women. In spite of the fact that there is a decrease in children’s reading of books in favour of other media, I recommend an increase in publishing children’s books including greater gender equality.
*Nr 4 Paulina Ljunggren Suokas: Fabriksflickans bildning. Gerda Meyerson och Föreningen Hem för arbeterskor 1898-1923. (The Factory-girl’s education. Gerda Meyerson and Föreningen Hem för arbeterskor 1898 1923.)
The purpose of this master thesis is to describe and analyse Gerda Meyerson's educational project for young working-class women in Stockholm between 1898 and 1923. In 1898 Meyerson founded a home for young working-class women where her project could be implemented. It is the educational practises at this home and Meyerson's own words about working women’s way of life that’s in focus of this investigation. From a class and gender perspective the thesis examines the problems, the solutions and finally the goals of Meyerson's intentions for the young women. The problems were mainly the women’s lack of self-esteem and bad moral reputation in society. In order to change their way of behaving and thinking, and thereby improve their reputation, Meyerson encouraged the women to move to her homes and there attend different uplifting courses and lectures and read, what was considered, sensible books. Important were also the social interactions between women of different classes, which took place at these homes. These social interactions were highly educational and were intended to change the women’s, often, negative attitudes towards each other. The young women should thereby be fostered towards a lifestyle of cleanliness, moral female superiority and ultimately, marriage and motherhood. These ideals stemmed mainly from the middle classes' values of womanhood, which Meyerson represented.
*Nr 5 Ann-Kristin Henriksson, Raija Holmgren: Folkbiblioteket – en del i infrastrukturen runt vuxnas lärande. En fallstudie på Linköpings stadsbibliotek (The Public Library – one part in the infrastructure around adult learning. A case study on Linköping municipal library)
The purpose of this master thesis is to investigate how the public library can support adult learning through collaboration with other actors in the community. This is done by examining the activity of Linköping municipal library towards the user group adult students. The questions raised consider; the political view of supporting adult learning, the role of the public library, who are the actors in Linköping, the experiences of collaboration and finally what promotes and restrains collaboration. The investigation is done as a case study with qualitative methods. The qualitative methods was found to be the most appropriate for this study, since the majority of the empirical material has been collected through interviews. We have interviewed two public librarians, a head-master, a politician and two other persons who is working with education and library matters. A study of documents has also been made. Relevant theories, such as Rubenson´s theory about lifelong learning, Skot-Hansen/Anderson´s analysis of the role of public library, Loertscher´s taxonomy and Danermark/Kullberg´s theory about cooperation as a method of working, are presented and later used in the analysis. The major findings are that lifelong learning, as well as adult learning, needs support from society. Linköping´s public library collaborates actively with the local education center and teachers. According to the librarians, collaboration with organizer of education, teachers and politicians is helpful in supporting the user group.
*Nr 6 Kristina Korn: Högskolebibliotekariens pedagogiska roll (The pedagogical role of the academic librarian)
The Swedish academic libraries have gone trough radical changes during the last decades. The development of information technology, the educational expansion and new pedagogical ways of learning within the higher educational system have changed the conditions, not only for the academic libraries, but also in many ways for the librarians. The aim of this Master’s thesis is to examine how Swedish librarians experience their pedagogic role and task in the context of an academic library. The following four questions in this investigation were asked: How do the librarians experience the formal task that they have? How do the librarians experience the physical library environment? How do the librarians experience the co-operation with others involved in their work? How do the librarians experience their own pedagogic knowledge and competence in their daily practice? The study showed that these librarians believed the physical environment to be very important and is seen as a pedagogical tool in their daily work. The co-operations with others involved needed to become better, especially with the teachers. The librarians felt that their pedagogic role and task is becoming more important. They also feel a need for more pedagogic knowledge to handle the increasing demands from the students using the academic libraries.
*Nr 7 Karin Gelin: Kvinnor i litteraturhistorien : en undersökning av hur kvinnors skrivande och deras litterära verk beskrivs och värderas i litterära översiktsverk för gymnasieskolan (Women in Literary History : a survey of how women´s writing and their literary works is described and valuated in outlines of literary history for the Swedish upper secondary school)
The purpose of this master’s thesis is to examine outlines of literary history for students at upper secondary school from a gender studies perspective. Earlier theoretical work concerning outlines of literary history is sparse. There are three dissertations, but none with an explicit gender perspective. The theoretical approach comes mainly from theories in literary historiography and gender research. Also discussed are the following concepts: canon, literary field and literary valuation. This part of the thesis is based on literature studies. The objects of investigation are the three books which according to a mail inquiry are the most used at the Swedish upper secondary school today: Litteraturorientering (1977), Svenska timmar (1991 rev. 1999) and Dikten och vi (1987). The methodology includes both a qualitative perusal of the outlines and a quantitative examination to show how much space female authors get. Important for the qualitative analyses are the two concepts deriving from gender studies: dichotomy and hierarchy. The conclusion of this study is that although firmly stated in the official documents concerning education at the upper secondary school that equality between sexes shall be stimulated and encouraged, the outlines of literary history for students at upper secondary school show a troublesome distortion. Female authors get much lesser space and tokens of dichotomy and hierarchy are frequent in the material. To change this, women must conquer positions in the literary studies and in the literary field. Then women will get their legitimate place in the history of literature.
*Nr 8 Katarina Jonzon: Kunskapslyftet och Huvudbiblioteket i Linköping - Hur upplever de kunskapslyftsstuderande biblioteket och hur har bibliotekariernas arbetssituation påverkats? (The Adult Education Initiative and the Main Public Library in Linköping – How do the students at the Adult Education Initiative experience the library and how has the librarians working situation been influenced?)
The aim of this study is to examine how the adult students in the Adult Education Initiative called “Kunskapslyftet”, experience their use of the Main Public Library in Linköping and how the librarians experience the change in their working situation after Adult Education Initiative has started in July 1997. Methods used in the survey are interviews with librarians and students in the Adult Education Initiative. I have also distributed questionnaires to some of the adult students and studied literature that describe students’ use of libraries. The result shows that the students generally are satisfied with the service they get from the librarians at the Main Public Library. It also shows that what the students mostly asked for, are help to search information about a subject and to find literature in the library. The librarians in the study had to be more of tutors to show the students how to find their way in databases, catalogues and in the library. The librarians experienced an increased pressure at the reference desk after July 1997.
*Nr 9 Ida Lidemar, Linda Persson: Analys av ett företags internkommunikation med hjälp av CSM (Communication Situations Model) (An analysis of internal communication in an organization by using CSM (Communication Situations Model))
The topic of this master thesis is internal organizational communication and factors influencing the way people in an organization communicate with each other. The purpose of the study is to, by using a specific model called Communication Systems/Situations Model (CSM), identify the social context of a given organization and examine how it relates to the dimensions of communicational behaviour which are presented in CSM. We would also like to see how the different parts of CSM affects the choice of communication channels. The thesis is based on interviews with eight employees in the specific organization, whom we have asked a number of questions regarding how they communicate with each other and through which channels. The results show that the social context is very informal within the organization and the relationships between the employees are very open and personal. The dimensions of communicational behaviour relate to the context in many ways and are clearly a result of what kind of social context that exists in the organization. The conclusions we have drawn from the results are that a hierarchical pattern can bee seen between social context, dimensions of communicational behaviour and choice of communication channels in the studied organization. The hierarchical pattern is that the social context in a way surrounds the dimensions and in turn the dimensions affect the choice of communication channels.
*Nr 10 Håkan Storm, Rebecka Ungerfält: Att återvinna det förgångna: en studie av exploateringsarkeologers informationsbeteenden (To retrieve the past: a study of archaeologists and their information behaviour)
The thesis of this work has been to investigate the information behaviour of archaeologists. Interviews were made, between March-September 2002, with ten archaeologists, employed in one Swedish organisation, conducting rescue archaeology. The archaeologists were all experienced in working positions as project leaders. Our thesis could be expressed in following questions: - Which sources of information did the archaeologists use in their work? - Which external and internal factors had influence on the information behaviour? The results of this study have been analysed within a theoretical framework of T.D Wilson, Lars Seldén, Lars Höglund and Olle Persson, among others. The results of two user studies of physicians and psychologists have also been of great value. Our results show that the archaeologists were using a great number of sources in their everyday work. Characteristical for the examined group was the continuous use of non-word oriented information sources such as pre-historical artefacts and finds. Laborative analysis, drawings, pictures and maps were also used along with the use of oral and written sources. Socially oriented information seeking was of great importance and was supported by the season and specialist character of the work. We found that the academical background had impact on their information behaviour as archaeologists. All together our interview material implied a difference in organisational as well as informational culture between the university archaeology and rescue archaeology. Eight of ten archaeologists were involved in academic research. The academic legacy had great impact on their everyday work as archaeologists and their information behaviour.
*Nr 11 Karolina Antonsson: Intranät och dokumenthantering vid ett mindre till medelstort företag – En fallstudie (Intranet and Document Management at a Small to Medium Sized Enterprise - A case study)
The aim of this master’s thesis is to learn how an organization has solved its information management via intranet and document management. The purpose is to identify what different types of information are made available via an intranet, how this information is structured and what functions the intranet includes. Conventions, directions and advice about intranets and document management were studied, with the purpose to compare whether the systems of the company correlate with these. Other issues considered in the thesis, are how the employees of the organization use the intranet and how the document management is organized. To get an understanding of these questions the structure and functions of the intranet were studied empirically and a questionnaire on what the employees need and use, concerning the intranet, was sent out to 130 employees. 56 of these were handed in and processed. In order to get a deep understanding of the topic, the case study was used as a research method. The main theories are taken from Information Management, including Choo’s cycle of information processes. The results of the study show that theories and conventions have been followed to a great extent but in some cases the categorisation and structures of the interface of the intranet do not fully correspond. Among the findings are that the search functions of the intranet are underused and that the company lacks a plan for their intranet.
*Nr 12 Jörgen Andersson, Ulrika Ekelund: Bildåtervinning för alla: Att tillgängliggöra bildsamlingar för en bred och ickespecificerad användargrupp. (Everyone’s image retrieval: To make image collections available for a wide and non-specified group of users.)
This essay is a survey of thirteen user studies performed in the field of image retrieval. The purpose is to try to distinguish principles that should be kept in mind when wanting to make image databases available for a wide and varied group of users. The essay tries to answer two questions, namely: Are there any results in accordance among the different studies? What in the user studies should be considered when it comes to how content description, interface and functions for searching can be designed when creating systems for image retrieval? Each study is first reviewed on its own, and then a comparative analysis of all the studies is carried out. Derived from the result of this analysis, the conclusion is presented in the form of a row of suggestions to which aspects are to be suitably included in the design of image databases. The results show that actual object and people is the most prominently used content descriptor followed by descriptors for time, location and event. Abstract elements is found to be a descriptor not commonly or even readily used. Being able to compare images visually on-screen, the possibility to decide in which order the retrieved images are shown and the inclusion of CBIR-techniques are some of the components found to be important when it comes to interface. When it comes to search functions filters, truncation and subject searching are among the functions that are found important.
*Nr 13 Linda Henriksson: ”Men när sitter ni och läser alla böckerna?” – En intervjuundersökning av bibliotekariers syn på skönlitterära kunskaper ( “When do you read all the books?” – An interview study regarding librarians’ attitudes towards knowledge in fiction literature)
The aim of this thesis is to study librarians’ attitudes towards fiction and reading. I have examined librarians’ fiction reading habits and how they handle the expectations that users may have regarding their knowledge in fiction literature. There have been many studies concerning the librarians’ information literacy. This work explores librarians’ competence in fiction literature. The primary question posted in this thesis is: What kind of fiction are librarians reading and how do they feel that they can correspond to the user’s expectations? The data collection is based on literature on the subject and qualitative interviews with eight librarians’ from different kinds of libraries. The theoretical framework builds on Pierre Bourdieu’s theories. The conclusion is that librarians read a lot. They read different kinds of fiction literature but more high literature. They want to have some kind of quality in their literature. This corresponds well to Bourdieu’s theories about the “middeltaste”. The librarians are aware of the users’ high expectations but most of them still don’t consider this as a big problem. They anyway give several suggestions that would give fiction literature a more important place in the education for future librarians. Four of the librarians in this study would like to have compulsory courses in fiction literature within Library and information science.
*Nr 14 Gunilla Brodin: Varför sagostund? Sagostundsverksamheten på folkbibliotek igår och idag. (Why story-time? Story-time activity at the public library yesterday and today.)
The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to investigate the reasons for public libraries to have story-time today and also the reasons for story-time at the public library historically in Sweden. Why is the phenomenon of story-time still existing at public libraries today? The study is based on a questionnaire that was sent to children’s librarians in the Västra Götaland region. The material collected in this questionnaire was put together and resulted in six different categories showing the libraries’ purposes and thoughts of their story-time activities. The categories were: cultural heritage/tradition, joy of reading, language and imagination, library visits, storytelling and mutual experience. The theoretical approach to story-time at the public library included theories of civic and community librarianship in local communities. The results of the study suggest that public libraries with their story-time activities are situated in the point of intersection of the state, the market and the civil society. The concept of story-time is multifaceted and the participating children’s librarians express this activity with many different names such as cultural activities or programs. The results of the study also show that the story-time activity serves as a meeting point as well as a way to developing language, a way to the library itself, a way to literature and to reading.
*Nr 15 Kristina Björkström, Åsa Hemmings: Att gå en gyllene medelväg. Nio barnbibliotekariers resonemang kring Wahlströms långserieböcker på folkbibliotek (To walk a golden middle course. Nine children’s librarians’ discussion about Wahlström’s series books at public libraries)
The aim of this master’s thesis is to examine how some children’s librarians in public libraries reason about Wahlström’s series books. During the 1970’s, there was a discussion about the series books, and the general meaning was, among other things, that the books should not be available at libraries. Therefore, we also want to study if the arguments for and against the series books presented today are any different than those presented in the 1970’s. For this examination, two methods have been used. We have done qualitative interviews with nine children’s librarians, and in order to find the arguments presented in the 1970’s, we have studied the literature regarding the mentioned discussion. The results from the study indicate that there is one big difference in the arguments presented in the 1970’s and those presented today, namely that the librarians that we have interviewed names the popularity of the series books and that children often asks for them as a strong argument for that the books should be found at libraries. This argument we have not been able to find at all among the arguments presented in the 1970’s.  Apart from this, there is no difference to be mentioned in the arguments, but that there despite this is a more liberal view on the series books and also on the children today, and that these books are more accepted in the libraries now.
*Nr 16 Anneli Höynä: EU om olagligt och skadligt innehåll på Internet. En diskursteoretisk analys (EU on illegal and harmful content on the Internet. A discourse-theoretical analysis)
This thesis analyses how the European Union’s institutions deal with the issue of illegal and harmful content on the Internet in key documents presented during the period 1996–1999. Particular attention is attached to content where the legal status is determined in relation to the user and to content that is legal, but characterized as harmful and entailing a need for special protective measures. The theoretical and methodological approach draws on discourse theory as formulated by Laclau and Mouffe. The thesis studies how the problem is represented in key documents from the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, with particular regard to the discourse on ‘harmfulness’, ‘the child’ and ‘Europe’. The findings are that the overall discourse has shifted focus over time, from an emphasis on the protection of minors toward a more market-oriented discourse stressing the importance of protecting the competitiveness of the European economy. The discourse on harmfulness – where meaning is fixed around ‘sexuality’, ‘violence’ and ‘ideas’ – remains unchanged and is thus understood as a closed discourse. Some differences are, however, detected between the institutions’ respective discourses. The discourse on the child is more open to variations, yet by all institutions established upon notions of minors, harmfulness and parental figures. The overall discourse on Europe embraces conflicting ideas where meaning is fixed either by signs stressing the supranational function of the EU or by signs stressing cooperation between the member states.
*Nr 17 Ann-Christin Persson: Mätning av tjänstekvalitet i bibliotek: användning av LibQUAL+™ i Sverige (Measuring service quality in libraries: the use of LibQUAL+™ in Sweden)
The aim of this master thesis is to measure library service quality in two groups of libraries, newly developed and well established, and to see if there are any differences in the users’ perception of the dimensions in LibQUAL+™. The thesis also examines the different perception of quality for the user groups: undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty. Another approach is to test the Swedish translation of LibQUAL+™. Different theories on service quality are presented but the main theories are from the marketing perspective. The grounding and development of LibQUAL+™ is described as well as the use of the instrument in different libraries. The use of quality measures in libraries is also discussed. The results from the LibQUAL+™ survey show that there are no differences between the two groups of libraries. There are however differences in the perception of quality among user groups. Faculty and graduate students perceive a higher quality in the dimensions Affect of service and Library as place than undergraduate students. Undergraduate students rate the Library as place higher than the other groups. The most important dimension for all users is Control of information. This dimension has negative Adequacy gaps for this survey. Four percent of the users experience the instrument as difficult to use. Despite this I believe that LibQUAL+™ is well suited for library quality measurement and development, because of its rapid delivery of results. The instrument is also well suited for benchmarking and international comparison.
*Nr 18 Emelie Janson, Emili Jensen: Weblogindex: En studie av weblogindex utifrån Lancasters processmodell över traditionell indexering. (Weblogindexes: A study of weblogindexes from the perspective of Lancaster’s processual model of traditional indexing.)
Many new electronic publication systems have arisen in the past few years, one of them is the weblog. In 1999 there were 23 weblogs, today there are millions – thus a need for organisation has appeared, both special metadata and subject indexes have been invented and created. Due to the large amount of the latter we have in this thesis decided to concentrate on those close by – the Scandinavian weblogindexes. A more international perspective would however have been possible, as very little is written on the topic. We have looked at these selected weblogindexes, trying to determinate whether they agree with F. W. Lancaster's suggestion of the index's role in an IR-system or not. We have studied how weblogs may be organized in a weblogindex, and if catalogisation is necessary or at all needed for doing this. F. W. Lancaster's indexing model can be described as: selection, description and retrieval. These three points are then applied to a weblogindex, and discussed. We found during our studies of different weblogindexes that Lancaster's model is indeed applicable to such, however with a slight twist. And that metadata in the bigger picture is redundant and seems irrelevant to most weblogauthors and weblogindexes. We also discovered that RSS (RDF Site Summary) is an ever growing method of keeping up to date with weblogs, and for that matter, other webservices too.
*Nr 19 Jesper Nordström: Indexeringskonsistens: En litteraturgenomgång och en undersökning i LIBRIS (Indexing consistency: A literature review and a study of LIBRIS)
The aim of this thesis is to investigate indexing consistency in LIBRIS, a Swedish national union catalogue, where searches can be carried out among almost five million titles. To calculate consistency, indexing terms of translations and indexing terms of documents in their original language have been compared. I have used a total of 100 such pairs in the study. There is a lot of different methods that can be used when consistency is calculated, in this study Hooper’s and Rolling’s methods have been used (since they are two of the most commonly methods used and also have the advantage of being fairly simple to use and understand). In the thesis, differences in consistency between indexing terms consisting of names and general indexing terms and differences in consistency between controlled indexing terms and uncontrolled indexing terms are also compared. The overall consistency was found to be 48,97% when Hooper’s method was used and 57,20% when Rolling’s method was used. A significant difference in consistency was found between indexing terms consisting of names and general indexing terms but not between controlled indexing terms and uncontrolled indexing terms.
*Nr 20 Veronica Holmqvist: Synen på litteratur i 1970-talets och 1990-talets svenska kulturpolitik: en idéanalytisk ansats (The view of literature within Swedish cultural policy from the 1970’s and the 1990’s: an analysis in terms of ideas and ideology)
The aim of this Master’s thesis is to examine the view of literature within Swedish governmental cultural policy. The main issue is to discover changes in attitude towards democracy, literature and library by comparing the attitudes in the governmental policy documents from the 1970’s with the governmental policy documents from the 1990’s. The theoretical starting point is Danish cultural policy researcher Dorte Skot-Hansen’s theories of the development of cultural policy in the Nordic countries. My method of analysis is a textual one, analysis of ideas and ideology, focusing on the aspect of signification of a text. The study has an effort of analysing the governmental policy in terms of idea and ideology. This quality study is based upon four governmental cultural policy documents, two from the 1970’s and two from the 1990’s. The analysis shows that there has been a change in attitude towards democracy, literature and library comparing the documents from the 1970’s with the documents from the 1990’s. The cultural policy of the 1990’s is influenced by a market-led attitude whereas the cultural policy of the 1970’s generally is influenced by a humanistic and a sociologic attitude. There are, however, rather small changes and the conclusion of this study shows that the attitude towards democracy, literature and library appears to be quite similar. The cultural policy documents from the 1990’s rather show a tendency to a market-led attitude.
*Nr 21 Thomas Lydell-Olsen, Tova Malmström: Förlagsbranschen och omslaget – vad vet förlagen om det skönlitterära bokomslagets betydelse för ungdomar? (The publisher branch and the cover – what do the publishers know about the book-jacket of literature and its meaning for the youth?)
The main objectives of this essay are three. 1. To see if the publishers, which are interviewed, are aware of the importance of the book-jackets for the youth who are in a situation to choose a book of fiction. 2. We also want to see if the publishers are using this knowledge to attract the young people to reading or a purchase. Seven different Swedish publishers in Stockholm were interviewed and their answers were analysed with the field of research and two earlier examinations with youth in the age of 13 to 21. 3. We want to see if there are any resemblances between the publishers conception of what the young readers in the two earlier researches are influenced by in their choice of literature. We discovered that the publishers in most cases of the study had knowledge about their customers. But their knowledge would be better if they had their own researches of their customers and looked on other studies done for e.g. the field of marketing. The interviewed also used this information in their work to attract the youth. Most of the publishers used illustrators for their book-jackets. The third question showed there were some resemblances between the publisher and the youngsters in the two earlier researches. The publishers still need to know more about the young people and their way of choosing fiction literature.
