The traditional library is in a state of crisis since its legitimacy was threatened by the declining status of the welfare state and the printed book medium. The study aims to regain a sense of the lost identity by comparing the institution's perceptions of reading with those of the sobriety movement of the early 20th century and the bibliotherapy representatives of today. Qualitative content analysis is used as a method to categorize and understand the reading perceptions of the reader communities mentioned above. The categories used are of a deductive character and distinguish whether the perception of reading is based on a conception of it as something characterized by the experience of the act or its instrumentality, as well as in reflective relation with the reader's self or not. The studied material is the membership newspaper of IOGT and a contemporary bibliotherapy blog. The results reached by the study point to other types of instrumentality used to legitimize reading by the reader communities, in contrast to the economic instrumentality which has gained influence in the library sphere. The social instrumentality of the bibliotherapy movement, characterized by social relations and integration, is uncovered in the materials. The role of the librarian supporting the reader's own knowledge acquirement is a feature that connects the contemporary librarian identity to bibliotherapy. The former now gains a language to express itself, something that has been missing since the identity crisis.

The concept of bibliotherapy is subject to different views of its meaning and potential place in the library. Through a critical discourse analytical approach, this thesis examines bibliotherapy in relation to a Swedish library context by analyzing Swedish articles from daily and monthly press, and relating the discourses identified in them to Zygmunt Bauman’s theory of late modernity. Using bibliotherapy and library as key concepts to analyze, seven different discourses are identified, the first four related to the concept of bibliotherapy and the three latter related to the norms, beliefs, and values of libraries: a curative discourse, a universal discourse, a discourse based on reading as a way of looking inward, one based on reading as a way of recognition, traditional library discourse, bibliotherapeutic library discourse, and crisis discourse. These discourses are related to each other as well as to the social structures of late modern society, and the role of bibliotherapy as a whole is examined in this context. Bibliotherapy emerges as a tendency in late modern society, interacting with aspects of it consisting of undermining of the welfare society, the construction of identity, and seeking of community and safety.

Syftet med den här litteraturstudien är att öka kunskapen om en i Sverige än så länge okänd metod, biblioterapi, hur den kan användas i den specialpedagogiska undervisningen av det socio-emotionella lärandet, för att utveckla problemlösningsförmågor och för att utveckla strategier för coping. En övergripande frågeställning kan sammanfattas med: vad säger forskning om biblioterapi i den specialpedagogiska undervisningen? Studien förhåller sig till en bakgrund av att det finns ett tomrum på metoder för några av de ansvarsområden som vilar på skolan, något som skapar en känsla av otillräcklighet hos många lärare som ofta har en diger ämneskompetens och är skickliga på att förmedla kunskaper på olika sätt. Arbetets utgångspunkt är en idé om att en lär-och arbetsmiljö som kännetecknas av psykiskt välbefinnande hos elever och personal är främjande för lärande och kunskapsutveckling. Studien kan beskrivas som en induktiv systematisk litteraturstudie med kvalitativ ansats och följer Wolfsvinkel, Furtmueller och Wilderoms (2013) guide för att genomföra litteraturstudier med grundad teori. Materialet omfattade nio vetenskapliga artiklar som kodades och kategoriserades och de mest framträdande begreppen analyseras i studiens analysdel ur ett  kognitionspsykologiskt perspektiv. Resultatet visar att biblioterapin är en effektiv kompletterande metod inom specialpedagogiskt arbete av framför allt socioemotionella förmågor, problemlösningsförmågor och copingstrategier och diskuteras i förhållande till tidigare forskning. Där diskuteras också teori-och metodval, samt ges förslag på vidare forskning.

The purpose of this essay was to investigate whether reading or the discussion of reading literature can enhance the psychological well-being from a user-perspective. The essay used the theory of Hynes and Hynes-Berry´s (2012) two distinctions of bibliotherapy; interactive- and reading bibliotherapy, to investigate reading and the use of reading as an impact on mental health. By the use of a survey sent to facebookgroups that regularly engage in reading and literature, it was utilized to showcase the two distinctions of bibliotherapy. The free-text answers given by the informants were parted into five identified themes, which was categorized into escapism, relaxation - to prevent stress, another perspective, insight - to identify with the story and belongingness. A discussion was also made about library and information science, which was used to discuss the possible bibliotherapeutic impact libraries could have on their users. The essay was summarized into conclusions, the last part of the text, where the question formulation were answered using the themes that had structured the results, the diagrams and charts that were presented in the quantitative results, and the two distinctions that structured the analysis. The conclusion of this essay is that when people read or discuss literature it is done with a positive result for their well-being. The study has shown that the concept of reading to enhance one's psychological well-being is an individual experience and differs depending on the person in question and their physical or psychological state. This essay has also come to the conclusion that bibliotherapy is something that could have a positive impact on libraries and their users if it got introduced and implemented to their practice. Although this requires a close collaboration between librarians and mental health professionals to combine their knowledge and create the best possible outcome for the users. Library and information science is therefore relevant when bibliotherapy is applied to users because of the librarians knowledge in the field such as information literacy.

