Wayfinding och visuell kommunikation på folkbibliotek

Sammanfattning: The aim of this thesis is to gain knowledge about how personnel at public libraries describes how they work with visual communication. That is, working with signs, posters, maps, digital information on monitors and so on, so that the users easily will find their way around the library and get aware of the libraries various services and upcoming events. To be able to communicate with the users is important for all institutions and there might be challenges involved in that. Research shows that visual communication must be evident so that the users understand it. It is also important that the visual communication is not to vague or to rich. Wayfinding is a problem solving process in three parts which includes: search, decide and move, with the objective to get from point A to point B. The Danish professor Per Mollerups nine strategies for wayfinding is used as a tool to analyze the empiric material. The strategies include track following, route following, educated seeking, inference, screening, aiming, map-reading, compassing and social navigation. This study is based on five qualitative semi-structured interviews with personnel from five different public libraries. The results shows that the informants believe that visual communication is an important part of the profession, but that they neither have the time nor the right knowledge to make a thorough job.