*Nr 22: Kia Andersson, Pernilla Rein: Informationsstöd för implementering av Volvo Information Technology:s projektstyrningsmodell PCM – en studie av informationskulturella skillnader i ett globalt företag (Information support for the implementation of the Project Control Model, PCM, at Volvo Information Technology – a study of differences in information culture in a global company)
This master’s thesis examines the information flow concering the implementation of the PCM, the Project Control Model, used by Volvo Information Technology (Volvo IT). The aim of the thesis is to identify possible differences in the information culture in different sites of this global company, such as attitudes towards different information channels and sources. By identifying and learning to understand such differences it is thought that the implementation of the model may be facilitated. Following initial research such as literature studies, studies of internal Volvo IT documents as well as interviews with staff, a questionnaire, the main part of the study, was sent out to 655 project managers of Volvo IT sites in Europe and in the USA. The results of the questionnaire are compared with the interviews and with the conclusions of the literature studies. The findings indicate that differences in the information culture are to be found, with Lyon, France, being the Volvo IT site distinguishing itself the most. It was also found that information may be evaluated differently by the users depending on its origin. The results also show that out of the multitude of information channels available, a few are highly appreciated, the channels requiring the most technical skills or technology being less popular. The differences are however generally minor, and it is difficult to understand how these differences manifest themselves in a quantitative study such as this one. It is concluded that although the PCM information is well managed, there is room for improvement, and so some recommendations are presented in the thesis.
*Nr 23 Angelica Holm Johansson: Kultur och marknad i svensk kulturpolitik under 1970- och 1990-talen: En kontextuell ideologianalytisk studie (The view on market-led culture within Swedish governmental cultural policy from the 1970’s and the 1990’s: A contextual ideological study)
The aim of this Master’s thesis is to examine the view of market-led culture, focusing on literature, within Swedish governmental cultural policy. The main issue is to discover changes in attitude towards cooperation between culture and business by comparing the attitudes and ideas expressed in the governmental policy documents from the 1970’s with the governmental policy documents from the 1990’s. To illuminate, and with an effort to explain, these attitudes and ideas expressed in the documents their political and social context has been studied as well. The theoretical starting point is two political ideologies, and Danish cultural policy researcher Dorte Skot-Hansen’s theories of cultural policy in the Nordic countries. The methodological starting point is two variants of analyses that are textual ones. An ideological approach is made of the governmental cultural policy documents whereas the analysis of the material of the political and social context is based on an analysis of wholeness. The ideological analysis of the four governmental cultural policy documents, two from the 1970’s and two from the 1990’s, shows that there has been no significant change in attitude towards cooperation between culture and business when comparing them. The analysis of the political and social background shows, however, that there has been some political and social changes by comparing the 1970’s with the 1990’s.  Though political and social change during these years no significant change seems to have happened concerning the cultural policy and the governmental attitude towards market-led culture.
*Nr 24 Louise Hellström: ”Den som finge göra bekantskap med en sådan kvinna”. En studie om Madame de Staël och det tidiga 1800-talets litterära offentlighet. (”If one only could become acquainted with such a woman”. A study of Madame de Staël and the early 19th century literary publicity.)
The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to investigate and describe the literary life of Madame de Staël, during the period of  the French Revolution and the time shortly after. My intention is to do research on her impact and influence. I also want to examine her effect on Swedish literary society, with special references to Swedish authors. The method used is a qualitative one, where I have studied nonfiction and fiction connected with the field, for example Mme de Staël’s own writings, which I make use of to illustrate the phenomena. During this period the society was dominated by patriarchical values and patterns of life. This was challenged by Mme de Staël and other female writers which occur in this study, who struggled for emancipation and better circumstances for women. Thus I considered it fruitful to apply a perspective strongly influenced by feminist and gender theory. The results of the study show that Mme de Staël, despite women’s subordinated situation, had an influential role in European society; through her literature, but also through her well-known salon and concern for political affairs. The study also shows, that Swedish literary society was affected by her activity, as were female authors in their future production and work for women’s liberation.
*Nr 25 Stefan Sandberg: Kommunala webbplatser – för alla eller några? : Kvalitativa intervjuer med webbansvariga i tio sydsvenska kommuner (Municipal web sites – for everyone? : Qualitative interviews with web masters in ten municipalities in the south of Sweden)
There is a need for examining the accessibility of public web sites and for several reasons. First, public organizations possess considerable amounts information of interest to its citizens and which ought to be easily accessible. Secondly, international and national guidelines for web publishing support the different types of requirements experienced by web users and, in particular, with regard to accessibility for people with disabilities. The thesis examines the design of public web sites from two different aspects. Web sites can be built up and structured from the management view of the public organization, or, they can be constructed with a view to user needs and requirements. The thesis therefore examines the ways in which web masters use available recommendations and guidelines. Another question concerns the web masters' interest in supporting users and citizens with reading disabilities or inexperience in using computers. The empirical material consists of qualitative interviews with ten web masters from ten municipalities. They were selected by studying a larger number of web sites, chiefly the first pages, with a focus on accessibility to different groups of web users studied in research questions about accessibility. The theoretical framework of the thesis is based on theories of cognition, human-computer interaction, HCI, and service management in the public sector. The results reveal that the structure of public web sites are mostly constructed from the perspective of the management of the municipality, i.e. the terminology used, headlines and the use of language often restrict accessibility for several groups of users, for example, people with dyslexia or inexperienced computer users. In different degrees the web masters are aware of these obstacles to accessibility, and several web masters therefore try to use simple language in those parts of web-sites which they themselves handle. However, most of the web masters experience that for certain groups of citizens; elderly, foreigners and people with intellectual handicaps, it is more effective to use traditional ways of sharing information, for example through phone calls, ordinary letters or personal appointments. The results also show that web masters, only to a very limited degree, make use of international guidelines. The national guidelines are used more, although in varying degrees, by the web masters. The "24-hour web" led by the Swedish Agency for public Management, and guidelines from disability organizations are the most popular.
*Nr 26: Lisa Heydl, Annika Österberg: Riksdagshörnan på Göteborgs stadsbibliotek: ett samarbete mellan riksdag och folkbibliotek (The Parliament’s corner at the city public library in Göteborg: a cooperation between the Swedish Parliament and public libraries)
This Master’s thesis is about a new project, which has been initiated by the Swedish Parliament Board. Together with three city public libraries in Sweden they have decided to try a new way of informing the citizens. Parliament corners, as they are called, have opened simultaneously at the city public libraries in Göteborg, Malmö and Sundsvall. The purpose is to provide information about the Parliament and its work to the general public. Another purpose is the possibility for members of the Parliament and citizens to meet. Our aim is to scrutinise the underlying thoughts and needs which has led to the opening of the Parliament corners. The city public library in Göteborg is at focus in our thesis. We try to find out if the opening of the Parliament’s corners is a way for politicians to somehow legitimate politics. We also examine how civic information is looked upon within the library as well as within the Parliament. The study is based on interviews with people concerned and on official documents, such as motions and decisions. We want to find out if there is a need for these Parliament corners and what effect it might have on the libraries. Maybe it is an opportunity for the libraries in Sweden to strengthen and confirm its position in the Swedish society. It’s also an opportunity to be seen and heard by politicians who are to decide on the libraries’ future. Our conclusion is that there is a need for a project like this. The library as a meeting point is important and it is also important to strengthen the cooperation between the libraries and the politicians.
*Nr 27 Jennie Elmén: Sjuksköterskestuderandes biblioteks- och informationsanvändning: Två olika världar. (Student nurses’ library and information utilization: Two different worlds.)
The main purpose of this study is to investigate how student nurses seek and use information and libraries. Furthermore, I want to know how they think information can be used in their future occupation. Seven student nurses were included in the study. A qualitative method with personal interviews was used. The analysis of the empirical material was made according to a socio-cultural perspective. The conclusion of the study is that despite the fact that the education is academical and the base of knowledge theoretical, the students still regard their future occupation as practical. The students consider their practical training to be more important than their theoretical education when they determine what is important to learn. During their training in hospital environments they observe the information behaviour of the nurses and copy them. This means that the student nurses do not use information and information sources to a greater extent during their practical training. They rely on the same information sources as practising nurses, such as PM, FASS and colleagues. The theoretical education does not offer a user education that is incorporated in the education and little emphasis is given to information seeking skills. This implies that the student nurses mainly use course literature and only seek additional information if the teachers demand it.
*Nr 28 Gerd Eriksson: Att välja och att välja bort: En kvalitativ studie av hur barnbibliotekarier motiverar sina inköp av barn- och ungdomslitteratur (To choose or to drop: A qualitative study of how children’s librarians motivate their purchases of fiction for children and youth)
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how children’s librarians at public libraries motivate their selection and their purchases of fiction for children and youth. The aim is also to find out what is felt like a problem at the selection process and what is not. Six children’s librarians have been interviewed in this qualitative study. On a basis of a theory of literature pedagogic perspectives the librarians were asked how they look upon purchase of fairy-tales, classics, pulpliterature and literature that contributes to the debate about man and society. They were also asked about their opinions of Bibliotekstjänst, of criticism of children’s books and how they reason about their purchases in general. These views are discussed in relation to earlier research. The interviewed librarians look very positively at the purchase of literature that contributes to the debate about man and society. They are also positive to buying fairy-tales and classics but the purchases are diminished by little demand for these books. Purchase of pulpliterature is the least important among these four different types of books. Some librarians buy them and some don’t. Arguments both for and against buying them are expressed. The greatest problems about Bibliotekstjänst are the long delivery time and that the purchases are ruled by their reviews too much. Reviews of children’s books in newspapers and journals are of less importance since they are too few and are published too late. Examples of how the librarians reason about their purchases in general are that they have  no problems buying books which get mediocre criticism, they want to keep the breadth of the collection of books and they don’t mind buying books described as thick and complicated.
*Nr 29 Inger Eriksson Abrinius och Frida Liljeqvist: Barnbibliotek på Internet – en granskning av fyra barnbibliotek på Internet i Sverige och USA (Children’s Library on the Internet – A Review of Four Children’s Libraries on the Internet in Sweden and the USA)
Barnens bibliotek, a Swedish Children’s Library on the Internet with a nationwide assignment is compared to three Children’s Library in the USA with local assignments. All four Children’s Libraries on the Internet are compared in terms of content, form, purpose and if they stimulate children’s intelligences according to Howard Gardner’s theory about multiple intelligences. Three different instruments are used to review the websites. The instruments are created on the basis of literature and the website Barnens bibliotek. To complement these instruments, written interviews are performed with librarians responsible for each reviewed website. All of the libraries have the same kind of content, which focus on learning and providing information. All of the Children’s Libraries on the Internet have several links. The form on the different websites looks a bit different from each other. One of the websites has a web structure while the others have a hierarchic structure. The different Internet based Children’s Libraries are all good at stimulating the linguistic intelligence. The largest differences between the libraries included in the study, when it comes to Gardner’s theory of intelligences, are the way they stimulate the interpersonal intelligence.
*Nr 30 Ulla Ekblad, Madeleine Padellaro: Bibliotekets roll i integrationspolitiken – ett postkolonialt perspektiv (The role of public libraries according to the political aims of integration – a postcolonial perspective)
Sweden of today is a so-called multicultural society. In this thesis we wanted to examine how mono, multi- and intercultural issues are expressed in culture-political documents. We also wanted to know how librarians – for whom these documents are supposed to be guidelines – expressed themselves in these matters. Monoculturalism can be described as a static perspective laid upon culture which emphasises cultural purity. A multicultural society describes a society were the nation consists of many different cultures alongside each other, without a genuinely common core. The perspective of interculturalism is an antiessential, cultures can be said to be hybridities. Our theoretical methods are postcolonial theory and critical discourse analysis. We have tried to combine our text analysis with contextual matters that sometimes become structural barriers for immigrants, such as labour- and education politics. The analysis of the policy documents (1996/97: 3, Kulturpolitik and Kulturpolitisk strategi, version 1.0, 1999) disclosed a multicultural discourse and sometimes even a monocultural discourse. Our interviews with librarians showed that what perspectives were laid upon intercultural issues seemed to depend on where, in what district, they worked. We believe that the discourse in the documents reflects and reproduces an ideology that dominate in society, were immigrants are looked upon as “The others”. Our conclusion is that those in a position of power in society choose to focus on admission of cultural differences rather than on questions of social justice. Possible problems are hence portrayed as individual ones, rather than problems within the unequal politics being conducted.
*Nr 31 Anna Eriksson, Ann Nilsson: Omvärldsbevakning och folkbibliotek – en innehållsanalys av facktidskrifter inom biblioteksfältet (Environmental scanning and Public Libraries – a content analysis of journals connected to the field of libraries)
The research of this Master’s thesis examines if during a specific period of time, Environmental scanning connected to Swedish public libraries is discussed in journals that are directly connected to the field of Swedish libraries. The method employed was content analysis of articles, news items and ads with the intention of finding out the extent of Environmental scanning and who carries it out and how and what is scanned. The research covers the period from 2004-01-01 to 2004-08-31. During the research period 1387 articles, news items and ads were analyzed. The study focuses on 81 selected published units that directly include references or discussion about Environmental scanning. Employing the theory of Environmental scanning, system theory and context for the libraries currently, we have analysed and interpreted these units with content analysis as the criteria. The conclusion is that during the period researched and in connection with the discussion/representation in the journals studied, structured Environmental scanning was not a concept discussed in connection to Swedish public libraries. Our interpretation is that the scanning discussed/represented in the journals, was unstructured and no visible method was explicitly highlighted. Librarians as well as people outside the library carried out the scanning. Obvious themes for discussion/representation were economy, politics and cooperation in the organisations of public libraries.
*Nr 32 Gunilla Karlsson: Referensmötet och den ickeverbala kommunikationen (The reference meeting and the nonverbal communication)
This is a qualitative interview study of the importance of the non-verbal communication related to the reference situation at public libraries. The experiences of both librarians and users of the reference service have been explored with regards to non-verbal communication. Eight interviews have been carried out. The results reveal that the users and librarians consider that it is important that the librarian find eye contact as well as give affirmation through nodding and smiling. To demonstrate interest and involvement in the questions through attentive listening is also of great value. The data collection was analysed with the help of Gudykunst & Kim’s theory of communication.
*Nr 33 Anna Lundh: Informationssökning och lärare: En studie av 4-9-lärare i övergången från utbildning till yrkespraktik (Information seeking and teachers: A study of high school teachers in the transition from education to occupational practice)
The main purpose of this Master’s thesis is to contribute to the understanding of high school teachers’ information seeking behaviour in the transition from university studies to occupational practice. The theoretical framework encompasses theories of professional socialization, the sociology of knowledge, of professions, and of library and information science. The empirical material has been collected through interviews with six recently qualified high school teachers in different subjects. The interviews have been analysed on two different levels; first on a descriptive level and then on a theoretical level. The major findings are that the academic context limited the student teachers’ information seeking and they did not have the opportunity to choose cognitive authorities on their own initiative. Through their education the student teachers learned which sources to use in order to succeed in their studies and it was mainly the use of scientific material that was rewarded. Academic libraries were used to a large extent. In occupational practice the pupils together with colleagues constitute new important conditions for the teachers’ information seeking. A great deal of information seeking is related to the pupils and colleagues become important as new cognitive authorities. Selection criteria change in occupational practice: it is considered more important that a material is useful in classroom situations than that it is scientific. An unexpected problem area also arose: the teachers felt unprepared for the responsibility of facilitating the development of pupils’ information seeking.
*Nr 34 Christina Olsson: Kultur för flera – marknadsföring av teater för personer med dövhet eller hörselskada (Culture for more people – the process of marketing theatre for people with hearing disabilities)
Today many people with disabilities are excluded from cultural activities. The reason for this is that activities and the environment are not adapted to people with disabilities. The aim of this study is to describe the process to make cultural activities accessible and to describe the importance of good communication between cultural suppliers and their customers. Other questions raised are accessibility to cultural activities for people with hearing disabilities, the activities in the marketing process, the interaction between theatre companies and its audience and if the interaction has contributed to the theatre's future development. Qualitative interviews with staff responsible for integration at seven theatres have been performed. The aim of the interviews is to find out how they work to make the theatres more accessible to people with hearing disabilities. Two of the theatres have carried out projects to increase accessibility. As a theoretical tool for analysis, the theory of relationship marketing has been used. The conclusion of the study is that theatres differ in accessibility for persons with deafness or impairment of hearing. The study shows that those theatres who have worked together with people with hearing impairment have been satisfied with this corporation and has resulted in further corporation. The following issues has been discussed: Responsibility for accessibility, translation to sign language, aspects of economy, specific cultural activities for disabled people, ticket purchase, validation of services and communication between theatre companies and people with deafness and hearing impairment. The results of the study can also be of use in other cultural areas.
*Nr 35 Anna Wilner: Funktionshinder – barriär eller genväg till biblioteket? En fallstudie om rörelsehindrades och synskadades biblioteksanvändning (Disability – barrier or a short cut to the library? A case study about the library use of persons with disabilities and visual handicaps)
The aim of this Master’s thesis is to, from a users perspective, investigate which factors affect the library use for six persons with disabilities or visual handicaps. My method has been a case study and the methods applied are interviews and observation. As a theoretical framework I use Tom Wilson’s theories and models about information behaviour and transform them to a model about library use. Answers are sought to the following questions: - What does the library use look like for six persons with disabilities or visually handicaps? - How do they experience the library in their own municipality? - Which factors affect the disabled persons library use and experience of the library? All interviewees showed a very positive attitude towards the library and the majority of them visited the library regularly or received audio books by mail. Most of the people who visited the library on a regular basis found the building functional, airy and easy to orientate oneself in. Negative criticism was given over the toilets for handicapped and the concentration of IT. The library staff and the special services received much praise. Factors that affected the library use of the group in a positive way were the library staff, the special services, interest for reading, the attitude to the library, the need of information and the possibility to have a person who assists at the library. Factors of more negative character were geography, means of communication, the library building and the offer of audio books. In many cases these barriers were overweighed by the positive factors, for example the special services.
*Nr 36 Lars Björklund, Linda Bäckman: Passage Retrieval – en studie av index (Passage Retrieval – a study of indices)
The aim with this thesis came out of a strong interest for Passage Retrieval. Our intention has not been to evaluate an IR-system. Instead our goal has been to analyze the result of indexing documents and their passages. We have been studying the weights of the different terms in the different indices, in comparison with other parameters like frequency, normalized frequency and the inversed document frequency. Further more we have been looking at how the weights are spread using for instance the standard deviation. Our questions at issue are twofold. One: What differences are possible to find in an index after indexing whole documents and after indexing passages? Two: Is it possible to say that Passage Retrieval is more efficient exclusively by looking at the indices? We have investigated 98 documents and created five collections of passages. The indices have been large to break through. Our results have to a certain extent been predictable. We have found that the lowest weights always appear in the whole documents. As a rule of thumb we can see that as the passages reduce in size, the weights of the terms are growing. As to the other question, it is not possible to say whether Passage Retrieval could be preferred in relation to ordinary Information Retrieval, just studying indices.
*Nr 37 Lisa Strandh, Carolina Åkerman: Hur effektiva är de egentligen?: En evaluering av tre webbaserade söktjänster (How efficient are they in fact?: An evaluation of three web-based search engines)
The purpose of this master’s thesis is to evaluate the retrieval effectiveness of three different search engines on the Internet: Google, Yahoo! and MSN Search. We have constructed 25 topics and queries with varying contents, in order to test the width of the search engines as much as possible. In every search we have evaluated the first 20 hits in each of the search engines. The measures we have used are precision and cumulated gain. Precision is based on a binary scale and cumulated gain is calculated by means of a non-binary relevance scale. The relevance judgement in this thesis is based on a four-point relevance scale, which reaches from 0-3. Our method with the two different measures gave us the opportunity to compare how varying the result can be, depending on whether we use a binary or a non-binary scale. Eventually, we analysed the results we got in different DCVs to decide where in the results page the relevant documents are to be found; early or further down the ranked list. There were no considerable differences between the three search engines but Google achieved the highest results for both precision and cumulated gain. Regarding precision Yahoo! got the lowest end result, but for cumulated gain MSN Search performed the worst.
*Nr 38 Hanna Hallnäs: Elektroniskt publicerad litteratur: Beskrivningen av dess för- och nackdelar i svensk bibliotekspress 2000-2004. (Electronically published literature: The description of its pros and cons in Swedish library press 2000-2004.)
During the changes of time, the stipulations for the existence of books and libraries also change. With technical advances come new possibilities, and the option to publish literature electronically is one of them. The purpose of this Master's thesis is to answer the question how the advantages and disadvantages of electronically published literature is described and constructed. To further deepen the analysis these questions were asked: What aims are the electronically published literature said to achieve? Why are the electronically published literature said to achieve these aims? And who are favoured/disfavoured by electronically published literature? The analyzed publications are four Swedish library related publications: Biblioteksbladet, Dik-forum, Ikoner and Nya Ciceron. The analysis is carried out using discourse analysis. In discourse analysis language and action are not separated; what is written and said affect the actions of people. The discourse is seen both as an instrument of power and control and as an instrument for the social construction of reality. The result of the analysis carried out in this thesis shows that the advantages and disadvantages are constructed in a number of varying themes. The advantages are said to be accessibility, rationalisation benefits, increased searching possibilities, and the possibility for minorities to make themselves seen. The disadvantages are described as the technical, legal and commercial dimension, the fact that it has no physical entity, and the possible threat it poses to the printed book. There are some contradictions in the material, since the accessibility and searching possibilities are described both as an advantage and a disadvantage. It is also said that students are favoured by the fact that the electronically published literature is cheaper than printed, but disfavoured by the fact that you have to pay for it. It is clear that the ongoing discussion about electronic publication of literature affects the way in which this area of publication will develop. To understand this relation we have to understand the discussion. This is also what makes the study of the discourse about electronic publication relevant in a more general context within library and information science.