The aim of this Bachelor`s thesis is to examine what librarians who work with a biblioterapeutic method called ”Reading club” at a Swedish children´s hospital, think of their own professional identity. I have collected the data for the thesis with help from qualitative, semi-structured interviews and then analyzed the material I gathered by dividing the answers into different themes. In the analysis I then used the themes to structure my work. I have built my results on the theory in Andrew Abbott’s book The system of professions, about how professions clams jurisdiction in different arenas (1988). The librarians in my study describe that their working place, tools and the way they approach the children and youth at the hospital has changed since they started to work with the Reading club. They can clearly see that the reading sessions bring “KASAM” (which means a sense of coherence) to the children. Now, their most important tool is the book and they see it as if the book itself carries KASAM- potential. They have a close cooperation with the play therapy and have made it from the wards in to the rooms of the sickest children. Even though they describe their work as “bibliotherapeutic” they hesitate to call themselves bibliotherapists. To make distance towards nearby occupations they systematically evaluate their work and develop methods to define themselves and their work.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the role of bibliotherapy at hospitals and also what knowledge of and insights on bibliotherapy a few Swedish hospital librarians have. Questions investigated are: What role do the hospital librarians think literature has in the treatment of a patient? What is their view on their role as a hospital librarian and do they believe that they can have a part in the treatment of a patient? Is the concept bibliotherapy commonly used or is there another term in use? How important is the linkage between healing and literature? In this study, the view on bibliotherapy is limited to a hospital perspective. The purpose of the study is therefore to investigate bibliotherapy at the hospital. Six qualitative interviews with hospital librarians were performed at three general or combined general/medical hospital libraries. The study shows that the hospital librarians have little knowledge of bibliotherapy and that none of them work with bibliotherapy in an organized form. Literature and its effect on human health is something they all have reflected on, and several of them believe that part of their work could be conceptualized as bibliotherapy. They are convinced that literature can give a patient satisfaction by easing the long hours of waiting and by supplying a sense of identity and insights. The hospital librarians also consider themselves being representatives of the “ordinary world” as they don’t dress in white coats. An important function would then be that the hospital librarian stands out as a human being of flesh and blood that takes the time to see, listen and talk to the patient from a non medical perspective. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this bachelor-thesis is to study how the City Library in Norrköping, in collaboration with the outpatient centre, Gränden, has assisted people with substance abuse problems through a bibliotherapeutic reading circle known as, Människor mellan raderna (People between the lines). My theoretical framework is based upon Ruth M. Tews and Berth Danermark’s theories. Tew states that in order to create a well-functioning team consisting of various professional competences, each individual needs to possess certain character traits including the ability to contribute with their unique competence and an openness to receive and absorb the other participants’ contributions. According to Danermark, a collaborative project can be a stimulating and enriching process provided that the right conditions are created and adequate resources are made available. In order to answer the research questions, I conducted interviews with the librarian and the two therapy assistants who collaborated in hosting and facilitating ‘Människor mellan raderna’, as well as the chief librarian and the director of social services. I identified a common positive attitude towards collaboration among the informants/participants. One explanation for this may well lie in the fact that the different professional competencies found within the group complemented one another. The statements of the interviewees were found to be consistent with the theories postulated by Tew and Danermark concerning collaboratives of well-functioning teams. In conclusion, I can confidently recommend bibliotherapy as a way of improving and fortifying collaboration between different professional groups - provided that adequate resources are received, including the funding of research and development of bibliotherapeutic methods. / Program: Bibliotekarie

Denna studie undersöker om det finns möjligheter att integrera ett hälsofrämjande arbete i litteraturundervisningen genom Judith Langers (2017) didaktiska modell för boksamtal som en literacypraktik. Möjligheterna undersöks med en hermeneutisk forskningsansats som metod. Judith Langers (2017) didaktiska modell för boksamtal som en literacypraktik studeras utifrån en biblioterapuetisk teoribildning framtagen av Arleen Hynes & Mary Hynes-Berry (2012). Resultatet visar att Langers (2017) modell för boksamtal i en literacypraktik skulle kunna fungera hälsofrämjande och därmed möjliggörs det att tillhandahålla litteraturundervisning i skolan som kan fungera för elevers välbefinnande genom att Langers (2017) modell används. I slutet av studien prövas Langers (2017) didaktiska modell i sin funktion som en hälsofrämjande aktivitet i en exemplarisk närläsning av boken Slutet (2018) skriven av Mats Strandberg.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the role of bibliotherapy in Swedish hospital libraries. The aim is to try to identify and evaluate the difficulties with using bibliotherapy in a hospital library. And also see what opportunities bibliotherapy can offer. Choice of method is case study with qualitative interviews with five hospital librarians and two family therapists who use bibliotherapy in treatment. What are their thoughts and beliefs about bibliotherapy? My study also aims to highlight the differences between bibliotherapy as described in the literature and the way it is described in practice. Literature studies show that the term bibliotherapy is difficult to define. It can be divided in two groups, interactive bibliotherapy and reading bibliotherapy. This case study indicates that the knowledge of bibliotherapy in hospitals is limited and that the work is not done consciously and strategically. The interviews show that the librarians working with books as health promotion and that they have a strong conviction that literature has a positive influence on health.

This study examines how a hospital chaplain, a children therapist, the therapy group Children in grief and a hospital teacher use words in their activities with mourning children and adults. The aim of this study was to learn more about bibliotherapy, how words can assist in diminish the distress of being in a very stressful situation such as grief and sickness. Beneficial to the whole community, bibliography can also be used by libraries as a preventive tool to promote mental health. The research questions studied were: What do you think about bibliotherapy and do you consider bibliotherapy as a part of your work in your clinic? How do you use texts in your activities? How do you select suitable literature for your clients? The focus was not upon which literature used. To examine these questions semi-structured interviews were conducted. The interviews took place at Växjö Hospital during March 2017. Through the interviews the answers have been showing the forms of activities used to soothe the suffering for children and adults, and how important the reading is as a complement to their other therapies. None of the interviewees used the term bibliotherapy, but the study shows that they all use bibliotherapy in different forms: creative bibliotherapy, informal bibliotherapy and clinical bibliotherapy.