The aim of this Master’s thesis is to develop new knowledge of how librarians view the public library as a place for integration of immigrant children and young people. Five librarians, from five different libraries were interviewed. The results were analysed through the theoretical framework ”The four spaces” developed by Jochumsen, Hvenegaard Rasmussen and Skot-Hansen (2012). The result of the study shows that librarians believe that public libraries in many ways can enable integration for newly arrived children and young people. The main difficulties for the libraries is to reach out and promote themselves to the target group. Public libraries can enable integration by serving as a meeting place and a safe place where newly arrived children and young people can come and meet other people and library staff. By offering different types of group activities, integration can be achieved as well as working relationship creation. According to the librarians, public libraries can contribute to integration by offering its users different types of language development activities. Promoting reading is one of the most important missions libraries have towards the target group. The ambition of libraries is, for example, to offer reading sessions in the children’s mother tongue and programs in easy Swedish language. Libraries can assist the newly arrived children and young people with literature and other media in different languages. Making this available is important to contribute to integration.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how different approaches to children’s and young people’s reading appear in the journals Biblioteksbladet and Svenskläraren during the years 2016-2020. Biblioteksbladet addresses librarians whilst teachers are the target group of Svenskläraren. The two professions are chosen since they both work with reading promotion towards children and youths. The theoretical framework for this study is three different approaches to reading – the pragmatic, the traditionalistic and the emancipatory. By using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this study aims to investigate to what extent the different approaches appear in each journal. It also examines and shows examples of themes that occur when analysing the material. A common theme for the traditionalistic approach is promotion of literary classics. Language development is a frequent theme within the pragmatic approach and reading as a tool for developing norm criticism is a common theme for the emancipatory approach. This is the case for the articles in both journals. The results also show that the pragmatic and the emancipatory approaches dominate the articles in Biblioteksbladet during the selected years. In Svenskläraren, the result differs in that the pragmatic and the traditionalistic approaches nearly appear as often as each other. However, the emancipatory approach almost occurs as much as the traditionalistic and the pragmatic approaches combined. The differences in what the articles focus on might be a result of the fact that the two professions have different regulations and policy documents that govern what to focus on.

I denna uppsats har vi utvärderat Give me five, som är ett länsövergripande samarbetsprojekt mellan förskola och bibliotek. Projektet är en läsfrämjande insats, initierat av Länsbiblioteket i Västerbotten och finansierat av Kulturrådet, där den moderna bilderboken används som ett pedagogiskt redskap för att nå femåringar och vuxna i deras närhet.Vi har i uppsatsen fokuserat på projektarbetet som pågått i Umeåområdet under åren 2011-2012, utifrån förskollärarnas perspektiv. Genom kvalitativa intervjuer på sex förskolor har vi besvarat våra frågeställningar som handlar om hur förskollärarna har upplevt att arbeta med projektet, hur väl arbetet överensstämmer med projektmålen, vilken betydelse projektorganisationen haft för arbetet samt hur det fortsatta arbetet med projektet kan utvecklas. Bedömningskriterierna är förskollärarnas subjektiva uppfattningar av det faktiska projektarbetet gentemot de uppställda projektmålen.Utifrån intervjuerna och det teoretiska ramverk vi studerat har vi kommit fram till våra slutsatser. Förskollärarna tycker att det har varit positivt att arbeta med projektet eftersom att de tillsammans med barnen har varit fria att styra över det kreativa arbete som utförts och även fått ta del av olika kulturella aktiviteter. Förskollärarna har dock ej varit medvetna om de skrivna projektmålen, utan arbetat utifrån de muntliga direktiv som givits samt förskolans läroplansmål. Projektorganisatoriska utvecklingsmöjligheter finns; genom att förankra och förtydliga projektbeskrivningen, utveckla samarbetet mellan förskollärare, bibliotekarier och kulturpedagoger samt erbjuda fler fortbildningstillfällen leds förskollärarnas arbete framåt. På detta sätt kan de också bli ännu bättre vägvisare till kulturen för barnen i förskolan.

The aim of this thesis is to gain insights into which competencies librarians working at public libraries with makerspaces consider important to possess in order to perform their work, and how and from where they acquire these competencies. The study also examines whether the Swedish Library & Information science education has prepared the librarians in this study for this type of work. The method used is semi-structured interviews. The respondents are four librarians working at public libraries with makerspaces. The theoretical framework is Knud Illeris' expanded concept of competence. The findings show that the Library & Information science education prepares librarians with a basic approach needed to work in all types of libraries. Another finding is that competence development to cultivate the skills needed to specifically work in public libraries with makerspaces occurs more through networks and personal environmental monitoring. The study also concludes that specific skills and competencies needed for working in makerspaces are rather linked to qualities and attitudes related to the ability to acquire the competencies needed for the work such as curiosity, creativity, flexibility, social and pedagogical skills and ability to structure and organize one's work. The study also shows that organizational and collegial support are important for cultivating relevant competencies and developing the makerspace. The participants in the study request that the Library & Information science education should focus more on the learning situation, technology, and project management. Future research should focus more deeply on the challenges these librarians meet in this new type of libraries.