*Nr 39 Lena Floser, Helene Gebele, Maria Ljung: Ledarskap på bibliotek – En studie av tre högskole- och universitetsbibliotek (Leadership in libraries – A study of three academic libraries)
This essay is about leadership in libraries within the aca­demic world, i.e. leadership in research libraries. To place our survey in a context we begin the theoretical review with a chapter about organisation theory. We don’t think it’s possi­ble to separate the leader from the organisation so we wanted to describe the organisation and its effect on the leadership. The next theoretical section is about leadership research. Different types of organisations and different levels within the organisation require different kinds of leadership. We also describe the academic leadership since the research li­brary is situated in an academic environment. We have done qualitative interviews with nine different leaders at three dif­ferent libraries, a large older library, a small new library and a specialized library. In order to cover all levels we inter­viewed the chief librarians in all libraries and then a manager of each level of the hierarchy. Our objective is to understand the managers' views on leadership in general and their own leadership in particular. We want to see how the leadership in academic libraries relates to the academic leadership. We report our results according to the theme guide that we for­mulated on the basis of what we found in the interview ma­terial. The guide contains three main themes: general atti­tude to leadership, the libraries organisations and the connec­tion to the mother organisation. We complete the essay with a summary and discussion.
*Nr 40 Anna Gustafsson: Bibliotekets roll för de utvecklingsstördas integration i samhället (The library’s part in the integration of the mentally disabled persons into the society)
The purpose of this study is to look into what part libraries take in the integration of mentally disabled persons into the society. What I wanted to know more about was how the mentally disabled persons experience the library. I also wanted to find out what librarians and persons working with mentally disabled persons have to say about the part libraries take in the integration of mentally disabled into the society. The study is based on interviews and literature studies. I have interviewed two librarians, four mentally disabled persons and two persons working with mentally disabled people. I chose these three different groups because I wanted to have different perspectives. To analyse the material I have used two different theories. The first sees it from a library perspective and the other looks at it from an integration perspective. In the result I have seen that the mentally disabled persons I interviewed were satisfied with the service they got from the library. The librarians felt that they needed more education about mentally disabled persons. The librarians said that the library had been involved in a project that educated persons working with mentally disabled persons. This education inform about the importance of literature and getting information suitable for the mentally disabled persons. The two persons I interviewed working with mentally disabled persons have received the education. They were really pleased with what they learned and have used their knowledge in their work.
*Nr 41 Eva Axelson, Linda Axelsson: Syntes och struktur i SAB förr och nu: En studie av avdelningen för språkvetenskap genom den första, den fjärde och den sjunde upplagan (Synthesis and structure of the Swedish classification system from past to present: A study of the main class for linguistics in the first, the fourth and the seventh edition)
The aim of this master’s thesis is to examine the synthesis and the structure of the main class for linguistics (F) in the Swedish classification system (SAB). We want to find out whether F has developed towards a more faceted structure or not. Our theoretical perspective is based on fundamental principles for modern classification. To carry out our investigation the first, the fourth and the seventh edition of SAB is analysed and compared. The results of our study show that the main class F has become more faceted and therefore the possibilities to use synthesis have increased. Through synthesis more aspects of a subject can nowadays be expressed in F, and possibly in the entire Swedish classification system. The reason for this development may be the fact that SAB has been influenced by the faceted classification theory, first formulated by Ranganathan. Although F has become more faceted, we still consider it a mainly enumerative scheme since most of the subjects are enumerated and since there is only one place provided for them in the scheme. That F is a mainly enumerative scheme is maybe due to the fact that the system so far has been a fairly sufficient tool when it comes to organizing documents. Also, changing SAB into a faceted scheme would probably require much effort along with heavy expenses. However, in the future document collections will probably have grown in size and a more efficient tool for organizing them will perhaps be needed. Then it may be necessary to turn SAB into a faceted system.
*Nr 42 Sofia Larsson: Gamar över Bagdad: En analys av berättelserna om vad som hände med Iraks kulturarv. (Vultures over Bagdad: An analysis of the tales of what happened to the Iraqi cultural heritage.)
This master thesis deals with the looting and destruction of the Iraqi cultural heritage in the wake of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in April 2003. My ambition is to analyse the narratives conveyed by journalists and intellectuals to see which truths that were established. Using discourse analysis methods, my aim is not to find an objective truth in the matter at hand, but rather to se which truths the writers put into view regarding the question of liability and the seriousness of the looting and destruction. This paper further discusses these truths from the perspectives of imperialism and of Edward Said’s thoughts about Orientalism. It also takes a critical look at the tendencies of the writers to see whether the narratives display testimony of these assumed tendencies. The analysis finds truths that mostly blame the US forces and leaders for the destruction and looting. Some narratives claim that the US government failed to protect the cultural heritage due to indifference and ignorance, while some writers claim that the failure to act was due to US ambitions to undermine the identity of the Iraqi people, and thus impose imperialistic ruling in Iraq. The study also finds that all the writers show more or less explicit tendencies in their articles. Finally I find that some narratives show that orientalism is indeed alive in the minds of some western representatives.
*Nr 43 Marina Hjärpe: Biblioteksutvecklingen i Göteborgs södra skärgård, Styrsö folkbibliotek, 1943-1976 (The development of the library in the southern archipelago of Gothenburg, the public library of Styrsö, 1943-1976)
The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyse the road towards a modern library in the southern archipelago of Gothenburg between the years 1943 and 1976. The archipelago consists of about thirty smaller and larger islands, of which seven are inhabited throughout the year. Styrsö and the surrounding islands composed a municipality of their own until 1973. In January 1974 it became a part of the municipality of Gothenburg, this is also the year when the only bridge in the archipelago was ready to be taken into use, between Donsö and Styrsö. There is no bridge between the mainland and the islands. Styrsö is since long the main island in the archipelago and it is there where the public library was founded in 1943. There were branch- libraries on four other islands, of which Donsö eventually got its own premises. It took about ten years for the main library on Styrsö to acquire enough books to be able to supply the branch-libraries with books. Previous to that the branch-libraries obtained books from the central-library in Gothenburg, which sent out travelling-libraries to them. The island communities were closely knit societies, isolated from the mainland by water. The free-churches played a great role in the daily lives of the population, something that also affected the library. The librarians at the library worked part-time and it was not until in the 1980’s that a librarian was employed full-time.
*Nr 44 Ann-Sofie Nilsson, Marianne Svensson: ”Läsning är inte min grej”: en undersökning av några tonårspojkars attityder till läsning (“To read is not my cup of tea”: a study of some teenage boys’ attitudes to reading)
This study is about fourteen-year-old boys, who are not interested in reading. It deals with what thoughts and feelings some boys have around books, reading and libraries. Further the study investigates the boys' leisure activities and their making of identities. The study is built on interviews among twelve boys in a secondary school. The result is compared to earlier reports and research. The outcome indicates that most boys feel it is boring to read. Despite this some leisure reading occurs. The boys read mainly comics and magazines in connection with their interests. Among the boys, half of them read books in their spare time to a small extent. In the first place their choices were action and adventure books. All of the boys visit the school library when they have to select something to read for the compulsory reading in school. On the contrary only half of the boys visit the public library for the purpose of meeting friends or of reading comics and magazines. All of them have a lot of hobbies and the activities they choose have masculine attributes. These activities can be connected to youth culture and their making of men. Our conception is that by giving boys male reading models and take advantage of their interests in choosing books, it is possible to increase their desire for reading. We think this is possible through a more developed co-operation between parents, school and library.
*Nr 45 Jens Annmark: Organisation av populärmusik online – En komparativ studie av ett folkbiblioteks OPAC och en e-butiks online-katalog (Online organization of popular music – A comparative study of a public library OPAC and the online catalog of an internet store)
Looking for a specific genre of popular music, using the public library OPAC is not as efficient as one would like it to be. The objective of this paper was to examine and compare two different methods of organizing popular music online, in order to pinpoint problem areas in the OPAC. For this study, the OPAC of the public library of Gothenburg and the online catalog of Amazon.com were selected. Three areas of the catalogs were examined: The subject representation of popular music, search possibilities and the presentation of popular music. The empirical data obtained clearly indicated that the Amazon catalog outshines the library OPAC in all three areas. The subject representation is far more specific, the subject search works better with Amazons browsing possibility and Amazon offers the user a lot more information about the documents. The main problems with the OPAC are that the automatic indexing fails, and that the OPAC does not offer the user the possibility of browsing.
*Nr 46 Linda Jerrewing: Kinesisk klassifikation: daoistiska, konfucianska och maoistiska influenser i fem kinesiska klassifikationssystem (Chinese library classification: Daoist, Confucian and Maoist influences in five Chinese library classification systems)
The aim of this thesis is to mediate to the reader an image of Chinese classification systems and in what way the methods of classification have progressed during time. The tradition of classification in China is very old and dates back more than two thousand years, but it wasn’t until the downfall of the dynastic era in the beginning of the 20th century, that Chinese libraries and methods of classification were modernized. This thesis also identifies the development of Chinese librarianship which is of old age since Chinese literature stretches three thousand years back. The main question is in what way the values of three different philosophies are reflected in five classification systems compiled between 1953-1975. The three philosophies are Daoism, Confucianism and Maoism/Mao Zedong Thought. The five classification systems are Library Classification of the People’s University of China, Library Classification of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Library Classification for Medium and Small Libraries, Library Classification of Wuhan University and Chinese Library Classification. The method used is an ideological analysis. It results in a statement that Maoism has been the most influential philosophy in the five classification systems, not only as visible for the eye in the outlines of the classification systems, but also as a guiding line during their compilation. Altogether, this thesis establishes that book classification according to ideological, philosophical and political views has been a tradition in China for as long as the tradition of book classification has existed.
*Nr 47 Sofia Arvidsson, Theodor Tolstoy: Internetbokhandelns rekommendationssystem – en undersökning av Amazon.coms Similar Items. (The recommender systems of Internet Bookstores – an examination of Amazon.com’s Similar Items.)
The aim of this thesis is to examine one part of Amazon.com’s recommender systems: Similar Items. The purpose is also to show the difficulties with subject access, i. e. to find a similar book to the one you just read; problems with traditional systems versus the usefulness with recommender systems like Amazon.com’s Similar Items. Similar Items presents a set, a cluster of related items to a given item based on customers’ co-purchase. The questions examined are: How connected are the created clusters of related similar items? How common is it that the author of the seed (origin book) is also the author of the books in the cluster? What kind of other connections are there in the cluster? How common is it that the similar items in the cluster have the same Browse Node (category) as its seed? In a more qualitative study of 10 books and their similar items; how similar are they? The study consists of a quantitative study of similarities between items and their similar items in 4 iterations and a qualitative study of 10 books. The data collection was extracted from two categories: African American and Russian. The results for the quantitative part show that the number of similar items that are related to the seed is decreasing after every iteration. At the first iteration the clusters are closely connected. The qualitative results show that the clusters have at least one or two common similarities to their seed or to each other. This concludes that Similar Items as a function could be an appropriate complement to a library online catalogue. With more possibilities of accessing fiction, users should have more success in searching for fiction.
*Nr 48 Mikael Gille, Per Schmidt: ”Hur stor skulle världen vara om jag inte kunde läsa”: En studie av kvinnliga interners läsning vid anstalten Hinseberg ( “How big would the world be if I could not read”: A study of female prisoner’s reading at the correctional institution Hinseberg)
The object of this thesis is to direct attention onto female inmates who is a disregarded user group within the discipline of library and information sciences. This study has been performed on location at the Hinseberg correctional institution where nine female criminal offenders constitute the empirical foundation of our inquiry. The question proposed for solution is as follows: Is there a correlation between socio-cultural prerequisites and the reading habits of the female inmates - and if so – how can it be described? Among the conclusions that we have drawn from our study is that the socio-cultural environment has an influence on the well-being of the inmates which in its turn has an impact on their reading. However, the effects on their mental state vary and consequently so does also their reading. Through the Berntsen-Larsen categorical model of literary reading various causes come into view as to why and how the women subjected to our study read. Escapism along with an aspiration to achieve enhanced individual competency and personal development are among the most frequent motives. In addition, the act of reading can be capitalised by the inmates in order to maintain the communication with the surrounding world. Our conjecture implies that this facilitates future rehabilitation to society. A more lucid assessment based on the interview with the librarian, on statements by inmates, and on other facts indicates that the library of the correctional institution at Hinseberg is managed with insufficient fiscal means. We consider this fact regrettable, particularly in view of the positive effects resulting from the inmates’ reading as shown in our study.
*Nr 49 Monika Johansson, Lisa Thunberg: Barns läsning av facktexter. En studie av skolbibliotekariers och pedagogers syn på barns läsning och förståelse av facktexter. (Children’s reading of informational texts. A study of school librarians’ and teachers’ perspective of children’s reading and understanding of informational texts.)
The aim of this Master’s thesis is to analyse school librarians’ and teachers’ perspective of children’s reading and reading progress, the impact of informational texts on children’s reading and how school librarians and teachers work/teach to improve their students’ understanding of informational texts. We also intend to study what consequences school librarians and teachers believe that children’s reduced understanding of informational texts can have in the long run and how this could be improved. The theories applied encompass different literature-pedagogical strategies, theories about reading purpose and direction of the reading process together with a theory that shows the school library’s function in the education. The empirical material has been collected through interviews with one school librarian and one teacher at three different schools. The material has then been analysed and interpreted from theories and earlier research. The major findings are that the school context affects the school librarians’ and teachers’ perspective of reading and literature. Informational texts are mainly associated with knowledge acquisition and are used as an investigating working method to collect facts. Education in reading comprehension of technical texts is mainly done in connection with an investigating way of working. The methods span over basic skills in reading and information seeking to deeper understanding of the text connected to personal experiences, with focus on the first. The school librarians think that it is the teachers’ responsibility to work with understanding of informational texts. The consequences of reduced understanding of informational texts are alarming and the main measure to deal with the problem is, according to the informants, increased reading of fiction.
*Nr 50 Jenny Kihlén, Anna Strid: Lika barn leka bäst? – Om kvinnliga doktoranders vägar till information (Do birds of a feather flock together? – The information access of female Ph.D. students)
The aim of this master’s thesis is to examine the information access of female Ph. D. students in connection with their situation as women and researchers within the academic setting. In order to examine this, qualitative interviews with ten female Ph. D. students within the field of Natural Science have been conducted. Our theoretical perspectives consist of two ideas both partly based on the concept formation of Pierre Bourdieu. One perspective consists of Lars Seldén’s idea of the information seeking career of researchers, in which new concepts have been constructed on the basis of those of Bourdieu. The other perspective consists of Margareta Damm’s research on female Ph. D. students, in which she also applies Yvonne Hirdman’s idea of the division of the sexes. Regarding our conclusions of the information access of the female Ph.D. students, the information access is generally not regarded as being affected by the situation as women in the academic context. However, in those cases where the access seems to be affected, it is limited in connection with information seeking through interpersonal communication. This is expressed in a situation where women constitute a minority at the department and with the opinion that women are excluded from certain areas. The information access of women may also be limited as a consequence of not having a language that corresponds to the language of those in leading positions within the organization. Jenny Kihlén och Anna Strid erhöll Collijn-priset 2005 med ovanstående uppsats.
*Nr 51 Magdalena Danielsson, Ulrika Degerth: Skämtlekar och Elvis Presleyskivor - ett sätt att få kontakt med ungdomar. Diskurser om ungdomar och ungdomsverksamhet i Biblioteksbladet 1916-2005 (Fun games and Elvis Presley records – a way to connect with adolescents. Discourses concerning adolescents and youth services in Biblioteksbladet 1916-2005)
The aim of this essay is to examine different discourses concerning adolescents and library youth services that can be identified in the material. 73 articles from the Swedish library journal, Biblioteksbladet, were analysed trough a model. The different articles were all published between 1916 and 2005. The analysis revealed a result that consists of four discourses about adolescents and youth services at different libraries between 1916 and 2005: the library as fostering discourse, a new era discourse, the visiting activities discourse and the young adult discourse. The library as fostering discourse is based on the idea that the library itself doesn’t need to change the service to adolescents, instead the adolescents are supposed to change into good library users. In the new era discourse the roles are opposite. Here the library guides its services according to the recreational interests of the adolescents. In the visiting activities discourse, the roles of the libraries are to focus on the adolescents that are categorized as nonusers and try to bring them to the library. In the young adult discourse the library is focused on more of traditional library services such as stock and loan and not so much on extension works or visiting activities. An interesting observation that we have noticed during the analysis is the complexity in the relations between the library and adolescents – the problems in this relation never seems to vanish. Already in the library as fostering discourse these problems are noticed, and after that we see them in every discourse. The types of problems are changing, but the basis is still the same – relations between libraries and adolescents are problematic. It seems difficult for the libraries to come to a solution regarding youth services.
*Nr 52 Maria Andersson, Anna Rindälv: ”En snäll tantroman gör ingen skada” – en kritisk studie om skyltning och makt (”An inoffensive romance novel does no harm” – a critical study concerning display and power)
The purpose of our thesis is to take a closer look at what lies behind the display of fiction in public libraries. Through interviewing ten librarians and analysing their statements, it examines the mechanisms behind the displaying of books. The analysis was conducted through the application of two different theories, one by Aant Elzinga and one by Douglas Raber. Elzinga’s theory concerns methods of working, while Raber’s theory concerns the purpose of public libraries and attitudes towards power. The following conclusions were drawn from analysing the statements. Firstly, the predominant strategy utilized by the librarians in question turned out to be the pragmatic one, in which looks and popularity determine which books are displayed. Secondly, the attitude towards power most often adopted by the librarians turned out to be the conservative one. The librarian demonstrates this attitude by being conscious of her power through the display of books, and by her willful execution of said power. This is followed by an examination of how this power is conveyed to the users by assuming different roles, and what political forces stand behind the collection of the library. By applying the concept of ideological hegemony, this thesis then discusses the roles played out by the librarians in question. After considering how the different strategies and attitudes affect the users, the discussion is concluded by an in-depth look at who – or what – benefits from the display of fiction.
*Nr 53 Irina Vilpo Kutishcheva: Läsare på ett mindre folkbibliotek i S:t Petersburg, Ryssland: en fallstudie av ett bibliotek och dess besökare. (Visitors of a small public library in St. Petersburg, Russia: A case study of a public library and its visitors.)
This study describes an examination of a small public library in St. Petersburg, Russia, in the summer of 2002. The object of the study is the Furmanov Library. The purpose of the study’s survey is to determine the importance of a small library for the local citizens. The survey’s questions were as follows: Who visits a small public library in St. Petersburg? Why do citizens visit a public library? What does access to a public library and reading mean to its visitors? The chosen method is case study. Within the scope of this method I have also included both  observations, questions survey and quality interviews. To further develop my empirical material I used Furhammar’s theory on reading habits: personal experience reading, impersonal experience reading, personal instrumental reading and impersonal instrumental reading. I further analyzed which reading habits categories were dominant in the different library visitors. The central thesis of this study is the result of the visitor interviews. They describe the library from their own subjective point of view, which complements the statistical data. The results show that the small local library continues to play an important roll in the community. Both women and men visit the Furmanov Library, with a slight dominance of women. Even age is quite varied. Social status varies from school-age students to researchers. Most visit this particular library because it is the closest geographically. Visitors highly appreciate their library and cannot think of life without it.
*Nr 54 Stina Magnusson: Integrationsprojekt på två bibliotek: mångfald, möten och möjligheter (Integration projects at two libraries: multiculture, meetings and possibilities)
Integration projects at two libraries: multiculture, meetings and possibilities takes it’s start in the fact that Sweden is populated with people from many different nations. The libraries have a unique possibility to arrange integration projects as a supplier of culture and information. This case study focuses on two integration projects arranged by two libraries; the library of Jönköping with the project Brobyggarbiblioteken, and the library of Kortedala which was involved in the project Ordbron. My purpose is to find out how these two libraries chose to work with integration, migrants and multiculture. The aim is to examine if the library could function as a passway to the Swedish society, and to find out if the library can facilitate for migrants to maintain contact with their native country. I have interviewed representatives for the libraries as well as a few of the persons who took part in Ordbron and Brobyggarbiblioteken. Andersson and Skot-Hansen’s Model over det lokale bibliototekets profil and results from the study Gør biblioteket en forskel by Jochumsen and Hvenegaard Rasmussen function as the theoretical background to my study. The result indicates that the library can function as a passway to the Swedish society, for example by supplying books and electronic links in easy Swedish. The libraries can also facilitate for migrants to maintain contact with their native country, for example by offering books, papers and links to websites from different nations. It’s important that the library co-operates with other organizations in the society to succeed with the aim of contributing to integration.
