The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to examine the accessibility and barriers of public libraries to intellectual and mentally disabled children and young people. This we will do by examining whether the library staff acts according to policies of the libraries. Our method has been qualitative interviews with library staff and we have also observed the environment, media and marketing of these libraries. As a theoretical starting point of the analysis we use Michael Buckland’s different aspects of access to information. He discusses six types of barriers that must be overcome if access is to be achieved and we use five of these barriers in our study. We have attempted to answer the following questions: •What does the library range of media look like to the disabled children and young people?•Which services do the libraries offer to the disabled children and young people?•How is the physical environment designed for the disabled persons at the libraries?•How does the library inform about their services to the disabled people and market them to these groups?The results of this study show that in all libraries, the staff displayed a positive attitude towards the disabled children. We noticed that all libraries appeared to have quite a good media collection and good services for those children. After the interviews and the observations we found that the library’s environment and marketing need to be improved. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to present an overviewof a number of libraries’ specially adapted media forchildren with special needs.We also wanted to see how the librarians worked to helpchildren with special needs, to take advantage of the librariescollections and activities. These special needs could bedyslexia but may also be disabilities which have resulted inthem being unable to read literature other than specialadapted literature. Examples of this literature are DAISY,book & DAISY, pictogram, bliss, ISAAC, easy reading,Braille, tactile picture books, and computer programs thatmake it easier for people to read in their own way with theirown skills.Using qualitative interviews we have interviewed sevenlibrarians. Through this process we have been able toascertain which methods public libraries use to meet theneeds of those children whose disabilities relate to reading.The interviews also explored how they are working withchildren who need more time than other children does whenit comes to reading.The results of the interviews showed that the librariesprovided a lot of special adapted media. Some of thelibraries had a more sophisticated selection collected in their,in Swedish, äppelhylla, but all of them wanted to help andmeet children with special needs at the children’s own level.The use of economic budget for adapted literature variedamongst the libraries, sometimes it was amalgamated withthe rest of the library budget, but in others the budget wasassigned specifically for the adapted literature. / Program: Bibliotekarie

This study aims to investigate how pedagogical picture books intended for inclusion represents children with neuropsychiatric disabilities. This is investigated through in-depth analysis of four books dealing with the subject from different approaches, recommended by state libraries and the specialised educational authority. The study also aims to pay attention to the available material and to highlight what kind of image of divergent children that is beeing communicated to pre-school children and what consequences this may have. The results of the analysis may be useful in the selection of inclusion material and how the books can be practised in a norm-critical and socio-cultural approach.

Introduction. The Apple shelf is an established concept at public libraries in Sweden. These shelves contain accessible books and other media for disabled people of varying ages. A recent discussion within the librarian profession challenges the name – is there a better alternative to “The Apple shelf”? Our study aimed to gather both librarian and target group opinions of the current name and its suggested alternatives, and attempts to understand potential stigmatization with the application of Goffmans stigma theory.      Method. A multimethod (triangulation) approach was applied to collect data. An online survey was sent to all public libraries in the regions of Västerbotten, Västmanland and Uppsala; semi-structured interviews were conducted with librarians, parents of disabled children, and a disabled youth accompanied by an aide; and an instance of participant observation was done in a network meeting setting. Recorded and transcribed interviews, survey responses, and meeting notes respectively formed the basis for the study’s analysis.  Analysis. A qualitative thematic analysis of the collected data found 4 common themes: (1) User and Target Group, (2) Name, (3) Shelf Arrangement, and (4) Awareness and Marketing. Goffman’s stigma theory was applied to each theme to highlight stigmatization risks related to both the existing name and proposed alternatives. Results. The Apple Shelf caters to a wider audience than originally intended. Both the current ”Apple Shelf” name and its proposed alternatives have advantages and disadvantages related to stigmatization.  Conclusion. Regardless of what name is chosen for Apple shelf it must be explained and marketed to the public. We argue that including disabled people in library changes, as well as actively updating and promoting the shelf locally, are more important than this change of name.     This is a two-year master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.