Libraries exist around us and for most of us they are a part of our every day life. But how often do we stop and think about their meaning? Libraries in fiction are usually not the center of the narrative, they play a role quietly in the background and offer a backcloth to the story. Yet they are a vital part of the story. Without them a big part of the magic in the stories would be lost. And what is their role in our lives? What do the libraries mean to the books they harbor, the readers who seek them out and society in which they have their axiomatic role? This essay’s focus is my story “Between the shelves”, which is about the young girl Julia and the mysterious passageway she discovers in her local library. Here she finds shelf after shelf with strange-looking books. They all seem to have peculiar titles, one of them is When Napoleon won the battle of Waterloo. Driven by her curiosity she starts reading the book, and soon finds herself inside it, living the battle. The library is not just a building, it is also a hub where different alternative realities can be reached through the books. In this essay I will compare the topics of my story, such as the interpretation of the library (both as a physical and mental place), the sense of mystery, interpretation of the librarians etc. to other fiction. I will compare these topics both with books for adults and for children to see if the interpretation differs.

This thesis investigates the reception of middle literature novels among critics in Swedish newspapers and at Swedish libraries. Works by three authors were chosen as representatives for middle literature: Helen Fielding, Nick Hornby and Tony Parsons. The investigation is based on interviews with librarians at the Gothenburg City Library, the total purchased number of books at public libraries in Sweden and analysis of Swedish newspaper reviews. The result is compared with theories by literary sociologists as Jofrid Karner Smidt, Janice Radway, Erland Munch-Petersen and Staffan Bergsten among others. It was found out that literary scientists and critics had a different way of looking at middle literature. Scientists regarded it as something positive and strengthening for female readers. Literary critics, on the other hand, looked upon middle literature as depraved and retrogressive. The very word middle literature first appears in Swedish newspapers in 1997 and it has been given several names. Middle literature novels were found to have some characteristic features: humour, identification, journalistic language and an urban environment. These novels were entertaining, well written, realistic and gave a picture of the present generation. The librarians had difficulties characterizing middle literature novels and to determine whether it was light literature or not. The reviews of the novels differed. Some were positive, some were negative but no one was unconcerned. Critics were more positive to middle literature than the librarians at the City Library in Gothenburg were. What made the literature so popular turned out to be facts that were its characteristics. Even if the librarians had a tendency to recommend other better novels, they thought it was better reading light novels than not reading at all. For them, middle literature fulfilled its purpose better in English, their original language, as an educational tool. They decided to buy this literature mainly for that purpose from that on. The chosen novels were all purchased in high numbers by Swedish libraries, in English as well as translated into Swedish. They regarded requests of books by the patrons but checked out reviews very carefully. The request for quality was high and was even more important. / Uppsatsnivå: D

Studies have shown that library employees often choose not to use readers’ advisory tools but to instead rely entirely on their own experience, often doing the library user a disservice. However, very few have looked at why this is so. This thesis looks at to what extent thirty individual employees in thirty Swedish public libraries use readers advisory tools when helping a patron find a good book, with the major focus on what motivates them to use these tools and why some choose not to use them. It was found that readers’ advisory tools where not used with any consistency and that many things influence the library employees’ use of these tools. Among other things, having access to readers’ advisory tools was of course essential, as was that the library employee felt there were no major time constraints. The usability and usefulness of these tools was also central, as was the library employees’ competence and confidence at using them. Many also stated that they had trouble remembering that there were readers’ advisory tools available at all. The optimal tool, according to the participants in this study, is easy to access and easy to use. Outside of these criteria opinions divide on what is most essential, that they are organized by genre and based on the opinions of professionals or that they focus on the reading experience of library patrons. / Program: Bibliotekarie