*Nr 55 Arvid Harju: Informationssökning i elektroniska informationskällor – Valmöjligheternas vånda (Information seeking in electronic information sources – The Agony of Selection)
The purpose of this thesis is to examine which factors influence librarians’ selection of electronic information sources, and to investigate whether librarians’ use of search strategies and search tactics changes depending on which information source they use. The electronic information sources are: online databases, Online Public Access Catalogues (OPAC), World Wide Web, and CD-ROM databases. The theoretical framework is based on step 3 Select a source and step 4 Formulate a Query in Marchionini’s information – seeking – model. The search strategies are divided into two categories: analytical – and browsing strategies. In order to supplement the theoretical framework with empirical facts, 8 librarians were interviewed. The results show that the librarians’ selection of information sources is dependent on the expectations concerning the outcome of the search task, the information seeker’s previous knowledge of an information source, the accessibility of the information source, the authoritativeness of the information source, and the information seeker’s previous domain knowledge. The librarians’ use of search strategies and search tactics changes depending on which kind of information source they use and the nature of the search task. The librarians use a wider range of analytical search strategies, such as building blocks, successive facets, successive fractions when they conduct searches in online databases and OPAC’S compared to when they are using search engines on WWW. The use of analytical search strategies is also more common if the search task is well – defined and structured. Browsing strategies are often used when the search task is ill – defined and fuzzy.
*Nr 56 Mattias Hjulström: Biblioteket i civilsamhället. Ett komplement till kommunens uppgift för en hållbar utveckling? (The library in the civil society. A complement for governmental policy of a sustainable development?)
The purpose of this master thesis is to find out if library activities in civil society may be seen as a complement to public activities. The incitement lies in a discussion in the research activities of social sciences and among politicians, where the opinion is that civil society may function as a complement to governmental policy. The NGO-library Föreningen Miljöbiblioteket i Lund and the municipality of Malmö stad where chosen as units for examination. The common feature of the two units is the global task introduced by the UN, to create a sustainable development. The material used is exclusively concerning domestic information activities. The literature used for the background and theory chapters is taken from academic disciplines such as sociology and business economics. The method used is document analysis, which includes a comparison between the parts that Miljöbiblioteket and Malmö stad plays in the work for a sustainable development. Parts of the theory of Ulrich Beck on ”the risk society” were used to perform the analysis. The conclusions of the thesis are that library activities in the civil society may make up a complement to public activities. Because the two units emphasize different qualities of their work, there are some differences. For example, Miljöbiblioteket uses the global perspective to a higher extent than Malmö stad, and the group that Miljöbiblioteket aim to reach are citizens who are already engaged in environmental affairs. After all, the main conclusion is, that there is more that connect then divide the two activities.
*Nr 57 Linn Kvist, Liv Olofsson Lundström: Kvalitet: självklar måttstock eller förlegat tankesätt? Sju inköpsansvariga bibliotekariers syn på kvalitet i musiksammanhang (Quality: obvious standard or an old way of thinking? Seven librarians’ views of quality in a phonogram purchase context)
This master thesis focuses mainly on the concept of quality and how the librarians responsible for phonogram purchase use it. The main object is to investigate how the librarians responsible for the purchasing of phonogram works when in the process of selecting the phonograms and how they speak about the concept of quality. Based on this main object four problems has been addressed. The empirical material is interviews made with the seven librarians responsible for phonogram purchase at seven Swedish libraries. The result of this investigation is analyzed based on a theoretical framework created by Sanna Talja, which focuses on what a phonogram collection should contain. The result from this study shows that the quality concept effects the selection in several ways. The first way is that the recorded material should meet certain standards in form of professionalism of the recording and of the artist performance. The librarians often speak about the importance of having a complete collection that is more varied than the music played on radio and TV. In practice the librarians often use lists and reviews helping them in their selection. As regards librarians’ views of user needs the librarians in our study say that they want to satisfy their needs to a certain extent. But that it is also important to have a varying collection.
*Nr 58 Katarina Bjelvenmark: Bokjuryn. Barnbibliotekariers syn på och arbete med det nationellt läsfrämjande projektet (”Bokjuryn”. Children’s librarians view of and work with the national reading project)
The aim with this thesis is to examine how children’s librarians apprehend and use the nationally initiated reading project ”Bokjuryn” as an instrument in their work. The main question is as follows: How does ”Bokjuryn” work related to the way public libraries pass on literature? Two questions are asked: How does the children’s librarians use ”Bokjuryn” as an instrument and how do they motivate their work with it? and ”How do the children’s librarians view the reading project ”Bokjuryn” as a method of passing on literature? The study is based on qualitative interviews with five children’s librarians. As a theoretical starting-point Jofrid Karner Smidt´s work about mediation of literature has been used. A model has been created and used based on Louise Limberg’s analyses of the differences between school libraries and public libraries to analyse the result of the interviews together with other literature. The most common method of work is to inform about the project during book talk. ”Bokjuryn” works best when the form of activity is directed and served with as a”complete product”. The main motive for children’s librarians is their task as mediators of literature. ”Bokjuryn”, nationally initiated, is also something they ”should” work with. All children’s librarians have a positive attitude towards national reading projects even though they have different ways of looking at how this projects form affects their work with literature. The way ”Bokjuryn” works corresponds better to the school libraries´ intentions and work methods than the public libraries.
*Nr 59 Else-Britt Hellström: Den kombinerade effekten av query-expansion och query-strukturer på återvinningseffektiviteten i ett probabilistiskt system (The co-effects of query expansion and query structures on retrieval performance in a probabilistic system)
This thesis deals with query formulation in full text retrieval. The variables studied were query expansion and query structure, and the aim of the thesis is to study their co-effects on retrieval performance in a probabilistic system. The expansion was made with synonyms, and the structure by expressing facets and phrases. The study was performed using QPA, Query Performance Analyzer, which includes InQuery retrieval system and a sub-collection of TREC documents with its topics. The measurement used was precision at 11 DCV points. The best result was obtained by queries with no expansion and a structure where all terms had equal influence. Any other combinations of expansion and structure used in this study were contraproductive. The results point out that extensive expansion including all kinds of term relations, and a faceted structure, as used in earlier studies, are more favourable than the rather limited expansion and structures used in this study. The possible influence of the fact that all queries included phrases is discussed. The methods to structure phrases and how to create their synonyms are discussed as important variables for further investigations. The importance of how expansion terms are chosen as well as good term sources is also underlined.
*Nr 60 Tina Kalin, Mona Magnusson Wernbro: ”Det känns som jag försvinner in i böckerna”. Barns favoritböcker, läsupplevelser och läsning från barns och barnbibliotekariers perspektiv (“It feels like I am disappearing into the books”. Children’s favourite books, reading experiences and reading from children’s and children’s librarians’ perspectives)
The aim of this master thesis is to obtain a greater understanding of children’s choice of favourite books, insight in their reading experiences and their thoughts about the reading of these books. We also want to investigate if, and if so, how children’s librarians obtain knowledge of the children’s reading preferences and reading experiences and how they use this knowledge in their work to stimulate children’s reading. To reach our aim we have been carrying out quantitative interviews with six children aged nine to ten years and three children’s librarians working in public libraries. As a theoretical starting point we use the reader-oriented theory and Chambers’ Reading circle, which states that support from adults is the most important factor in the child’s reading process. The empirical results are linked to theories and earlier research and are analysed under four different themes. The results show that the majority of the favourite books chosen by the children are adventure stories. However, the children did not choose the same books and this suggests that each child feels something special for his or her choice. This corresponds with what the reader-oriented theory states, namely that meaning is created between the reader and the text and it points out the importance of using the reader’s perspective, in this case the reading child. The interviews with the children’s librarians confirm the importance of focusing on the child. For that reason we have reworked the Reading circle, placing the child in the centre as the main influence factor in the reading process.
*Nr 61 Cecilia Andersson, Marie Pilbrant: Google Scholar eller Scirus för vetenskapligt material på webben? En utvärdering och jämförelse av återvinningseffektivitet. (Google Scholar or Scirus for scholarly material on the web? An evaluation and comparison of retrieval effectiveness.)
This thesis evaluates and compares the retrieval effectiveness of the two search engines Google Scholar and Scirus, which both specialises in indexing scholarly material on the web as well as journal articles. Thirty search queries are used and the first twenty retrieved documents for each query are examined for topical relevance and scholarly content. The search queries are based on legitimate information needs taken from a scientific questionbox on the web. Queries are expressed with advanced search operators and are the same for both search engines. Precise relevance criteria are set up and a binary scale is used when judging. Inactive, duplicate, and mirror links are all considered non-relevant, as well as documents judged as non-scholarly. Two methods of measuring precision are used: average precision at each DCV for all search queries, and average precision at each DCV for each search query; which both credit ranking of relevant documents. As for scholarly content, both relevant and non-relevant documents are judged, and results are expressed in per cent. When judging scholarly content, guiding principles are being followed. There is not a great difference in results between the two search engines, although Google Scholar provides slightly higher results for all precision measures as well as being the best in retrieving scholarly material. However, Scirus is the better at retrieving relevant documents at DCV = 1 and DCV = 2, as showed by average precision at each DCV for all search queries.
*Nr 62 Pernilla Bergqvist, Karin Karlsson: Samarbete mellan bibliotek och förskola – En studie om huruvida samarbete kan främja barns och särskilt invandrarbarns språkutveckling (Cooperation between library and preschool – A study about if cooperation can support children’s and especially immigrant children’s language development)
This Master’s thesis concerns how library and preschool can cooperate in supporting children’s language development and especially that of bilingual children. We have investigated how librarians’ and preschool teachers’ different competences can complement each other to gain the best result in work with children’s language development. This study is based on qualitative interviews with four librarians and three preschool teachers. The answers from them have been analysed according to different categories. Our results show that both librarians and preschool teachers think that bilingual children need extra support and that it takes longer to learn two languages. The librarians can support them by providing literature in different languages. The preschool teachers have a responsibility to use the literature in different ways that lead to language development. Children need communication in their first language as well as in their second language to develop an understanding of the Swedish language. To maintain this cooperation, the librarians and the preschool teachers need to have a good dialogue.
*Nr 63 Marit Hammarland, Anna Hasselblad: ”Nån måste väl veta vem man är": En studie av hur ungdomar skapar identitet i sju svenska ungdomsromaner (“Someone has to know who you are": A study of adolescent identity formation in seven Swedish youth novels)
The aim of this Master’s thesis is to examine how identity formation is described in a few Swedish youth novels written in the 21st century. We apply the theories of the psychiatrist Jan Ramström and the sociologist Anthony Giddens who both assume that identity is formed in relation to the environment. Ramström stresses that adults have an important role to play in the integration of the adolescents into the adult society. Giddens stresses that people in the late modernity are affected in their identity formations because of the loss of traditions. In order to find out how identity is formed, four main questions were constructed. The questions deal with the adolescents’ relations to adults, with issues regarding lifestyle and with issues regarding trust. In the background section of the essay we provide descriptions of the development of youth literature and of the relationship between adolescents and society. The four main questions were used in the analysis of the novels. We applied a close-reading of the books, and the interpretation was carried out in an oscillating way between details of the novels and the novels as a whole. We found that there is a striking absence of adults in the characters’ lives and that the characters reflect about how they should lead their lives, who they are and how to get their lives together. The possibility for the characters to narrate the story of the self, was found to be highly important.
*Nr 64 Lina Allard: Föräldrars attityder till bilderböcker och barns läsning (Parents’ attitudes towards picture books and children’s reading)
The aim of this study is to investigate parents’ attitudes towards picture books and children’s reading. The study is based upon qualitative interviews with seven parents, 29-44 years of age, who have children between 3 and 6 years of age. The study is hermeneutic. The conceptual framework used in this study, is Uffe Seilman’s categories of different kinds of attitudes towards children’s sparetime occupations, for example reading. These are the authoritarian, the laissez-faire and the democratic attitudes. The results show that the parents generally has a democratic attitude toward children’s reading, which means that they do not intend to control their children’s reading habits or the books that are chosen, but to introduce them into varying kinds of books. When it comes to picture books, they foremost like what their children like. This often implies funny books with funny and gaily coloured pictures. The parents think that it is important to read for their children but do not seem to have given much thought about why it is important. The reasons that are mentioned are foremost of educational character. When it comes to subjects in picture books, the parents often want their children to read about things that pave the way for identification or things from which they can learn about aspects of life. They do not avoid books concerning “bad” or “sad” subjects since they want their children to learn about real life.
*Nr 65 Christian Nilsson: Sluta drömma, fram med vardagen! – en analys av den realistiska strömningens idéer i fyra svenska barnböcker utgivna mellan åren 1965 – 1975 (Stop dreaming and face reality! – an analysis of the ideas of the realistic tales shown in four Swedish books for children, published between the years 1965 to 1975)
The aim of this Master’s thesis is to investigate if the ideas of the realistic tale in Swedish literature for children can be identified by examining four books for children. The four books are all published between the years 1965 to 1975. The methods used to identify the ideas of the realistic tale are the concepts of alienation and antiestablishment. By using the theory of true and false consciousness represented by Diderichsen and the theory of Socialisation by Giddens, two questions are addressed. The questions are if the ideas of the realistic tale develop a true or a false consciousness. And if so, how reasonable is it to understand the analysed material as secondary agent of socialisation. The conclusion is that the ideas of the realistic tale interpreted by the concepts of alienation and antiestablishment can develop a true consciousness even though some important ideas, as for example ideas concerning consumption and mass production, are not as present as they are in the “manifesto” of the realistic movement. All and all, the analysed books nurtures ideas that can develop a true consciousness and the material can therefore be recognised as a secondary agent of socialisation.
*Nr 66 Emilie Andersson: Barnbibliotekariers inköp av ungdomsböcker (Children’s librarians and purchase of juvenile books)
The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to accomplish an understanding for children’s librarians’ purchases of juvenile books. Two main questions are to be answered: - Which considerations do children’s librarians do when buying juvenile books and which goals and motives are behind their purchases? - What do children’s librarians think that their knowledge and competence consists of and how is that knowledge useful when buying juvenile books? To answer the questions qualitative interviews with five children’s librarians have been carried out. The material has been analyzed through a theoretical construction consisting of theories about collection development, book selection and quality judgments. The conception “tacit knowledge” (silent knowledge) from Michael Polanyi has also been used for interpretation.  The findings show that children’s librarians do several different judgments when deciding to buy a book. These judgments can be divided into three main categories: judgments about quality, judgments concerning the needs of users and judgments about collection development. Their motives behind their purchases are to buy books that can provide reading stimulation, language development and personal development for the young readers. The children’s librarians say that knowledge about books, about young peoples reading preferences and knowledge about their own library collection is what constitutes their competence.
*Nr 67 Helene Dahl, Jessica Nilsson: Någonting mystiskt händer i Sjumilaskogen: En kulturpolitisk analys av TV-reklam riktad till barn på TV 4 och Kanal 5 (Something mysterious is happening in the Hundred Acrewood: A cultural policy analysis of TV-commercials intended for children in TV 4 and Kanal 5)
The aim of this Master’s thesis is to review Sweden’s unique law against TV-commercials intended for children under twelve years old. The law has to be abided by TV 4, but not by Kanal 5, so the aim is also to compare TV 4 and Kanal 5 and to see in what different ways commercials are shaped in the two channels. The cultural policy analysis is based on our aim and problem. We have also had the terms semiotic and intermediality in mind together with a model made by the researcher in semiotics Roman Jakobson. The model consists of six different communicative functions. The research is founded on TV-commercials recorded from TV 4 and Kanal 5 during four weekends in February 2005. We only analyse the commercials which we think are intended for children, which then means seven different TV-commercials from TV 4 and nineteen different ones from Kanal 5. The results of this study reveal that TV-commercials on TV 4 broke the law thirteen times and that Kanal 5 showed TV-commercials intended for children only during this period of time. TV-commercials are not allowed to directly encourage children under age to buy a product, which the makers of the commercials avoid by instead encouraging them indirectly. The research also reveals that all functions but one were used in the TV-commercials. TV-commercials are also often shaped different depending on what gender the product is intended for.
*Nr 68 Anders Forsslund: Digital eller mänsklig service åt användare av folkbibliotek? En diskursanalys av artiklar ur fyra svenska bibliotekstidskrifter 2003-2004. (Digital or Human Service to Users of Public Libraries? A Discourse Analysis of Articles in Four Swedish Library Journals 2003-2004.)
The aim of this Master’s thesis is to examine the user service discourses in the field of public libraries that can be identified in four Swedish library journals. Also which underlying causes that control the discourses and the consequences of them are examined. Questions in this study are: which discourses can be found, what characterises them, what kind of different discourses concerning technology in society control the user service discourses and what are the consequences of them. The theoretical starting-point is Ernesto Laclau’s and Chantal Mouffe’s discourse theory. The method is text analytic. 27 articles from four library journals – bis, Biblioteksbladet, DIK-forum and Ikoner are analysed. Three discourses concerning service to users of public libraries are identified: a digital discourse, a human discourse and a pragmatic discourse. The digital discourse is found to be based on information technology and to have a nomological account of technological determinism as underlying cause. The consequences of the digital discourse may be more digitally based service and less human based service. The human discourse is found to be based on personal service and to have an underlying cause of technological determinism that is time-dependent. The consequences of the human discourse may be human based service in spite of technological development. The pragmatic discourse is found to be based on both information technology and human service and to have an underlying cause of technology seen as socially constructed. The consequences of the pragmatic discourse may be that both digital and human service are seen as complementary.
*Nr 69 Jennie Wangel: Libros para todos – Folkbibliotek och demokrati i Nicaragua (Libros para todos – Public libraries and democracy in Nicaragua)
Libraries all over the world struggle against the threat of decreased funding and a lack of governmental interest. In countries with an under-developed library sector the interest from the government is often minimal or non-existent. Since the 80´s Sida, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency has contributed to the library development in Central America through the Royal Library of Sweden. Nicaragua was the first country to be counterpart in the project. For a period of eight weeks I have completed a field study in Nicaragua and visited the National Library Rubén Darío and public libraries in the country. There are three major parts in this thesis. The first is to consider how public libraries can contribute to the process of democratization in Nicaragua. The vision for the support project is to increase public participation in the process of democratization. I have studied how successfully this vision has been implemented. There are two different views on how public libraries can contribute to democratization: actively and passively. The second part of this thesis is a discussion about how public libraries in Nicaragua can and should contribute actively to democratization. The final part is a study of five kinds of hindrances to library development: economical, administrative, cultural, professional and political. The public libraries in Nicaragua, seen from a deliberative theory of democracy, can contribute to the process of democratization by providing information and knowledge to the people. The hindrances are many but mainly of economic character and a lack of political interest. A reestablishment of an education within Library and Information Science, a political interest and active libraries providing mobile service and lending systems are necessary for the development of Nicaraguan libraries. Public libraries are of great importance in the democratic process, especially in societies with a lack of the written word.
*Nr 70 Rebecca Ahlström, Angelica Ekstrandh: Bokprat för barn: ur ett förmedlarperspektiv (Booktalk for children: from a mediator’s point of view)
The aim of this master’s thesis is to explore a mediator’s practical procedure during booktalks. The main question is: Why do librarians have booktalks and what does it mean to have booktalks for children? In order to answer our main question, we have used these three questions: - Why do our interviewed librarians have booktalks? - How do our informants prepare their booktalks and what do their presentations look like? - Do our informants have any follow-ups of their booktalks and if so, how do they do that? To limit the thesis, we have concentrated our study to Swedish public libraries and to children in the elementary school. We have conducted qualitative interviews with three librarians who do booktalks for children as a part of their job. The thesis’ theoretical basis is Aidan Chambers’ theory about the Reading Circle and especially the parts enabling adult and selection. The study shows that the main reason to why our informants do booktalks is that they want children to enjoy reading books. Since there are no follow-ups of the booktalks, our informants can never be sure that their work is getting through to the children.
*Nr 71 Ann-Louise Jonsson: ”Får man skriva så här?” : En feministisk undersökning av mottagandet i recensioner i svensk dagspress av fyra romaner med bekännelsekaraktär (“Is it permitted to write like this?” : A feministic study of the reception of four novels with a trait of confession in reviews in the Swedish daily press)
The purpose with this thesis is to examine how four novels with a trait of confession written between 1996 and 2001 have been received in the Swedish daily press. This is done from a feministic perspective. The study is based on 36 reviews and the method which is used consists of a close-reading of the reviews, where the following questions are asked to the texts: Are there examples of reception in sexual analogies?; Are the novels ascribed a status of universality or are they considered to be something private?; How does the reviewers comment the exposure of the authors themselves and persons close to them?; What does the positive versus negative criticism concentrate on?; How does the reviewers comment the sexual element in the novels? The theoretical framework focuses on how women’s literature has been treated in literary criticism and the treatment of the confession novels in the 1970’s. The analysis of the reviews has, among many other things, showed that the novels mostly are regarded as something private; that the reviewers – for different reasons – question the publishing of the novels and that there are things concerning women and sexuality that is not accepted to write about. I have also discerned that there are many similarities between the reception of the four novels in this study and the treatment of the confession novels in the 1970’s.
*Nr 72 Katarina Norstedt, Shiva Sartippour: Att hitta rätt: bibliotekariers utveckling av referensarbete (To find it: librarians’ development of reference service)
The aim of this Master’s thesis is to understand how librarians develop their reference service. The purpose was to find patterns in how librarians work with reference questions. As a theoretical framework we have used research in the reference field. Where do the skills of the search process come from: education or experience? Answers were sought to the following questions: - How different are the search process in practice compared to theory? - Which similarities and differences are there among the informants? - How important was the education in comparison to the knowledge about the libraries collections? - How did the changes in the school system in 1993 influence reference education and what could the consequences be to the reference knowledge among librarians? We sent out a question form and a search question which was answered by 12 librarians in university and university college libraries. We found out that the librarians used the same search process and that it is similar to our theoretical framework. Most of the informants thought that education is necessary for a basic understanding for the work and they all thought that when working in a library you develop the skills for good reference services.
