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LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Vilse på biblioteket : en kvalitativ studie om biblioteksbesökares åsikter kring processen att leta efter böcker

Johansson, Jasmin LU (2022) ABMM54 20221
Division of ALM and Digital Cultures
Abstract
There are multiple things you can do at the public library such as study, borrow books and use the computers. The purpose of this master thesis is to understand what opinions the visitors to Lund Municipality's public library have about the process of looking for books in the library. Furthermore, it will be investigated whether the opinions differ between visitors to staffed or unstaffed libraries. Lastly the purpose is also to see how library users look for book in the library premises. The method used was semi-structured interviews with 11 visitors which 5 of them were made with visitors to unstaffed libraries. An observation was made of how the visitors moved in the library premises. This was done at three libraries which were Dalby... (More)
There are multiple things you can do at the public library such as study, borrow books and use the computers. The purpose of this master thesis is to understand what opinions the visitors to Lund Municipality's public library have about the process of looking for books in the library. Furthermore, it will be investigated whether the opinions differ between visitors to staffed or unstaffed libraries. Lastly the purpose is also to see how library users look for book in the library premises. The method used was semi-structured interviews with 11 visitors which 5 of them were made with visitors to unstaffed libraries. An observation was made of how the visitors moved in the library premises. This was done at three libraries which were Dalby library, Södra Sandby library and Lund city library. In addition, a go-along observation was performed with two informants to see what their process of looking for books looked like.
The results were then analyzed using theories such as wayfinding, wayshowing, library anxiety, and theories about organizing materials. The results of the survey concluded that visitors do not have problems in finding their way in the library, but they do not understand the library systems. All visitors use wayfinding strategies to find their way through the library. Some visitors feel anxious when asking for help and prefer to avoid this. Most were content with the signs but there is potential for improvement in terms of accessibility. The conclusion is that more interconnection is needed between the search systems and the physical space for visitors to feel satisfied and find books more easily. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Johansson, Jasmin LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
Lost in the library : a qualitative study of library visitors' opinions on the process of looking for books
course
ABMM54 20221
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Public library, Information, Wayfinding, Wayshowing, Books, Users, Library Anxiety
language
Swedish
id
9090132
date added to LUP
2022-08-23 08:51:41
date last changed
2022-08-23 08:51:41
@misc{9090132,
  abstract     = {{There are multiple things you can do at the public library such as study, borrow books and use the computers. The purpose of this master thesis is to understand what opinions the visitors to Lund Municipality's public library have about the process of looking for books in the library. Furthermore, it will be investigated whether the opinions differ between visitors to staffed or unstaffed libraries. Lastly the purpose is also to see how library users look for book in the library premises. The method used was semi-structured interviews with 11 visitors which 5 of them were made with visitors to unstaffed libraries. An observation was made of how the visitors moved in the library premises. This was done at three libraries which were Dalby library, Södra Sandby library and Lund city library. In addition, a go-along observation was performed with two informants to see what their process of looking for books looked like.
The results were then analyzed using theories such as wayfinding, wayshowing, library anxiety, and theories about organizing materials. The results of the survey concluded that visitors do not have problems in finding their way in the library, but they do not understand the library systems. All visitors use wayfinding strategies to find their way through the library. Some visitors feel anxious when asking for help and prefer to avoid this. Most were content with the signs but there is potential for improvement in terms of accessibility. The conclusion is that more interconnection is needed between the search systems and the physical space for visitors to feel satisfied and find books more easily.}},
  author       = {{Johansson, Jasmin}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Vilse på biblioteket : en kvalitativ studie om biblioteksbesökares åsikter kring processen att leta efter böcker}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}