This thesis is a discourse analysis analyzing public library librarians' talk on the subject of public library meeting places. Within the field of Library and Information Science the public libraries' functions as social meeting places have been scrutinized for more than a decade. Researchers in the Nordic countries in particular have looked at library users' use of the library space and have highlighted the sociologic dimensions of the public library and the meeting place functions. Few however have paid much attention to the library personnel's point of view. The discourse analysis perspective is about language use and how people construct the reality. Using the discourse psychology approach to discourse analysis as a basis of a discourse analytic framework this thesis examines how public library librarians use interpretative practises to construct versions of the phenomena talked about in order to suite the purpose of their talk. The analyzed data material is a transcript from a performed focus group where four public library librarians talked for about one hour on the subject of public library meeting places. The main findings is that the focus group members use eleven different interpretative repertoires in their talk. Interpretative repertoire is a close synonym to discourse. In Sweden the discourse analysis perspective in the Library information science is fairly new. Discourse analysis's made in the Library and information science has mostly been based upon written material. In the thesis it is suggested that there are differences in how discourse practises is being used in talk compared to how it is used in written texts. The talk seems richer on variations and more interpretative repertoires are to be found. The librarians in the focus group move seemingly free between discourses and subject positions. They don't just adapt to existing positions but also construct them to better suite their purposes. Different levels in the discourse order are not upheld in the talk. The impression is that the focus group participants float between discourses' subject positions and interpretative repertoires at all levels in a complex language-game allowing the librarians to take different stands that in a different context would be perceived as conflicting and problematic.

The aim of this master‟s thesis is to investigate the value and impact that reading groups organized by Swedish Public Libraries, have on its participants, role of the librarian and the Library as whole, according to librarian‟s conceptions. In literature and earlier research reading groups are described to represent an important reader pro-motion tool for Public Libraries. At the same time the typical reading group member is often described as a per-son with a familiarity of reading. Another purpose is therefore to investigate the contribution of reading groups in promoting reading, according to librarian‟s conceptions. A phenomenographic approach was adopted and qualit-ative interviews were carried out with five librarians at five Public Libraries. The phenomenographic analysis of the interview-material, concerning reading groups impact on its partici-pants and the Library as a whole, resulted in the following categories: reading groups perceives as a natural part of the Public Library service, reading groups inspirer to reading and literature interest, reading groups leads to human interactions and shared reading experiences, reading groups has a democratic function, limitations of reading groups and reading groups part in reading promotion. Comparisons have also been made to how reading groups fit the Public Library task, as it is described in Swedish Library law and Unesco‟s Public Library manifes-to. The analysis of the interview-material shows that reading groups in many ways fit the task of Public Library service, like promoting literature and reading, supporting individual development and be available to everyone. The phenomenographical analysis of the interview-material, concerning the librarian‟s part in reading groups, resulted in the following categories: administrator, educator, social inspirer and competence and interest for fiction. Comparisons are also made to Jofrid Karner Smidts thesis concerning the five different roles a libra-rian should fulfill working with literature promotion. Based on her thesis it´s foremost the librarian as a critic and literature expert, educator and as ordinary person that correspond with the interviewed librarians perceptions about what part they play and should play in reading groups. One distinct conception that transpired in the interview-material is that reading groups organized by Swe-dish Public Libraries do not necessarily have a specific reading promotion purpose, but that reading groups have potential to have a positive impact on the participants reading habits. Further that more active work from the librarians is required, in order to fulfill a reading promotion function. One of this thesis most important conclu-sions is that there seems to exist a need to make the literature-promotion task of Public Libraries more visible, that it is important that librarians is given the opportunity to develop their competence to fulfill this task and that reading groups can fulfill an important aspect in that context. This study is a two years master´s thesis in library and information science.

This master’s thesis looks at discourses that use the pronoun ”hen”. The media debate in Sweden over this pronoun in 2012 started in connection with the publishing of a children’s picture book: Kivi och monsterhund, by Jesper Lundqvist and Bettina Jansson. The essay investigates how eight librarians, who take an interest in and work with gender issues, talk about the pronoun hen and about this picture book and other books that have characters which are not named as a sex/gender. The essay takes a discursive perspective on reality and on the construction of knowledge and carries out a discourse analysis of the librarians’ talk in the qualitative interviews that were made for this study. In the analysis of these interviews Yvonne Hirdman’s theory of the gender system takes a central part. The result of the analysis is seven discourses that are central to the librarians talk about books and gender and where the pronoun hen is a focus or a related issue. The essay argues that gender categorization is a dominant discourse in our western society and that certain uses of the pronoun hen, especially the discourse named as the Human-discourse, challenges this domination. The discourses that most librarians used were within the reasoning of the dominant discourse of gender categorization. A conclusion is that the meaning of the pronoun hen is not determined by any one discourse but that there may be a political intervention working towards integrating the pronoun hen into the dominant discourse of gender categorization and thereby neutralising the pronoun.