*Nr 73 Jonas Larsson: Frihetens bakgård – en litteratursociologisk studie om självets identitetsvåndor i det senmoderna samhället (The backyard of freedom – a study in the sociology of literature about the struggle of the self to form an identity in the late modern society)
This Master’s thesis is analysing four Swedish novels written by first time authors published between 1993-2002. The purpose is to make the fictitious main characters illustrate what conditions and obstacles there can be for the individual of today to create a self-identity. Anthony Giddens’ ideas about the self in the late modern society are used as a theoretical framework. In the core of Giddens’ theory is the concept of reflexitivity which means that the self must be constructed in a continuous fashion because the overall conditions in society are subject to constant change. The questions posed in this study are dependable on Giddens in general and the concept of reflexivity in particular. The method used is a loose form of idea and ideology analysis. In the conclusion it is observed that the characters are experiencing great troubles in establishing an autobiographical reflexive way of thinking, which is of crucial importance for the construction of a self identity in the late modern society. The main obstacle is the dependence on other people’s notion of the self. In a final discussion it is noticed that the globalised society involves numerous ways of looking at identity.
*Nr 74 Susanna Wigh, Pethra Öster: Regionbiblioteken i Tanzania – en fältstudie av den offentliga biblioteksservicen (Regional Libraries in Tanzania – a field study of the Public Library Service)
This master’s thesis concerns the Public Library Service in Eastern Africa, Tanzania. Our subject was developed through a feasibility study that gave us comprehension that developing countries have individual problems concerning books and libraries. We understood that the main problems were the libraries’ financial situation and their dependence on aid. We also understood that the libraries do not have the resources to satisfy the society as a whole.  The major questions raised in this study are: - How do the regional librarians describe their work situation? -Which role do the Regional Librarians have in society? Data was collected through interviews and observation, and the study is a qualitative case study.  We interviewed five head librarians. The main conclusions are that the librarians view their role as being important for the population, mainly because they have a significant educational role for the society since their largest user groups are people in education. As an institution they can provide study material and give guidance regarding information sources. Another conclusion is that the librarians view their educational role as important in the fight against poverty.
*Nr 75 Stina Hallin: Länkanalys: En undersökning av ett biblioteks- och informationsvetenskapligt delfält (Link analysis: A study of a field of library and information science)
The aim of this study is to analyse and investigate a rather new field of LIS studies, i.e. link analysis which is a part of webometrics. Webometrics has been described as the quantitative study of web based phenomena drawing on bibliometric or informetric methods. Link analysis has its counterpart in citation analysis within the field of bibliometrics. The questions the study investigates are if webometrics can provide LIS with new knowledge and if there is a place for webometric studies in LIS research. The study was carried out by a juxtaposition of different texts. As a background to the empirical part of the study a presentation of informetrics and bibliometrics is given. A comparison between link analysis and citation analysis is also offered. The empirical part displays two different views on bibliometrics and webometrics, as well as seven webometric studies of different kinds. The conclusion drawn from the text study is that link analysis has much in common with citation analysis, and that webometrics is a promising area of research, though it has some problems to overcome before it can survey sound research in the field of LIS. These problems mainly consist of the difficulty to gather reliable data for the analysis.
*Nr 76 David Gunnarsson, Catrin Petersson: Queryexpansion med böjningsvarianter och uppbrytning av sammansättningar (Query expansion by inflection and decompounding)
The purpose of this thesis is to examine the performance of queries that are expanded by 1) inflections, 2) compound splitting and 3) inflections and compound splitting combined. For compound splitting, the morphological analyser SWETWOL was used. Queries were executed in the Query Performance Analyser, QPA, containing the InQuery system. Query terms were selected from 29 topics, all of whom containing at least one compound word. Both the queries and the documents were in Swedish. The results of the study indicates that the use of inflections have more impact on the retrieval performance than compound splitting. Overall, we found that the query expansion by inflection and compound splitting are useful strategies.
*Nr 77 Marianne Belsing: Attributanvändande vid sagostunder på folkbibliotek (Use of attributes in story-time activities at the public library)
The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to investigate what attributes were used in story-time activities, why attributes were used in story-time activities and what functions they have. The study is based on qualitative methods in the form of a literature studies, observations and interviews. The interviews were undertaken with two storytellers from the same public library. The story-time activities were adapted for children from three to six years of age. The study suggested that there was a connection between story-time activities and a social and cultural perspective. Many parts in a story-time activity context were based on communication and interaction between the storyteller and the children who participated in the activities. Attributes can also be seen as tools for communication in the story-time activities. I found a lot of objects that could be used by the storyteller in the story-time activities. The function of the objects was to keep up the concentration and attention from the children, make them listen to the story and a possibility to developing their language in an amusing way.  Clarified terms and other conceptions which were difficult to understand for example fear, anger and joy were other explanation to use attributes in story-time activities. The functions of the objects could be splitted in two different categories, the story-time activities and the story. In both these categories the objects could be used as actors or in the frame.
*Nr 78 Elin Bjärehed, Mikaela Redenkvist: Bibliotek och bokhandel som litteraturförmedlare: En användarundersökning på ett bibliotek och i en bokhandel (Library and bookstore as a fiction intermediary: A user study in a public library and in a bookstore)
The purpose of this study is to examine what readers of fiction literature are influenced by when they choose books. What libraries and bookstores do to influence readers in their choice of literature and how readers perceive the library’s and the bookstore’s influence on them in their choice of fiction literature. We have also studied which factors outside the library and the bookstore that readers are influenced by when borrowing or buying a certain book and to what extent readers are influenced by the book’s appearance. To answer our questions we chose a public library and a bookstore, where we interviewed six persons in each place. We have interviewed a librarian and a bookstore manager for information about how these two cultural institutions work with marketing of their fiction literature. The result of the study shows that different factors, as advertisement and what other people read, influence readers to borrow or to buy a book. The library and the bookstore influenced our interviewees most through book display and front exposure and also through offering fewer books in one place. The interviewees chose literature by book covers, title, author, size and the summary of its content.
*Nr 79 Irene Lammassaari, Annica Larsson-Skoglund: Informationsförmedlingen till Försäkringskassans handläggare (The information support to the administrators of the Swedish social insurance office)
The main purpose of this master thesis is to study the information support by the head office of the Swedish social insurance office to its administrators. The thesis only focuses on information that concerns laws, regulations and instructions. The study is based on an interview with the head of the division of law at the social insurance head office and a questionnaire answered by administrators in four different counties. The purpose with the interview was to find out about the information strategy of the head office and in the questionnaire the administrators could describe their opinion of their information support. Our special interest was the information channels and how the administrators were able to absorb the essential information. The result of the research was that the administrators were quite satisfied with the information support but they had difficulties in using the information channels. According to the head office the main channel is the intranet which the administrators found difficult to search and they required a better structure. Another problem was the lack of time and to heavy burden of work. The authors mean that the Swedish social insurance office should gain a lot by invest in an intranet with a proper structure that better could support the administrators information need, this would also lead to a great saving of time.
*Nr 80 Siri Axensten: En komparativ litteraturstudie av olika termkällor för query expansion (A comparative literary study of different sources for query expansion)
The purpose of this thesis is to make a comparative literary study of ten laboratory experiments with different kind of sources for query expansion terms. The experiments are grouped according to categories of term sources, which are: search results, collection dependent knowledge structures, collection independent knowledge structures and one that combines the two last mentioned sources into one. To enable a comparison all other variables were held as constant as possible. There is the improvement measured in mean average precision, which is used to measure the various sources potential. The result from the study shows a strong connection between the kind of source for the expansion term and improvement of the result. The experiments were structured based on results from A to B, the best result being A followed by B and so forth. The idea with these units is also to show potential common characteristics according to query expansion strategies. Unit A consists of the combined knowledge structure and has shown considerably better result compared to the others. The hypothesis of this experiment was, that different knowledge structures have various characteristics, that together reinforce each other. The experiments in unit B all use the collection as term source, including search result as such, and are also all statistically based. The only experiment using NLP technique and linguistically based measurement between terms, constitutes unit C. Unit D consists of all experiments in which collection independent sources were used for query expansion.
*Nr 81 Lisa Lorentzon: Mer kreativitet med fler patent? En textanalys av förslaget till nytt EU-direktiv Patenterbarhet för datorrelaterade uppfinningar och anslutande dokument. (Increased creativity with more patents? An analysis of the proposal for a new European Union directive on The patentability of computer-implemented inventions and connected statements.)
In February 2002 the European commission put forward a proposal for a new directive on The patentability of computer-implemented inventions, but which during my work on this essay has not been decided on yet. The directive has divided the decision-makers in the union, the commission and parliament, into two different positions regarding by which range computer-implemented inventions should be patentable. The parliament has amended the commission’s proposal in a substantial way and the legal process has caused a heated debate both within the unions’ administration and among various interest groups both in favour of and against a patent on computer-implemented inventions. The loudest protests have come from a group that feels threatened by a possible software patent: Open Source. In this study I examine both the arguments by the decision-makers and by the lobbying for and against the proposal. By analysing the rhetoric in selected texts, I have been able to find different standpoints and perspectives on intellectual property. While the commission shows a narrow economic perspective on the regulation of intellectual property, the parliament has shown a concern for creativity that should not be too severely controlled by a few. The commission advocates liberalised rules of patentability while the parliament wants to draw the line clearly around what inventions can and cannot be given patent. There is also a divergent attitude to the phenomenon Open Source software, which the decision-makers have neglected in the process, but which other parts of the union’s administration notice as the possible future of the software market.
*Nr 82 Maria Ledin: Barnbibliotekariers kompetens och kärnkunskaper på området litteraturförmedling och läsfrämjande arbete (The Competence and Focal Knowledge of Children’s Librarians within the Area of Reading Promotion and Reading Stimulation)
This paper conducts a qualitative examination based on interviews with six children’s librarians. The purpose is to put a perspective on the librarians’ competence and focal knowledge within the area of reading promotion and reading stimulation aimed for children, and also to examine how this competence and knowledge is constructed. The work is based on the following questions: How do children’s librarians experience reading promotion and reading stimulation within their profession? Which competence and what knowledge do children’s librarians experience as most important in order to make their work with reading promotion and reading stimulation function? What can be concluded regarding the construction of their competence and knowledge? The analysis is carried out from theories about competence, tacit knowledge and reading promotion. Following primary conclusions are drawn from the study: The professional role is mainly experienced as promoting reading as pleasure, but also as an important factor for children’s language development. The most important knowledge is the knowledge of children’s literature and the child as the promotee. Important qualifications are said to be commitment, empathy, good communicative skills and ability to listen. Knowledge of children’s literature is chiefly acquired by reading said literature. In time the knowledge of literature tends to function tacitly while the child tends to be more in focus. The competence and knowledge is based more on practical experience than on formal education.
*Nr 83 Line Berg: Litteraturkritik och feminism. En undersökning med utgångspunkt i Klara Johansons position på det litterära fältet (Literary criticism and feminism. A study focusing on Klara Johanson’s position on the literary field)
The aim of this study is to explore the conditions of the female literary critic in the early twentieth century, when the literary field still was characterized by male domination. The female critic in general and Klara Johanson in particular are explored using Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of field and the concept of shadow field, which is a later invention by J .P. Roos & Anna Rotkirch. These concepts are used to describe the literary criticism in the early twentieth century in relation to the feminist movement which was developing at the same time. Female pioneers in the literary field such as Klara Johanson were often part of this movement, and her connections to both a field of literary criticism and a feminist shadow field are explored. The investigation shows that gender is of importance for the possibilities of gaining position on the literary field. It also shows that what I define as a feminist shadow field existed parallel to the literary field, and literature was written and commented upon in the publications of the different groupings of the feminist movement. The writers were usually female and a feminist perspective was frequently used. Considering this context, Klara Johanson’s work as a literary critic can be understood as belonging to both the field of literary criticism and to the feminist shadow field as outlined in this paper, as the feminist perspective is understood as an important aspect of her literary criticism.
*Nr 84 Karin Andersson: ”Den är ju liksom tuggad någon annanstans”: Barnbibliotekariers upplevelser av barns och ungdomars ålagda frågor under referensintervjun (“It is as if it were rehashed from somewhere else” How children’s librarians understand imposed queries from children during reference interviews)
The purpose of my Master’s thesis is to investigate how children’s librarians in public libraries perceive and meet imposed queries during the reference interview with children and young people. What do children’s librarians think about imposed queries from children and young people? What problems can arise during a reference interview with children and young people, and what strategies can be used to solve them? How can children’s librarians prepare for imposed queries from children and young people that have arisen in school related situations? The study was carried out at public libraries in Sweden. In the review of the literature results from prior research and other relevant material are presented. The theoretical framework includes a communication model on imposed queries developed by Gross, and two other models “Levels of Mediation” and “Zone of Intervention”, developed by Kuhlthau. Qualitative interviews were undertaken with six children’s librarians and analysed through five different perspectives. From the conclusions one can see that the children’s librarians have diverse opinions about children’s and young people’s imposed queries. It is found that school related queries are the most common type of reference issue. For developing methods of support cooperation between the public library and the school plays a decisive role.
*Nr 85 Louise Lindgren, Therese Nilsson: Bibliotekarierna och bilderna av dem – En jämförande studie (Librarians and the images of them – A comparative study)
The aim of this study is to examine a number of Swedish working public librarians and compare them with some popular standard images of librarians. In this project we have been working in line with these three questions: How do the librarians describe themselves and how can the descriptions be interpreted? What images are the most common and repetitive, according to earlier research? What differences and similarities are there between the images of the librarians and the working librarians? To answer the questions we have performed seven qualitative interviews with working librarians and collected relevant literature that presents various portrayals of librarians. To interpret the interviews we have used Pierre Bourdieu’s theories of social space, social fields, habitus and the cultural, academic, social and the economic capitals, as well as the connection between individual taste, class and social power. The conclusions of the collected material of earlier research and the interpreted material from the interviews have been compared and discussed. Results show that there are a lot of differences between the librarians and the stereotype images. The images usually show the librarian as female with a work that is more of a lifestyle than just work and she often lacks academic education. The librarians are also usually portrayed as shy or boring. Our respondents on the other hand are all social, well-educated and often have several interests outside work. As for similarities most librarians have some of the physical attributes in common, like glasses or tactful clothing.
*Nr 86 Joel Alskans, Filip Jusufovic: Man irrar runt i katakomberna: Studenters informationssökning och relevansbedömning under rapportskrivande. (Wandering around in the darkness: Students information seeking and relevance judgements during school assignment.)
The main object for this thesis is to study how students in library and information science at Högskolan i Borås search and valuate documents in the process of writing a paper. The study is based on a series of interviews with 12 students. Our methodology is also based on studies of their final product. The goal of the study was to map out how the students make their decisions during their search process. We studied the student’s use of search words, relevance judgements and how their need for information changed trough out the writing of their paper. Our theoretical background is based on articles that describe similar studies but in more specified areas. In our study we try to make a more general evaluation of the information seeking process. In the thesis we show how librarians could be of better use in their interaction with students and that the biggest problem for the students is that they are inconsistent. We also discuss some myths for example that more search ways results in better documents and that more references gives a better paper. We come to the conclusion that this isn’t always the truth. In our findings we try to show how students in the same situation as our informants can be helped by being aware of the needs and problems that can occur during the writing of a paper and not making them themselves. We also hope that librarians can find use of our thesis as they help students in the future.
*Nr 87 Magdalena Bjarnehall, Sanna Godenäs: Bland ölmagar och spiror – En studie av 1960- och 2000-talets detektivromaner ur ett genusperspektiv. (Among paunches and spires – A study of 1960- and 2000 century’s detective novels from a gender perspective.)
The aim of this Master’s thesis is to examine how the gender structure appears in detective novels and in the society during the 1960’s and 2000’s. We have a pre-understanding that the gender structure is more distinct in the earlier books and we will investigate this by looking at the two aspects occupation and family role. We find this to be an important question to notice because society today isn’t equal between the sexes. Our study is based on a theory of Yvonne Hirdman’s, she claims that the man is the dominant part and the woman is in an inferior position. We apply a stereotype model she has conceived and we try to categorize the characters in the books we have analysed into this model. In the books we have analysed we have found that women are described as the weaker sex and separated from the males. They are also described by their looks, which we cannot notice when the men are introduced. We found that we could not see the gender structure clearly in the detective novels by looking at the aspects occupation and family role; we also had to look at other aspects such as the characters’ images. By applying Yvonne Hirdman’s stereotype model we could see a clear picture of the men while the women were more indistinct. This results in that men can more easily identify themselves with the male main character, than women can do with the female characters.
*Nr 88 Sofia Johansson, Emma Warén: Stöd läsutvecklingen! En studie av barns reflexioner kring sin läsning och bibliotekariers uppfattningar av barns läsning och läsutveckling (Support the reading development! A study of children’s reflections on their reading and librarians perspectives of children’s reading and reading development)
This thesis is structured as a combined empirical and literary study. The aim is to investigate how children at the age of 11-12 years reflect on their readings of fiction and how these reflections relate to the librarians' perspective of a child's reading ability and reading development. Qualitative interviews with children and librarians constitute the empirical part. Research and theories are compared to the empirical part then placed into a more extensive context. How do children at the age of 11-12 years old reflect upon their reading of fiction and how do librarians relate themselves to this age? An analysis using interviews, research and theories is used to answer these questions. The main result is that the reading levels among children of the same age vary. The limits fluctuate because children read in different ways and for different purposes. Generalized models that divide reading development into stages do not help librarians. Their starting point is the individual child. They recommend books and adapt to the needs or desires of the child. There are both similarities and differences between the views of children and librarians about the children's reading. Reading should be treated as enrichment, to give knowledge. In addition, when children and librarians meet, they should learn from each other. That kind of attentiveness leads to the flexibility and to the adaptation of the child's level of psychological and reading development.
*Nr 89 Lena Andersson, Kristina Samuelsson: E-böcker – ett nytt sätt att läsa. En undersökning om digitala böcker i folkbibliotek. (E-books – a new way of reading. A study of digital books in public library.)
The main purpose of our thesis is to discuss the subject e-books from a Swedish public library perspective. The aim of the thesis is to locate and analyse statistics in regards to lending electronic books in public libraries. With this background a text analyse have been done, which views different arguments about e-books. We have studied the current statistics about lending e-books to the public users, the statistic material was gathered from the two main providers of e-books, eLib and E-biblioteket. With this statistic report as a background, arguments from scientists, journalists and users of e-books have been studied. By using argumentative analysis we examined whether the arguments are understandable, durable and relevant and if we could find separate point of views from the different groups that we have studied. We observed both in the texts and through the statistics, that there is a significant raise in the lending of e-books in the public libraries. In our study we observed that fictional e-books dominate in the lending statistics. This surprised us since most people in the argumentative analysis argue that non-fiction is the most suitable choice as an e-book. In addition, the e-books for children and youths are not as popular as e-books for adults. Lastly, we noted that lenders are generally very positive to e-books as a hole. They find that the biggest advantage with e-books is the flexibility and the accessibility. For the e-book users the problem is not the basic idea of e-books that most find satisfactory, instead the problem is that the technology and that the use of e-books doesn’t compare with the cosy feeling of a paper book.
*Nr 90 Stina Fernholm, Jonas Tistelgren: En titt på konsten – Hur ser boråsarna på sin offentliga konst? (How public art is perceived by the town’s people in Borås)
This thesis explores how public art is received by the general public in Borås, Sweden. As a point of departure it was assumed that a study of the local papers would offer an accurate insight in to the debate of public art. Hence, press clippings were chosen as primary source material together with the works of art. The questions addressed in the study are: what is written in the local daily press about public art? Who writes in or makes statements to the local dailies about public art? Textual analysis is the predominant method employed while hermeneutics is the underlying theory. At a preliminary glance at the material it became evident that only three works of art in Borås: Knallen, Folktalaren and Två Vindar in the last fifty years had attracted enough attention to warrant a debate. Firstly, as regards Folktalaren, little information in the press was given about the general public’s opinion of it; the reports were devoted to a factual description of it. The second sculpture, Två Vindar was shattered to pieces by unknown vandals but this event did not give much resonance in the debate columns. The debate concerning the third sculpture, Knallen, has surpassed the other debates in intensity and number of press clippings. The Knallen debate has centred on the appropriate placement of the sculpture. By contrast to the luke-warm debate in Borås is contrasted to the debate climate in Holstebro, Denmark.
*Nr 91 Emma Andersson, Therese Hallenquist: Bibliotekspersonalen utfärdar lånekort – Studenters uppfattning av bibliotekspersonalens service (The library staff provides library cards – Students’ perceptions of the services which the library staff provides)
The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to study students’ perception of the services that the library staff provides and the library staff’s opinion of the students’ perceptions. With the concept “service” we mean the treatment, the attitudes and the qualities that exist between the library staff and their users. Our purpose is also to examine how the users experienced services quality. Our survey was conducted at an academic library with questionnaires to both students and library staff. We analysed the result of the survey by using three theories by Lundmark, Keen and Grönroos & Monthelie. We used the theories to clarify the concepts of “competence” and “quality”. Our conclusion is that students’ perception of the library staff’s services is that it held high quality. We have also drawn the conclusion that the library staff’s opinion agrees with the students’ perception.
*Nr 92 Johanna Magnusson: Barnanpassade söktjänster på Internet (Search engines for children)
The purpose of this study is to investigate children’s possibilities to retrieve information by searching in searching engines designed for children. Two such search engines are examined: Yahooligans and Kids Click, both of which index pages in English only. I have compared Yahooligans with its equivalence for adults; Yahoo, by evaluating the retrieval effectiveness. Some functions in Kids Click and in Yahooligan are investigated. Seven class room studies are described in the prior research chapter. 28 queries were constructed and tested on Yahooligans and Yahoo. The measure of effectiveness used is average precision at seen relevant documents and average precision. The results show that the retrieval performance of Yahooligans is not as good as that of Yahoo. The average precision for Yahoo were much higher than that of Yahooligans. The average precision at seen relevant documents were similar, but Yahoo’s were a little higher. Yahooligans retrieved answers for 19 out of the 28 questions, despite of the fact that the questions constructed were on topics that children may be interested in. Yahooligans retrieved better on the queries were there was only one word in the keywords. An examination of several functions in Yahooligans and Kids Click were done. The functions investigated were: the help function, relevance ranking, spell-checking and feedback. The conclusion is that the search engines for children can be used in school, as a complement to the bigger search engines, since they have a web directory designed for children.
*Nr 93 Johan Sjödell: Den sovjetiska kulturkampen 1917-1932 sedd genom Bresjnevadministrationens lins. En historiografisk studie. (The Soviet Culture Struggle 1917-32 Through the Lens of the Breshnev Administration. A historiographic study.)
This Master’s thesis is a historiographic study, which aim is to investigate how the Brezhnev administration 1964-82 describes the events taking place during the soviet cultural struggle 1917-32. The investigation is limited to how some of the literary groups, organisations and currents as well as a small number of Russian writers are viewed by the administration. The third and last edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, which is considered as equivalent with the soviet official view, is used as source. The analysis made in this thesis is divided in two parts; the text analysis of the writers’ biographies is compared with the result of a discourse analysis, whose target is some of the literary groups, organisations and currents during the topical period. The discourse analysis is a pre-analysis, but its conclusions also have a value in itself. A histo­riographic theory concerning different use of history is applied to the result of the analysis. The thesis results indicate an ideological use of history, where some writers´ history is rationalized to fit into the theoretical frame of the cultural revolution and where the destiny of writers who was killed in Stalin’s purges during the 1930’s is con­cealed. In comparison to that the encyclopedia openly reveals the destiny of a least one writer who was executed by the Bolsheviks during the 1920’s.
*Nr 94 Gunilla Andersson och Ulrika Sedigh: Bibliotekets tidskrifter och tidskriftsavdelning: En undersökning av högstadielevers läsning i relation till utbudet. (The library’s periodicals and department of periodicals: a survey of 13-16 year old children’s reading in relation to the selection.)
The aim of this master’s thesis is to examine the supply of magazines and periodicals for young people at the library. We also examine young peoples’ reading of magazines and periodicals and compare the library’s selection with what young people read. The main questions of this thesis are: What do young people do at the library on their spare time? What weekly magazines and periodicals do young people read? What range of magazines and periodicals do the city- and the school library have? Where is the department located and how is it designed? What kind of relationship is there between young people’s reading and the selection? To answer these questions we have done an interview with a librarian and a questionnaire among 13-16 year old children. We found that it is not often that young people read their magazines and periodicals at the library. It is more frequent that the boys find magazines to read at the library compared with the girls. The librarian thinks that the library’s main task is to provide magazines and periodicals that don’t exist at the open market, and therefore they do a quality selection. We have also found that it is hard for the librarian to handle magazines and periodicals for 13-16 year old children, because they are caught between the children’s department and the adult department.
*Nr 95 Susanne Gustafsson, Charlotte Hallberg: Framväxten av biblioteket i Vaggeryd – en studie över de faktorer som kom att påverka biblioteksutvecklingen i Vaggeryd under åren 1862-1953 (The growth of the library in Vaggeryd – a study of the factors influence on the library development in Vaggeryd 1862-1953)
The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to examine the growth of the library in Vaggeryd. We have analysed how four factors influenced the library de­velopment during the years between 1862 and 1953. The four factors we have studied are development of society, collective actors, library’s economy and individual ac­tors. We have worked with the following question: ·     How have the four factors: development of society, collective actors, library’s economy and individual actors, influenced the growth? We have focused on the changes that the industrialization brought on the society development, and on the growing of the non-governmental organisations. The collective actors consisted of institutions, associations and organisations and they are: The parish library in Byarum, the temperance movements’ library, and the working-class movements’ library. The individual actors consisted of single persons. The library history of Vaggeryd began in the year of 1862 with a suggestion of establishing a parish library in Byarum. The next step was the foundation of the temperance movements’ library in 1913. In 1923 the working-class move­ment, ABF, started their library. The three libraries financed their activity by various means. The main sources of income were the subvention given by the state and the municipality. Other important sources of income were the gifts from associations and single persons. In 1932 there were some discussions about a fusion of the three libraries into one, but they didn’t become a li­brary in Vaggeryd until 1953.
*Nr 96 Rebecca Landmér: Bildregistrering i teorin och praktiken: Mid-Manhattan Picture Collection och Kungliga biblioteket. (Image Registration in Theory and Practice: The New York Public Library/Mid-Manhattan Picture Collection and The Royal Library/National Library of Sweden.)
This thesis presents a comparative study of image registration at two picture collection libraries. The two registration systems are analyzed as to the theoretical principles behind them and their practical application, and related to theoretical tools for subject analysis and bibliographic standards. While a growing number of picture collections now digitize their material, generally accepted standards and methods for the registration of digital images are still lacking. Many different systems coexist, often developed in-house in response to ad hoc needs and based on traditional registration tools created for textual documents, resulting in internationally incompatible mixed-format systems. The two picture collections examined here, however, have opted for similar, standardized tools for registration and subject analysis, and while there are differences in their application and focus, they have both considered issues of cross-system compatibility. The objective of this study is to benefit other ALM-related picture collections currently in the process of digitizing their visual materials and establishing standards for their handling.
*Nr 97 Mats Niklasson: Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap som kunskapsområde – En bibliometrisk studie. (The Cognitive Structure of Library and Information Science – a Bibliometric Study.)
The objective of the study is to map the cognitive structure of Library and Information Science, using a quantitative, bibliometric method.  This empirical study shows how co-citation analysis combined with word-frequency analysis can be used to describe the subject content of the field. The research questions to be answered are: -Which clusters of authors can be identified? -How can these clusters be described in respect of their subject content, if the descriptors associated with the authors in the clusters are counted? The results show that the cognitive structure of Library and Information Science can be described by 13 clusters of authors, where each cluster is representing a specific aspect of the subject- domain. For the description of the subject content of the clusters, descriptors (DE) of the LISA database have been used.
*Nr 98 Michael Körnemark: Fyrkantiga klossar i runda hål? – En undersökning av vissa berörda parters inställning gällande delandet av musikfiler över Internet (Square Pegs in Round Holes? – Investigating the Views of Some Parties Concerning the Sharing of Music Files over the Internet)
The aim of this study has been to investigate the views concerning the sharing of music files over the Internet as expressed by some of the parties engaged in the current debate in Sweden concerning these issues. The purpose of this study has also been to scrutinize the views about music filesharing as expressed by the parties in question, as well as the conclusions possible to extrapolate from these opinions. The method used to gather information from the parties subjected to this study has been by conducting and recording interviews with representatives from the organizations and companies (entities) in question. Those entities are: the Record Company Sony/BMG, The Swedish branch of the organization IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) and the Swedish organization the Pirate Bureau. The method used to analyze the empirically gathered material has been inspired by a method common in the discipline of philosophy of education known as Phenomenography. My purpose has also been to further discuss how the views of the entities subjected to the study affect the way that the entities in question experience themselves, as well as to try to draw some conclusions in regards to what could be the possible consequences of the ways in which these entities experience each other.
*Nr 99 Elisabeth Andersson, Isabelle Andersson: Hur tre epistemologiska diskurser och hur synen på kunskapsorganisation inom dem manifesteras i text (How three epistemological discourses and how the view of knowledge organisation within them is manifested in text)
Our purpose is to analyse three different epistemological discourses that exist in the social practice, Library and Information Science (LIS), using the strategy for interpretation from the mimesis model by Paul Ricoeur and the terms from the critical discourse analysis by Norman Fairclough. The aim is also to explore there different views of knowledge organisation. We review previous research involving epistemology, knowledge organisation and discourse analysis in LIS. These show that there are many different epistemological standpoints and that later research has shown a more critical and sceptical state of knowledge organisation than earlier traditional positivist ideals. Discourse analysis is described as an important theory and method in LIS. Knowledge organisation as a phenomenon is described and specially subject analysis and classification. Furthermore, different viewpoints of knowledge organisation are described in terms of a more intellectual and a more physical viewpoint. Combining the mimesis model from Ricoeur together with the terms, discursive practice, text and social practice from Fairclough we have analysed three texts. We find that all the epistemological discourses want to improve the social practice, but in different ways. They also have a different view on knowledge organisation. We conclude that it is an advantage to divide the epistemological standpoints into three different epistemological discourses, in order to better understand these and how they explicitly and implicitly affect the social practice, LIS.
*Nr 100 Bengt-Gunnar Österberg: Knowledge Management och intranät – en fallstudie av en divisionaliserad behandlingsorganisation (Knowledge Management and intranet – a case study of a diversified institutional care organisation)
This Master thesis studies how a diversified institutional care organisation can optimise its collective knowledge resources so to manage and distribute this knowledge to different parts of the organisation with help of the organisation’s intranet. The purpose of the study is to examine if knowledge management and the organisation’s intranet can be used to create, store, transfer and better use the knowledge within the organisation. Through a case study the thesis will look at different knowledge processes and their relation to the organisation’s intranet. The case study includes a questionnaire for the whole organisation and qualitative interviews with seven persons from different levels of the organisation. The theoretical framework of the study approaches knowledge management and intranet through four knowledge processes. The results show that knowledge management and the organisation’s intranet can be used to develop and maintain the organisation’s knowledge resources although today the intranet mostly has a function as an information channel between the top management and the middle management. The conclusion is that the concept of knowledge management, is a useful approach to better develop, uphold and distribute knowledge resources via intranet in the organisation.
*Nr 101 Anna Carlsson: Referensintervjuer på folkbibliotek: En intervju- och litteraturstudie (Reference interviews in public libraries)
This thesis examines the subject of reference interviews and the ways librarians form an opinion of users information needs. Using literature and interviews with three librarians I look at the questions below: - Why and when are reference interviews needed? - What significance do they have? - What ideas exist about the performance of reference interviews? - Are there any differences in librarians views of the questions above compared to views in the literature? Results from literature studies and interviews show that reference interviews can be important when librarians try to find out more about users information needs. However it’s neither necessary nor possible to analyse all reference questions. Librarians therefore need to determine if a reference interview is needed or not. It seems to be some situations and circumstances when an interview often is needed. Analysing the results I found ideas about the performance of reference interviews and ways to learn this art. Different skills and techniques are mentioned which can be used as tools during an interview and help the librarian to analyse reference questions. Librarians are important in reference situations and there are some characteristics which can be needed in them. Comparing literature with answers from interviews, I found both similarities and differences concerning the questions in the thesis.
*Nr 102 Isak Kullman, Ingela Wahlgren: Systematisering av information på företag – en fallstudie (Organizing information in a corporate environment – a case study)
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how a small company manages its information, primarily the organization of digital documents. The two dominating themes are classification and information politics, the former in the context of a corporate environment and the latter to help us to describe the situation at the company. The method used has involved observation of the company's current computer network structure and also interviews with six employees at different levels in various departments at the company. The result of our investigation has been the realization that, although logical structure is important when organizing documents in a digital environment, it is also necessary to have rules regarding its implementation.
*Nr 103 Alen Doracic, Petter Edlund: Armlängdsprincipen och Statens kulturråd: En fallstudie om maktfördelning i svensk kulturpolitik (The Arm’s length principle and the Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs: A case study of the distribution of power in the cultural policy in Sweden)
This Master’s Thesis is about the Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs and the arm’s length principle. The principle is used to explain the separation of power between two parts with a common interest. The main purpose is to elucidate if, and if so in what way, the arm’s length principle can be used to explain the relation between the National Council for Cultural Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Culture, i.e. the Swedish government, but also to examine the structures of power and relations within the Council. In the thesis we show that in the field of cultural policy the content of the arm length’s principle varies due to the many interpretations of the meaning. From these results we find three areas to analyze. They are the Council’s tasks, the organization of the board and other structures in the Council and finally the budget process. The areas of investigation are the aspects of distance or closeness trough formal- and informal influence, and through aspects of political control or independence. This is done with Olof Petersson’s method constructed to analyze power between and within institutions. The theoretical framework is found in Jørn Langsteds definition of arm’s length principle and Harry Hillman-Chartrand and Claire McCaughey’s typology of state support for the arts and culture. The main conclusion is that the arm’s length principle is a useful tool to describe the relations between the Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Culture. But, mainly for particular areas and aspects of power relations and not as an overall explanation. The Council’s position can be described as being in the middle on the scale between political autonomy and state control. Finally, we argue that the principle is best manifested in the Council itself through "reciprocal power relations" that the representatives of Cultural life and state political power confronts.
*Nr 104 Erik Boström: Källkritik, kognitiv auktoritet och domänanalys: Värdering av trovärdighet (Source-criticism, cognitive authority and domain analysis: Evaluation of credibility)
The object of this explorative theoretical study is to compare similarities in three perspectives for evaluation of credibility. The perspectives are the historical method source-criticism, cognitive authority and domain analysis. These perspectives, regarded as intellectual tools for critical thinking in a process of information seeking, by asking questions about credibility related to the social and theoretical context of the intellectual background, can give support in articulating which documents that gives a specific and essential answer to a question. In this sense credibility is seen as a qualitative aspect of relevance. Patrick Wilson argues that we can attain some critical independence towards cognitive authorities and the literature by investigating the social and theoretical topography of a field. Birger Hjørlands domain analysis, I argue, is a more systematic way to pose these kinds of questions. Source-criticism has in the examples investigated here – the historians Lauritz and Curt Weibull in the 1910’s and Rolf Torstendahl in the 1960’s – mostly been used for empirical proof of true or correct statements, but it also addresses questions of credibility.  A source is related to a question with theoretical connotations. Both source-criticism and domain analysis can articulate these connotations by shedding light on aspects of the intellectual background.  Taken together in a comparative and rhetorical approach these perspectives can articulate reasons for judgement of which documents that contains credible knowledge. Source-criticism is suitable for handling specific and empirical aspects of credibility, cognitive authority connects aspects of status and relevance to social practice and domain analysis can give orientation on different theoretical positions within a knowledge domain.
*Nr 105: Jonna Malmström, Annika Rehn: Information som lindring eller hot: Informationssituationen för föräldrar med funktionshindrade barn (Information as relief or threat: The information situation for parents of children with disabilities)
This study illustrates, describes and explains the complexity that is included in the information situation for parents of children with disabilities. The main issues are: What does the parents information seeking processes look like? How do the parents experience their information situation, related to the child?  How can the information behaviour and the different experiences be understood, seen from a psychological perspective? The empirical material consists of qualitative interviews with six different sets of parents of children with disabilities. The results show that the information needs often deal with questions about medicine, rights to different aids from the society and information that gives the parents a sort of context in their situation, i.e. politically and in the society overall.  The informal sources are very significant for the parents. Several barriers are noted in the information process. One example of this is that the information needed often is so specific that the parent must search in several different sources. Another example is the aspect of power related to the parents’ contacts with persons in authority and persons in the medical attendance. The variation in conceptions of the parents’ information situation, experienced by themselves, is described in four different categories of descriptions, developed out of a phenomenographic approach: 1) engagement that gives the parent insights; 2) anxiety and powerlessness; 3) with acceptance and without dramatization; 4) a never ending struggle. The four conceptions are presented in a model, which in a third analysis is explained from a psychological perspective.
*Nr 106 Anya Klingborg, David Lidström: Dokumenthantering i företag och organisationer: En fallstudie på Volvo Cars i Uddevalla (Managing Documents in Corporations and Organizations: A Case Study at Volvo Cars in Uddevalla)
The aim of this thesis is to map the current internal information flow at Volvo Uddevalla, to detect obstacles in the flow and to find out how these obstacles can be avoided. The aim is also to describe how a corporation, in this particular case Volvo Uddevalla, creates knowledge and use information. The study is performed in order to create a base for the coming implementation of a new information standard. The method used is conducting an information audit investigating the current management of documentation according to the changes that have to be made to carry out the claims from the standard. The investigation is made by way of interviews with 16 of the employees at Volvo Uddevalla. The study shows that knowledge is created at Volvo Uddevalla through a process involving the employee’s needs, the way the information is stored, organized, distributed and used. It also shows that information is used at Volvo Uddevalla in order to create knowledge, to generate understanding of a phenomenon and to support decision making, on an individual as well as a company level. The study also shows that information at Volvo Uddevalla flows without problem on a daily basis, but that the absence of overview and control of the flow creates problems when individuals can not be reached. Although the interviews showed that most of the personnel don’t experience the current information situation as problematic, the information audit detected some gaps in the corporation’s communication. This study points to these gaps and gives suggestions on how to overcome them.
*Nr 107 Jenny Hansemark: Studentsupport – en studie om dyslexi, hjälp till dyslektiska studenter och deras upplevelse av hjälpen (Student support – a study about dyslexia, help to students with dyslexia and their experience of the help)
The aim of this thesis was to describe the services offered to students with dyslexia, and from a service- and quality perspective describe how the consumers of these services experienced the supplied services. Dyslexia refers to certain problems with the written language. With the demand for students in higher education to accumulate much knowledge through reading, this becomes a question of vital importance. A qualitative descriptive approach was used, and a case study was conducted. The case study covered 'Student support' at the University of Borås and how dyslectic students at the university experienced the help from 'Student support'. Interviews with dyslectic students, as well as the coordinator of 'Student support', were carried out. As a theoretical foundation a model for experienced service quality was used. The models main components was related to: people, process and physical quality. The informants of the study experienced a sense of release when diagnosed, as it made earlier school problems understandable, indicating the importance of early diagnosis. The informants experienced their dyslexia to be an obstacle in their studies. Time to read literature was one significant problem. The result indicates the importance of different kind of help for dyslectic students. Help from classmates and family proved to be essential. 'Student support' was seen as vital to be successful in the studies, especially with providing talking books. All informants was not familiar with the help 'Student support' could offer, indicating the importance of information about help offering. The result also indicates the importance of librarian’s attitude to service and understanding for dyslectic student’s needs.
*Nr 108 Lisa Ekman, Birgitta Ekstrand: Ungdomar om bibliotek (Youth about Library)
The aim of the thesis is to study young people’s, defined as boys and girls between 14 and 16 years old, attitudes to library in two municipalities.  Notwithstanding the fact that young people, and children, often is given priority in library work, the reality often seems to be another. Attitudes are founded primarily in childhood and therefore it is of great importance to examine how young people regard libraries. Besides studying former research about young people and libraries that has been performed on library and information science, we also have been using concepts and theories from social science. We give a brief outline of youth research and its development and look at official records and legislation to see if and in what context young people are mentioned. Our empirical data consists of an opinion poll made by using a questionnaire which was carried out in two senior level schools in two municipalities. The result of our study is that most of the young people consider libraries important and their priorities are books and computers. A remarkable high percentage of them rarely or ever visit the library. The interior is vitally important for how the young people experience the library in its entirety. Furthermore, the stock of media is not fulfilling their desires and needs. Our conclusion is that attitudes to a great extent are acquired by the actual experience. This is formed by the structural relationship between youth culture and the established culture and the fact that young people and adults belong to different generations. To create a dialogue built on mutual understanding and respect between those who work in libraries and young people is considered a necessity to change the negative attitudes. Reference groups are seen as an effective tool to accomplish this.
*Nr 109 Joel Bonde, Ola Brännström: Evaluering av webbaserade söktjänster: Google, MSN Search & Yahoo! (Evaluation of Web-Based Search Engines: Google, MSN Search & Yahoo!)
The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate three web-based search engines. The search engines included are Google, MSN Search and Yahoo!. Our method is based on relevance measures, 30 querys created by and judged for relevancy by the authors were used in the study. The querys were judged on a three point relevancy scale (not relevant, reasonably relevant and highly relevant). Average precision at various document cut-off values, topic-by-topic analysis and overlap were measured on the first 30 retrieved documents for every guery. Statistical testing show that Google and Yahoo! perform best and that there is no significant difference between them regarding retrieval effectiveness. MSN Search performs significantly poorer. The overlap between retrieved documents, compared to previous studies, seems to indicate that the difference between search engines with regard to indexing and ranking is diminishing.
*Nr 110 Mikael Rosell, Malin Skog: En studie av högskolebibliotekariers uppfattningar om distansstudenter som användargrupp (A study of how academic librarians perceive distance learners as a user group)
The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to investigate how a group of academic librarians perceive distance learners as a user group. We have in our study been influenced by phenomenography, which is both a set of theoretical assumptions and a methodology. The theoretical frame of reference consists of Carol Kuhlthau’s different levels of education and Michael Buckland´s information barriers. Using a qualitative method consisting of nine interviews with academic librarians and structural factor such as academic library policies, we have been able to conduct our study. The results of the study are presented in grouped categories of quotations that reflect various perceptions. The results of the analysis show that distance learners are perceived as a heterogeneous group living either in a sparsely populated area or in a larger city. The academic librarians have different perceptions of distance learners needs, their knowledge of computers, their study habits and their service demand. In their pedagogical role, several of the academic librarians implement a user perspective and they perceive their role as very important. Concerning Kuhlthau’s levels of education we have found that the lecturer is the pedagogical role that most of our informants fulfil. According to the recorded library policies, distance learners are entitled to the same service as students on campus. This is something, however, that does not completely correspond to our informants’ perceptions. Some informants agree, while others claim that they will never be able to achieve this since distant learners have different conditions compared to students on campus. Another perception is that the distance learners always get more service since they are always treated different to campus students.
*Nr 111 Margareta Svensson: Sagostunder på folkbiblioteket: ur sagostundsledarens perspektiv. (Story times at the Public Library: From the Perspective of the Story time Provider.)
This master’s thesis takes the provider’s perspective on public library story times for children. The main questions are: What perspectives can the providers have? How does the perspective affect the content and how is the story time drawn up? Five story time providers were interviewed about the purpose of their story times, the methods they used and the content they chose. A model with four criteria was used to analyze the result of the interviews. The criteria were: adult criteria, consideration of the children’s view, pedagogical criteria and literary/story time criteria. These criteria form together four different possible perspectives on the public library story time. The provider’s perspective on public library story time does, in this thesis, have an effect on the purpose, the content, the methods and how the story time is drawn up. The story time content is affected by the purpose and methods chosen are also affected by the purpose or by the provider’s behaviour.
*Nr 112 Carina Broman, Anna Hultén: Kungliga bibliotekets klassifikationssystem över den svenska samlingen år 1887 (The classification system of the Swedish collection at the Royal Library 1887)
We have carried out a study of a classification system for the Swedish collection at The Royal Library in Stockholm from 1887. It was printed in 50 copies. The constructor, Bernhard Lundstedt, and his colleagues used it as guidance in lack of a catalogue. We regard it a local classification system. Little research has been done on old classification systems, but Francis Miksa points out the importance of examining them. The aim of this thesis is to present and describe the system, and to contribute to the knowledge thereof. Moreover, we aim to place the system in its contexts: in the library and its staff, and in the surrounding society. The study shows that the system has 56 main headings, starting with bibliography and the humanities (eg theology and literature) and ending with science (eg technology, mathematics and medicine). The headings are divided into several sub hierarchies. Common subheadings are periodicals, treaties and societies, followed by subheadings about subjects. The hierarchy sometimes ends in an enumeration of material. The progress in a heading tends to go from the general to the specific. A common division is into a foreign and a Swedish class. Moreover, the study shows the resemblance to the Swedish SAB-system, which was first published in 1921. This thesis also points out that the system was not constructed in a vacuum, but in strong connection with late nineteenth century society.
*Nr 113 Charlotte Sager, Karin Walterson: På väg mot en elektronisk era: En fallstudie av automatiseringen på Makerere University Library, Kampala, Uganda (Into an electronic era: A case study of the automation at Makerere University Library, Kampala, Uganda)
This thesis is a case study which describes the automation of a university library in Sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of the case study is, firstly; to find out which actors and factors have started and influenced the automation and the implementation of ICT at Makerere University Library in Kampala, Uganda. Secondly; it also discusses if the automation has changed the library’s condition. The empirical material consists of fifteen interviews with librarians and students. The empirical material itself has functioned as a base when discerning the analytical themes. The analysis has been done with the help from the theoretical frame and from literature about automation of library services, with focus on the developing world. The discussion is based on the two research questions. The results show that the librarians and the donor society were the most important influences starting the automation. The technology has changed the condition of the library and the librarians have to face new tasks and working routines. There is an OPAC available in the library and computer labs with Internet access. The access of information has improved, although the most important thing for the automation to be successful is student training.
*Nr 114 Johanna Johansson, Maria Johansson: Homosexualitet i tre klassifikationssystem under tre decennier: Ett queerteoretiskt perspektiv på SAB, UDK och DDC. (Homosexuality in three classification systems during three decades: A queertheoretical perspective on SAB, UDC and DDC.)
The aim of this master’s thesis is to, from a queertheoretical point of view, examine the possibilities to classify the subject homosexuality in three different classification systems. The three systems that have been analysed is the Swedish classification system (SAB), the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) and Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC). The analysed editions are updates from the beginning of the 1970´s until today. The emphasis has been on how well the systems correspond to the changing society. We found several differences between the three systems, but also some resemblances. During these 30 years the main placing for homosexuality have been in the section for medicine, and later on the section for social science, in all the three systems. SAB have not during these 30 years classified homosexuality as a mental disease that both UDC and DDC have and still do. However, in DDC there has been a gradual change of opinion about homosexuality. From the 1970´s when it clearly was a mental disorder to, in the late 1980´s, when it was made equal to heterosexuality. In the UDC on the other hand almost nothing happened for 30 years. Homosexuality was only seen as a disorder until the beginning of the 21st century. Then they also upgraded homosexuality from a disorder to a natural sexual feeling equal to heterosexuality. Although SAB has not classified homosexuality as a disorder, it is the only system out of the three that has not made it equal to heterosexuality.
*Nr 115 Hanna Nilsson: ”Jämlika förutsättningar för kvinnor och män”: En enkätstudie av jämställdhetsarbetet i den regionala biblioteksverksamheten (“Equal conditions for women and men”: A questionnaire study of the equality work in the regional library sector)
This master’s thesis investigates how the Swedish county libraries relate to equality between men and women. The thesis treats the county library both as a place of work and as a part of the national library network. One of the reasons why this study focuses on county libraries is because of their special position in the Swedish library organisation as a link between the national policy and the public libraries. The analysis in the study is based on theories that argue masculinity and femininity as social constructions, and therefore can be affected by a different type of conduct. Data was gathered using qualitative questionnaires combined with some quantitative elements that were used to gain fundamental facts regarding the distribution of employees between the sexes and the existence of equality policies. The conclusions drawn were that many county libraries did not have special policies for equality questions. The strategies for including equality in the daily work with the public libraries were often based on separating the sexes even though the main purpose with the strategies was to eliminate the differences between men and women. Generally the librarians were positive to include equality as a part of their work. The main reason that the county libraries did not work with equality was because the public libraries did not request that type of assistance.
*Nr 116 Agneta Ahlm, Elisabeth Engerdahl: Gränssnittet ”BarnOPAC” – barnens stig in i bokskogen: En användarstudie av hur barn uppfattar och hanterar ett svenskt gränssnitt. (The interface “BarnOPAC” – children´s path into the bookjungle: A user study of how children experience and handle a Swedish interface.)
“BarnOPAC” is a Swedish library interface for children. It was launched in public libraries in Sweden in 2001 and has now become a part of library software equipment in several public libraries. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate the interface “BarnOPAC” on the basis of the children’s perspective. The questions raised consider: how children experience and handle this interface, how library staff experience it and what viewpoints librarians have on children’s use of it. For this purpose we implemented a user study including eight children using the interface in a school library. We also sent questionnaires to some librarians, who are responsible for “BarnOPAC” in their respective public libraries. The investigation is made by qualitative methods, in the form of observations, interviews and questionnaires. A document study has also been made. Literature regarding investigations on children in association with OPAC´s, computers and information-seeking is presented, and later used in the analysis. We refer to relevant theories about information need, information-seeking behaviour and social-cultural ideas.  Our findings show that (both) the children (and library staff) have many opinions differing about the interface, which results in various ways of using it. We also noticed that several factors can possibly have impact on children’s opinions and ways of handling the interface. These factors are: - The children’s reading and writing skills - The children’s computer skills - The intellectual availability of the interface - The physical availability of the interface - The children’s information needs and their interests - Marketing of the interface - Interaction and co-operation
*Nr 117 Magnus Karlsson, Jan-Ola Pettersson: Vuxenutbildning på entreprenad – en studie av vad olika aktörer i en kommun har för åsikter kring informations- och biblioteksresurser för genomförandet av vuxenutbildning (Municipal adult education on contract – a study of different actors’ opinions concerning information- and library resources in the realization of adult education)
The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to investigate how actors involved in a municipal's adult education view students’ access to information- and library resources. The adult education in the municipal is on contract which means that there are several different actors involved in the realization of the adult education. The raised questions in this study deals with; libraries role within adult education, students’ needs for becoming information literate and where responsibilities for students’ access to libraries lies. We used a qualitative method which includes interviews with two principles, a controller, three pedagogues and a librarian. The empirical data is analysed against taxonomies and categories which originates from the theories of David Loertscher and Christine Bruce. The major finding in this study is that documents concerning tender procedures are of great importance. The public libraries are supposed to take part in the municipal adult education and the interviews show that students should recognise and know how to use different types of information sources.
*Nr 118 Elcita Eriksson: Vem styr biblioteket? – en undersökning av en kommuns folkbibliotek under en tioårsperiod (Who is managing the library? – a study of a public library in a municipality over a ten-year period)
The main purpose of this master's thesis is to investigate to what extent municipal politicians govern a selected public library. This means to clarify who determines the direction of the library and its services and in what way. It also involves examining the relationship between library staff and local politicians in the decision-making process. Which decisions are made by the politicians and which are left to the employees? The study is based on an investigation of a public library in a municipality over a period of ten years (the 1990s). The method used is an analysis of sources. The minutes of the municipal council and those of the board with responsibility for issues relating to the library have been studied. The theoretical starting points are the roles of the politicians and of the administrators in managing public services. The results of the study show that politicians have largely made decisions on practical matters. Budget proposals and activity plans are usually simple, although there are exceptions. The policy documents are brief and vaguely formulated. The results indicate that members of library staff have had to make decisions on issues of a more difficult nature, such as the content of library services and priorities among different groups. The library manager has been involved in some decisions. The conclusion must be that the local politicians in this municipality have not governed the public library to any significant extent. This implies that some of the decision-making processes have been transferred to the library staff.
*Nr 119 Eva Ranglin, Marianne Tengfjord: Jag blev glad(are) och vis(are): Unga vuxnas läsning av skönlitteratur (I became happier and wiser: young adults reading of fiction)
This Master’s thesis explores young adults’ 18-26 years old, reading of fiction: their reading preferences, the meaning of reading and their access to literature. A study was made by way of a questionnaire, including 56 young adults, and seven qualitative interviews with two groups: one at a folk highschool and the other at a public library. The theories we have used to analyse the results are: theories of gender and youth, theories of literary genres, reader-response criticism, literature sociology and the theories of cultural sociology by the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. In the analysis the results are compared to other studies of reading habits. Results from this study show that the young adults read fiction from several genres among popular- and quality literature. Women read more than men and they read fiction by male and female authors. Men are in favour of male authors. Women read more genres than men do and many women prefer reading realistic stories about people’s tragic fortunes. Most of the respondents read fiction for entertainment, for emotional and/or existential causes and for general knowledge. We observe that there are both differences and similarities between the two groups. The majority of the respondents obtain books at the school- and/or public library but many of them borrow books from friends or buy fiction in bookstores.
*Nr 120 Matilda  Gnospelius: I förändringens spår – En undersökning av referensbibliotekariers accepterande av tillgängliggörandet och användandet av databaser på och via folkbibliotek (At the pathway of change – A study of how reference librarians have adopted access and use of databases on and by public libraries)
In Sweden most public libraries give users access to databases. These databases are sometimes possible to reach outside the library by internet at any time and this provides a change for the library and the society. Librarians function as change agents when they give access to databases and when databases are introduced to users. However, reports show that the use of databases, especially those in English, is not high in reference work. This study aims at analysing attitudes of librarians to access and use of databases on and by public libraries. Are there role conflicts or other barriers that may block the use and availability of databases? To study and discuss reference librarians and their role as change agents the theory of attitudes in diffusion of innovations by Everett Rogers is used. The interviews with seven librarians in this study show that they are positive to the use of databases both in their reference work and for the users themselves, though some barriers and role conflicts can be identified. For example librarians can have insufficient knowledge of how to use databases or how to make them useful in their reference work. Factors that might increase their willingness to totally adopt databases could be a greater amount of relative advantage, compatibility, observability and trialability but less of complexity, as these concepts are described in Everett Rogers theory about attitudes in diffusion of innovations.
*Nr 121 Fanglan Chen, Taissia Goriounova: Lexikonbaserad Cross-Language Information Retrival: Utvärdering av queryeffektivitet (The Dictionary-Based Cross-Language Information Retrieval: Evaluation of Query Effectiveness)
This thesis discusses main problems associated with dictionary-based Cross-Language Information Retrieval as lexical and translational ambiguity of query terms, translation of compounds and phrases, dictionary limitation. The purpose of the study is to investigate how query structure influences the effectiveness of CLIR regarding performance of three query types: original query, unstructured query and structured query. Query structuring refers to the application of #syn-operator to group query terms. The study comprises an experiment that was performed in the InQuery IR system with TrecUta database that contains 550,000 news articles from different American newspapers. 24 topics were used for the experiment. The effectiveness of three types of query structure is compared at different Document Cut-off Value levels, maximal DCV= 100. The measure used is average precision. Binary relevance situation, where the three relevance degrees (1, 2, and 3) have been merged into one, is applied. The results show that dictionary-based query translation without the use of structure significantly decreases the effectiveness of information retrieval while query structuring through synonym sets shows to be a simple and effective method, which allows the reduction of the effects of translation ambiguity and the improvement of the performance of CLIR-queries. The results reveal that the performance can nearly reach the same level as the original queries.
*Nr 122 Erik Joelsson, Mattias Johansson: Kunskapsteori och kunskapsorganisation: En diskursanalys (Epistemology and knowledge organization: A discourse analysis)
This Master’s thesis concerns epistemology in Knowledge Organization (KO), as a field of study in Library and Information Science (LIS). Using a theoretical model by Birger Hjørland and foucauldian discourse analysis as springboards, this study analyses three epistemological discourses in the practice of KO. The aim of the study is to show how these discourses are constituted and demarcated in relation to KO, as well as to examine how they fit into Hjørland’s model. A brief historical outline of some epistemological trends in LIS is sketched, as well as examples of how different epistemological schools influence different parts of KO, e.g. information retrieval, indexing- and classification theory. In the empirical study, three epistemological schools are examined, viz. empiricism, rationalism and pragmatism. Each school is represented by readings of representative research papers, connected to KO. The study identifies some major characteristics of each epistemological school and it’s research objects. This paper suggests some minor adjustments to Hjørland’s model, in order to make it better fit to actual conditions. This reformation of the model includes the insertion of constructivism, and within it – standpoint epistemology.
*Nr 123 Linda Bergman: Bibliotek i Värnamo – grundande och utveckling 1908-1960 (Libraries in Värnamo – origin and development 1908-1960)
The purpose of this master's thesis is to describe and analyse the origin and development of the libraries in the town of Värnamo, between the years 1908 and 1960, when a new modern public library was inaugurated. The method I have used is, to a great extent, examining and analysing source material from the archive of the municipality in Värnamo and the popular movement in Jönköping. As a background to my study I describe the development of the Swedish society, from the end of the nineteenth-, until the middle of the twentieth century. I also describe the local development of Värnamo, during the same period. Furthermore I also give a general description of the progress of the libraries in Sweden during the same time. In the analyse then, I compare the local and the national development of library activities. The municipal library in Värnamo was founded in 1920. At that time the working-class movement and the International Order of Good Templars both had their own libraries, since about a decade ago. The libraries co-existed for many years, before they were united into one in 1955. The municipal library gained a professional librarian in 1953. These two things were of great importance for the modernisation of the local library activity. As the library moved to modern, appropriate premises, in the recently built People's Palace, the town of Värnamo had obtained a real public library.
*Nr 124 Barbro Lodin: ”Är du kvar på ditt gamla dammiga bibliotek?” Bilden av bibliotekarien i svensk skönlitteratur 1982-2002 (The image of the librarian in Swedish fiction 1982-2002)
The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine how the images of librarians are conceived and held by the public. It has often been claimed that librarians are subject to widely spread negative stereotyping. My purpose is to study the nature and origin of these stereotypes. Since popular media is one source of these stereotypes and images I have chosen to look into how librarians are characterized in 20 Swedish novels written between 1982-2002. The questions this thesis aims to answer are: What images of librarians occur in the novels? How are the tasks of the librarians respectively described in the novels? How are female and male librarians respectively described? The analysis of the novels is then compared with interviews with three professional librarians about their view of their professional role and their perceptions of its status and image. In the analysis I have come to the following conclusions: The images of the librarians in the novels are often very stereotyped and in most cases the image produced by the writers is a negative one. In most cases the librarians work is described as unqualified labour. Female and male librarians are often seen as persons with a non-typical gender behavior. The views that emerge in the interviews differ completely from the images represented in the novels. The informants speak of the varied, challenging and qualified nature of their work. They did not identify with the negative librarian stereotype, but were aware of its existense.
*Nr 125 Ulrika Centerwall: Duktiga tjejer läser. En studie av relationen mellan läsning och skapandet av feminina genuspositioner (Good girls read. A study of the relation between reading and creating feminine gender positions)
The purpose of this thesis is to examine how young women create their feminine gender positions in relation to their reading. Using qualitative research methods the empirical material has been collected through so called reflexive interviews with eight young women aged 15-17. From their statements the empirical material has been divided into five themes that are important to the young women, as well as to the formulation of the problem. This constitutes the model of analysis. The analysis has been conducted through an examination of these themes from a gender theoretical perspective and through the application of theories about reading and gender. The results are also seen from the view of research within the Library and Information Science and from other disciplines presented in the thesis. The conclusion is that reading plays a role for the young women in forming their gender identity and has a strengthening effect on their self-esteem. It is associated with all sorts of emotions of which anger is the most prominent and often leads them to take a stand. The reading also has a developing function giving them experiences and helping them discover the world while identifying with the characters in the literature. To study and learn proves to be important in forming dreams and ambitions for the future. Finally my research shows how their roles as good girls have importance for every theme in the analysis and in every aspect of the young women’s reading and creating of feminine gender positions.
*Nr 126 Nino Dawod, Maria Gottberg: Akademiker bland bokhyllorna – biblioteks- och informationsvetares upplevelser av övergången från studier till yrkesliv (LIS-graduates among the bookcases – LIS-graduates' experiences of the transfer from academic studies into professional life)
Library and information science students often ask themselves if their education will be sufficient and adapted to the work tasks they will meet with as future librarians. It is the aim of this Master thesis to investigate LIS-graduates' experiences of the transfer from academic studies into professional life. The thesis thus treats four questions: I: What problems, if any, does the LIS-graduate experience when first employed? 2: Does the recently employed librarian feel that the academically obtained knowledge is applicable in professional life? And, if so, how does it apply? 3: Does the new employee find that there are areas in which his/her academic education has been insufficient? 4: What is the general attitude towards LIS-graduates' education among colleagues and is the library staff prepared to provide the necessary instructions? The investigation is performed through interviews with eight LIS-graduates, all of whom have recently started working as public librarians. The analysis is based on the concepts of competence, qualifications, work skills, knowledge and in the processes of formal and practical learning. The results show that the education has provided the students with intellectual skills well adapted to library work. In some areas, however, knowledge is lacking, e.g. in reference work. The results also show that in the libraries the new employees are well received, helped and instructed by their colleagues.
*Nr 127 Marcus Pettersson: Globala och lokala sökmotorer: en utvärdering av Google, MSNSearch och Svesök (Global and local search engines: an evaluation of Google, MSN Search and Svesök)
The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate three search engines with regard to retrieval effectiveness of information specific to Swedish users. Coverage and the precision in result descriptions are also examined. The three selected search engines are Google, MSN Search and Svesök. 30 queries were tested against the search engines and the first 20 result descriptions and results were judged for relevancy. Relevancy was judged by a binary scale. Micro- and Macro-precision were used to measure the retrieval effectiveness of the search engines. The number of duplicate and inactive links for each search engine was recorded. Precision in result descriptions was used to measure the accuracy of the links. That is if a link was judged as relevant/not relevant it should ideally lead to a relevant page/not relevant page. Coverage was measured by calculating the total amount of retrieved hits for each search engine. The results show that Google reached the highest precision values. The results also show that about half of the links judged as relevant did not lead to relevant pages. That Google also had the best coverage. The conclusions I draw in this paper is that Google is the best choice of search engine for searching and finding relevant information specific to Swedish users. Global search engines are better at finding this information than local ones.
*Nr 128 Frida Berndtsson, Emma Hildén: Det mänskligas livsluft. En ideologianalys av Krusenstjernafejden. (The air of humanity. An analysis of ideological motives and points of view in the Krusenstjerna feud.)
The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to examine the debate concerning Agnes von Krusenstjerna’s Fröknarna von Pahlen-novels from a ideological analytic perspective. This debate came to be called The Krusenstjerna feud (Krusenstjernafejden) and was most intensive in the years 1934-35 after Porten vid Johannes and Älskande par had been published. We examine 8 articles using a text analytic method. We have limited ourselves to public material that is available in Swedish press and Swedish magazines. Our ambition is, through this, to determine the articles authors’ political point of view and ideas of preference. In doing so, we wish to see which societal conflicts the debate about Krusenstjerna expressed. Since the ideological analyses include an investigation of the context in society, the theory fits our investigation well. Our analysis focuses on two aspects of the context in society which had a large impact upon the cultural climate of the 30’s. These aspects are sexual politics and nazism. We see how these aspects characterize the point of views which are expressed in the articles. Throughout our analysis, a picture of a society in change is getting clearer, where things like equal rights for women and workers threatens the present patriarchal structure. Put simply one could say that the conservatives were pitted against the radicals, since the radicals praised the liberal bluntness of Krusenstjerna’s novels, while the conservatives considered this openness a menace to society. In our analysis a more elaborate image is given than the most common way this debate is described. For instance it was not always the radicals who sided with Krusenstjerna’s way of describing. A writer can be both for and against Krusenstjerna’s novels. At a first look it can thus be hard to see what their actual point of view is. Through our ideological analysis the articles are put more in focus since the backgrounds of the writers positions are made clear.
*Nr 129 Linda Bergström, Marie Böngren: Manliga folkbibliotekariers upplevelser av att jobba inom ett kvinnodominerat yrke (Male public librarian’s experiences of working within a female-dominated profession)
The main purpose of this master’s thesis is to investigate how male public librarians experience working in a female-dominated area by interviewing eight male public librarians. We want to find if our informants have experienced, or are experiencing, that the library users react differently to the male librarians, as opposed to the female librarians, with focus on possible prejudices. Besides this we want to investigate if the male librarians have had any reactions from their colleagues based on the fact that they are men working in a female profession. We are using three theories in this thesis. The first theory is based on an article by Christine L. Williams about men’s and women’s experiences of working in a female profession. The second theory is based on Marie Nordberg´s study on hegemony. The third and last theory is based on an article by Yvonne Hirdman about gender. The conclusion of this master’s thesis is that our informants feel that they have to work harder and be better then their female colleagues to fit into a female-dominated job. Another conclusion is that male librarians do not get more reactions just because they are men than female librarians from the library users. The third conclusion is that our informants have not experienced any reactions from their colleagues about them being men working in a female profession.
*Nr 130 Carina Lindgren, Anna Remin: Sjukhusbibliotekarier i fokus – En fenomenografisk undersökning av sjukhusbibliotekariers uppfattningar av yrkesrollen i arbetet med barn och ungdomar (Hospital librarians in focus – A phenomenographic study of hospital librarians’ experiences of the professional role in working with children and young people)
The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate hospital librarians’ understanding of their professional role in working with children. Two different aspects of the professional role were focused on; professional knowledge and ethics. The following research questions were posed: -      How do hospital librarians experience their professional role in working with children and young people? -      What is regarded as professional knowledge content for hospital librarians in working with children and young people? -      How do hospital librarians view ethical aspects in working with children and young people? The issues have been addressed through qualitative interviews with seven hospital librarians. We have used phenomenography which is both a set of theoretical assumptions and a methodology. Through phenomenographic method, various understandings of what it means to be a hospital librarian emerge. The results of the study are presented in systematically grouped categories of quotations that reflect these different views. Conceptions of the professional role can be seen as rehabilitative, traditional and social. Conceptions of knowledge relate to healthcare environment, children’s welfare and to the practice of librarianship. Finally, conceptions of ethical aspects in working with children can be related to the healthcare environment, the librarian’s role and to personal ethical values. Three different aspects of a librarian’s professional role clearly emerged: the healthcare environment, the personal qualities of the librarian and the librarian’s view of the library’s function in a hospital context. These aspects form a basis upon which the librarians build their professional roles.
*Nr 131 Nina Karlsson: Informationsbeteende i komplexa beslutsprocesser – nyttjande av informationskällor vid informationssökning om automatiserade bibliotekssystem (Information behaviour in complex decision-making – use of information sources in information seeking about automated library systems)
The aim with this study was to examine which information sources are used by the librarians in the process of changing automated library system and why. Furthermore it was of interest to examine whether there are any correlations between variables environment, information quality, information availability, information need and information sources. I used a quantitative method that was carried out in form of a nationwide survey. Questionnaires were sent out to all the Swedish libraries that had change library systems sometime between the years 2000 * 2004. The analysis of the results indicated that the respondents prefer to use human information sources because they are considered as available, useful and relevant. Correlations were found between motivation and influence; influence and how familiar the respondent is with the subject of library system; and between the information sources usefulness, availability and relevance. The respondents' information need influenced the number of used information sources, and motivation influenced how many internal and external sources that were accessed by the respondents in their information seeking. Those respondents that felt that they had a chance to affect the choice of library system used more sources than those who did not feel that they could affect the choice.
*Nr 132 Henrik Bolmskog: Pedagogiskt arbete på folkbibliotek. En hermeneutisk studie av Biblioteksbladet under trettiotalet, sextiotalet och nittiotalet. (The educational work of the public library. A hermeneutical study of Biblioteksbladet during the thirties, the sixties and the nineties.)
The aim of this master’s thesis is to examine how the educational work of the Swedish public library was regarded in the Swedish library journal Biblioteksbladet at three different periods of the twentieth century, i.e. the thirties, the sixties and the nineties. Using a theoretical framework from the field of professionalization and a methodological framework of hermeneutics, it is shown that the educational work of the thirties can be described as having a focus on free learning whereas the educational work of the sixties can be described as having a focus on public utility. The educational work of the nineties focuses on the information seeking process of the user. It is noted that this development during the century can be understood as a shift of the cognitive authority of the public librarians. It is shown that the change of exterior factors was discussed in two ways. The development of information technology has, in the eyes of the writers, moved the focus away from the collections of books to the use of tools for information seeking like the computer. The constant increase of adult students has gradually transformed the public library towards an education library. It is also shown that the public librarians had difficulties to welcome adult students. It is suggested – by means of the theoretical concept of jurisdiction - that the reason for this is a conflict between the new role of the public library as an educational library and the older role that stressed free learning.
*Nr 133 Maria Karlsson: Romantiklitteratur och genus – en text- och läsarundersökning (Romances and Gender – a textual and reader’s examination)
This Master’s thesis aims to study the reading habits of readers of romantic fiction, especially focusing on gender issues. The main areas studied are the function of reading romances compared with reading other genres, and how the readers value romantic and general literature. The thesis is based on qualitative interviews with seven readers of romances, five women and two men. The theoretical background is based on reader response theory and gender theory. Before I started interview the readers I asked them to read two romances; Sidney Sheldon’s - The best Laid Plans, and Rosamunde Pilcher’s - The End of Summer, which we later discussed during the interviews. I have also made a textual analysis of these two romances focusing on gender. The results show that the readers not only read romances, but many different kinds of books. They often chose romances when they are tired, physically and/or psychologically, and want something light to read that will cheer them up. Even though they criticise some of the characteristics of the typical romance, for example the way the characters are described, reading romances most of the time makes them feel relaxed and entertained. My conclusion is that, for this group of readers, reading romances is a "safe" read that does not challenge them or require that very much concentration. This is in contrast to when they read what they call "deeper books", in order to get different perspectives and new knowledge.
*Nr 134 Rebekka Rundberg: Making Sense: begriplighetsskapanden i samtida svensk skönlitteratur (Making Sense: the Making of Sense in Contemporary Swedish Fiction)
The purpose of this master's thesis is to examine the relation between man and information from a Sense-Making perspective. Thus, Sense-Making provides the methodological and theoretical tools. The relation between man and fiction is viewed upon as an interaction between the forming and providing of frames for the making of sense and the interpretations of fiction by the reader. Fiction is thereby regarded as an important part of the possibilities for humans to make sense out of their own situations. In five contemporary Swedish short stories, taken from randomly selected collections of short stories published between 2000 and 2004, it is examined how the main characters make sense. The method implies a focus on the character's efforts and processes to make sense. The categories situation, gap, over-bridging and result are used to ask questions to the stories, and with the use of the answers received, the character's Sense-Making is analysed and discussed. These are often found to relate to meetings with other people whom they try to understand. The character's self is then also challenged and questioned by the character. Sense is made through the character's efforts to meet himself/herself in questions and thoughts, as well as other people in conversation and interaction. The resulting sense is seen as positive by the characters. The conclusions of the examination show that Sense-Making involves the whole human being in an active and constructive process, where both inner as well as outer resources of the individual are used.
*Nr 135 Cecilia Alfredsson: Referenser i informationsåtervinning: utvärdering av en sökstrategi för citationsindex (References in information retrieval: evaluation of a search strategy for citation index)
In this essay, a search strategy for citation index is studied. The strategy, which is essentially a citation cycle, starts with documents retrieved by a subject search, wherefrom new documents are identified following the network of citations backwards and forwards in time. Based on the theory of polyrepresentation, the strategy exploits overlaps between cognitively different interpretations of the same documents in order to automatically select references (seed documents) used as a starting point for the forward chaining. The purpose of the investigation is to evaluate the retrieval effectiveness of the search strategy and to find out whether the strategy can be used to expand a subject search with the help of the network of references in order to retrieve new relevant documents. Two questions are formulated: 1a. What is the difference in precision between the initial subject search and the citation search? 1b. What is the novelty ratio for the citation search? 2. Is there a larger proportion of relevant documents in the overlaps emerging from the citation search, especially overlaps generated by several interpretations? The searches are performed in Science Citation Index and Social Science Citation Index. Results show that the citation search retrieves additional relevant documents, but that the average precision is low compared to the subject search. On the other hand the average novelty ratio for the citation search is rather high, with an average of 39 %. Very few overlaps on higher overlap levels emerge from the citation search in this investigation. The last question has therefore been difficult to answer.
*Nr 136 Emma Frisk, Maria Glans: Ordfront – Ett förlags utveckling (Ordfront – The Development of a Publishing House)
The aim of this thesis has been to study the development of Ordfront förlag from their foundation in 1969 until today, concerning their publishing profile and their size. Ordfront started out as a small publishing house and is today one of the few middle sized publishing houses in Sweden. Their books focus on questions concerning society, debate and politics. The question posed in this thesis was: What has influenced Ordfront förlag concerning size and publishing profile? In order to answer our question we have used a system analytic method, in which we examined some external and internal elements. The elements we have examined are 1) föreningen Ordfront, Ordfront magasin and Bokfront, 2) The Swedish Book Market, 3) Politics and Society. These elements have been compared and analyzed in relation to Ordfront. The theory applied to this thesis is the field theory developed by Pierre Bourdieu. We have found that all the elements affect each other and it is hard to say that one is more important than another. However we have confirmed that the first element has been the most important for the size of Ordfront, while the third element has influenced the publishing profile the most.
*Nr 137 Jennie Olofsson, Marie-Louise Bjänndal: Utveckling eller avveckling? – En intervjustudie av hur folkbibliotek hanterar besparingskrav (Development or Winding up?  – An Interview Study on how Public Libraries manage Financial Cuts)
The purpose of this master’s thesis is to examine how managers in public libraries are managing financial cuts. Questions posed are: What strategies are used by the library manager to handle the cuts and how are the strategies being worked out? What are the consequences of the cuts? How do the managers use their library plans in the work with the cuts and how do the plans change as a consequence of the cuts? Library managers in eleven communities are interviewed about their financial cuts in 2003 and/or 2004. The result shows that cuts are made in different ways. The study analysed the managers’ statements with a model about strategies created by Oulton. The internal strategies used most commonly were lowering performance and reducing costs. The external strategies were limiting cuts and off-loading. Mostly the managers plan the cuts alone and make decisions on the basis of their knowledge about the activities in the library. Consequently, cuts in the budgets were realized, but the negative effect was that the users’ access to the library service deteriorated. This study couldn’t answer the questions about library plans, only two of the communities had such a plan. Our conclusions are that the strategic planning could be better and that library plans are needed. The managers can use more performance measurements and let the staff take part in the planning. By marketing the public library in the community, the managers can find more support and possibilities to co-operate.
*Nr 138 Liselott Lundsten: Kontextbaserad utveckling av klassifikationssystem: Värdet av ett användarperspektiv i en beståndsorganiserande process på specialbibliotek (The context-based development of a classification system: The value of a user perspective in the process of organizing a collection in a special library)
This thesis treats a new perspective in the theory of classification, the context-based approach. The aim is to find out what kind of value this new approach can have in the process of creating a classification scheme for a special library collection. The first question to be answered is how the context-based approach works in a real life. The second question investigates which role the research in this particular area might have. Illustrating a real-life situation, the unit of Rättsmedicinalverket in Linköping serves as the object of study. The goal is to model tools for creation of a classification system that emerges from the context and that serves a special group of people with certain interests. Taking a user perspective, an inquiry has been conducted to establish the user needs. The data was collected by a questionnaire and organised according to main tasks performed by the participants. Interesting results were revealed: The context-based approach may play an important role for classification research. It may be used as an alternative to the traditional collection-based classification schemes, but only if multiple procedures are applied. The inquiry method used in this thesis can be a good complement to other methods.
*Nr 139 Annica Arvidsson, Åsa Ehn: Bibliotekariebilder i dagens platsannonser. En diskursanalys. (Today's images of the librarian in job advertisements. A discourse analysis.)
The aim of this Master’s thesis is to examine the librarian discourses that can be identified in the job advertisements of “today”, to examine how the discourses differ and also how these discourses might influence the librarian profession and its status. The method of investigation is a qualitative analysis of printed sources, using Ernesto Laclaus and Chantal Mouffes discourse theory as well as the theory of professions as a theoretical base. The thesis shows that two discourses can be identified in job advertisements for 2004, one public librarian discourse and one scientific librarian discourse. The major difference between the two discourses are work tasks where the public librarian discourse very often contains areas of responsibility and development work, whereas the scientific librarian discourse often contains administrative work tasks. Other differences include a great demand for driving licences and an interest in children and youth in the public librarian discourse, something which is not asked for at all in the scientific librarian discourse where there is a great demand for knowledge of languages instead. The consequences for the librarian profession and its status from these discourses might be both positive and negative. However, we don't believe that the job advertisements and the discourses we've found in those advertisements can alter society's negative view of the librarian profession.
*Nr 140 Jessica Malmström: Livslångt lärande och folkbibliotek (Lifelong learning and public libraries)
The purpose of this master thesis is to investigate and analyse how the concept of lifelong learning is expressed in political documents concerning public libraries and education and how it can be related to earlier con­cepts of education within the discourse of public libraries. Focus is the official approach to the concept of lifelong learn­ing and public library. The documents examined contain­ the political aims for education and culture policy on a na­tional and local level. The theories used in the study concern the background and meaning of the concept of lifelong learning, they describe public libraries and their earlier perspectives of education and they also give a picture of practices of governing within the framework of public libraries. The purpose is to see how the speech in the documents is reflected in discourses of society and public library. The procedure is inspired by critical discourse analysis as described by Norman Fairclough. According to this a three-dimensional analytical framework is used. This means that discourse is regarded as text, as discourse practice and as socioculture practice. The result of the study is that there are many similarities be­tween the concept of lifelong learning and earlier concepts of education. What differs is that lifelong learning is strongly characterized by the theories about “knowledge society” and discourses of “marketization”. The emphasis on the lifelong and lifewide perspective and the underlying motives for this can be regarded as new elements in the view of education.
*Nr 141 Karin Axelsson, Tina Hallendal: Identitet: sökes – ungdomsbiblioteket PUNKTmedis sett som en väg ur folkbibliotekens identitetskris (Identity: wanted – the youth library PUNKTmedis seen as a way out of the public library's identity crisis)
The aim of this study is to look at the identity of the public library, and to examine one way to make the identity of a specific library strong. PUNKTmedis is a newly opened library in Stockholm, aimed solely at people between 13-19. The question to be answered was: How can it affect the image of the public library’s identity when you aim the activity towards a specific user group? To answer this question, the qualitative method of case-study was used. Five interviews were carried out, with representatives from three different groups: users, politicians and librarians. Focus was on how these three different groups described the traditional public library, PUNKTmedis, and the future library. The results show that the traditional public library has an unfocused identity, with many different goals. PUNKTmedis has a very strong identity, with focus on the library’s role as a social and cultural centre. The future library’s identity is not as strong as PUNKTmedis’, but more focused than the traditional library’s. The three different groups value the different roles of the public library somewhat differently when it comes to the traditional and the future library, but are very unanimous regarding the identity of PUNKTmedis. One of the main reasons for this is the strong user-influence that has shaped PUNKTmedis. This user-influence is something that more libraries could work with, in order to work towards a stronger identity.

Kandidatuppsatser: abstract

*Nr 1 Muamera Hadzic: Bosniska invandrare och bibliotek: en undersökning av läs- och biblioteksvanor hos bosniska invandrare (Bosnian immigrants and the library: A survey of Bosnian immigrants’ reading and library habits)
This thesis is an investigation of Bosnian immigrants and their use of libraries in Borås and Anderstorp. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate if people from Bosnia read in their mother tongue Bosnian and if they read in Swedish too. The essay is based on questionnaires concerning both young and older immigrants' reading and library habits. The survey encompasses 30 Bosnians. In the theory I have described relevant literature and confirmed the importance of identity, language and culture for immigrants. Almost all the informants have been living in Sweden around 12 years. Both the young and the older informants use the libraries to borrow literature in Swedish. The older informants generally read newspapers and periodicals in their native language. They also borrow literature in their native language. The young informants on the other hand read and borrow literature in Swedish. Many researches showed that reading is very important not only for the ability to get a good and rich language but also for building up a good self-confidence. At the end I can say that public libraries are important institutes for Bosnian immigrants.
*Nr 2 Susanne Pettersson: Att klassificera populärmusik: en studie med förankring i SAB-systemet (Classifying Popular Music: a study with its focus on The Swedish Library Classification System)
The aim of this paper is to examine how The Swedish Library Classification System, also known as the “SAB-system”, has classified popular music. The investigation is limited to the classification category of “Yx Jazz, Rock and Popular Music” within the SAB-system. The development of this category is studied. The main part of the paper deals with the history of popular music. A comparative analysis is done between the historical development of Yx and the history of popular music. The questions at issue are whether the Swedish Library Classification System has been able to follow the development of popular music; how the different styles of popular music have been inserted in the classification, and if it is possible to make improvements of the present classification. The result of the analysis shows that from 1984 the Swedish SAB-system has had a very detailed classification of popular music through category Yx, but that it demands a continuous revision of this classification to keep it up to date. The author also discusses the problems with classification of something that is not completely definable such as popular music. The author also makes some suggestions on how to improve the present classification of popular music in the Swedish Library Classification System.
*Nr 3 Åsa Norlund: Musik och indexering i folkbiblioteken (Music and indexing in public libraries)
This paper follows an analytical and critical line of reasoning concerning indexing and retrieval of music in Swedish public libraries. The focus of the discussion is based on the terms included in the subject heading list of the Swedish Classification System. The empirical study is performed in the context of online catalogues in the public libraries of Örebro and Gävle. The theoretical background relies on the indexing theory of Professor Frederick W. Lancaster. An issue being discussed is in what extent the subject headings represent the music recordings in a pertinent way. One of the conclusions are that due to the lack of practicing the principle of specificity there are terms that have not been used in indexing. As a result of this and other problems I belive that the controlled vocabulary is in need of an update, which according to my opinion should include adding new terms as well as term deletion.
*Nr 4 Lil Eriksson, Annette Lindqvist: Marknadsföring av folkbibliotek – om fyra folkbibliotek i Kalmar län på väg mot visionen att bli Sveriges bästa biblioteksregion år 2010 (Marketing of Public Libraries – about four public libraries in the County of Kalmar on their way to be the best Region of Libraries in Sweden in the year of 2010)
The aim of this Bachelor's thesis is to describe the phenomenon of marketing. Four public libraries in the County of Kalmar have been studied in the aim to obtain information on their current marketing in the autumn of 2004, as well as their view of marketing and its signification in connection to a vision that the Regional Library in Kalmar has established. The vision is that the County of Kalmar is going to be the best Region of Libraries in Sweden in the year of 2010. Target markets for the vision is the general public, students and entrepreneurs. The study has done a landing at an early stage of the vision, the starting point of which was in the year of 2001. The method used has consisted of interviews with four chief librarians of public libraries, and also an interview with the Chief of the Regional Library in Kalmar. The results of the study have shown that these public libraries do not use any marketing planning. Therefore they lack a complete grasp of their marketing. Even the marketing of the vision lacks marketing planning. This results in a gap between the management and the library personnel. Among the key questions has been how to measure “best” and also if the libraries are ready to meet the needs of the entrepreneurs, a totally new target market for these public libraries. Until the time of our study, the chief librarians have been quite content with the marketing of the vision to the politicians, but displeased with the marketing to the library personnel.
*Nr 5 Anna-Karin Luttu: Företagsservice på folkbibliotek. En enkätundersökning bland företag i Övertorneå kommun. (Business information at public libraries. A questionnaire survey among businesses in the municipality of Övertorneå)
This thesis is the result of a questionnaire survey among small businesses in the municipality of Övertorneå. Small businesses need access to many different kinds of information during day-to-day operations. Since small businesses often lack resources like time, staff and money, the public library could provide small businesses with information. The aim of this thesis is to study information needs among small businesses in Övertorneå. The study also aims to suggest what kind of service the library could provide according to the information needs and the most valued information sources of the businesses.
*Nr 6 Jessica Andreasson: Elektroniska böcker på bibliotek: Bibliotekariers och användares syn på elektroniska böcker utifrån intervjuer och samtal (Electronic Books in Libraries: Librarians’ and Users’ Opinions of Electronic Books according to Interviews and Dialogues)
The purpose of this paper is to describe how librarians and users think of electronic books in libraries. My questions are: -What are electronic books, and how do they work? -How has electronic books been implemented by librarians in the libraries and on the libraries’ websites? -How do users describe their view of electronic books? -How do the librarians and users think of electronic book in the future? To be able to answer these questions I have studied relevant literature, made qualitative interviews with two librarians at two similar libraries and I had dialogues with several users. Electronic books were introduced 2002 at the two libraries. In the beginning the libraries made different types of marketing, but today they only have the website with information. Their purpose was to try this out and offer the users a new media. So far, there are few users who borrow these books, and maybe it depends on technical conditions. According to the dialogues I had, most of the users have no idea what electronic books are. The advantages of electronic books, according to the users, are a fast way to reach a book, it is cheap and you do not have to return the book. The drawbacks are a limited choice of books Some of the users thought they were difficult to use and preferred books with printed text. However, both librarians and users think that electronic books will develop in different ways