Mitt övergripande syfte är att förstå hur en fristående virtuell bokcirkel fungerar och bokcirkelns betydelse för individuella deltagares läsupplevelse. Jag har undersökt mitt syfte netnografiskt genom deltagande i bokcirkeln, granskning av insamlade arkiverade litteraturdiskussioner och tre asynkrona intervjuer med informanter från bokcirkeln. Datamaterialet analyserades enligt kvalitativ tematisk analys och gav upphov till sju huvudteman med underkategorier som handlade om bokcirkelns uppbyggnad och läsupplevelsen hos dess deltagare. Mina slutsatser är att en virtuell bokcirkel är beroende av tydliga förhållningssätt för att fungera i praktiken samt att en virtuell bokcirkels litteraturdiskussioner leder till en djupare och bredare läsupplevelse för dess deltagare.

The aim of this study is to examine what view librarians have on reading promotion with focus on their work with reading groups for people with print disabilities. The study is based on four semi-structured interviews with librarians. The results from the interviews were analyzed with Jofrid Karner Smidt’s theory on different kinds of reading promotion roles.The study shows that the librarians in charge of reading groups for people with print disabilities mostly used their abilities of literature and marketing, but the pedagogical and human role were also found in the results. The reading group also turned out to have, outside the theories, a clear social meaning. This reveals that it is not only the literature that is important in the reading groups for print disabled people.The conclusion shows that the librarians in the study were using the reading group not only as a reading promotion activity but also as a marketing activity and as a place for the print disabled to socialize with other people.

The purpose of this Bachelor Thesis is to examine what happens when the solitary reading experience becomes a social activity. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with three women belonging to the same reading group. I have used Sten Furhammar’s reading dimensions and categories to explain their reading experience, and Jenny Hartley, Elizabeth Long and Immi Lundin to explain the function that the reading group has for them, and the relationship between reading experiences in a book-discussion.My result shows that they started the reading group because they lacked an opportunity to discuss their readings with people that had the same interest in books. They do all have different ways to read, which is displayed by Furhammar’s categories personal and impersonal reading for experience. Their different reading experience is essential for a good book-discussion. Through their conversation in the reading group their personal reading experiences blends and result in new perspectives and angles in possible reading approaches. This enriches their reading, and sometimes changes their personal reading experience. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this Master’s Thesis is to find out whether bibliotherapy, in an unspokenform, is practiced in already existing group formations to be able to determine how practicalbibliotherapy can be seen in a Swedish context and thereby open the possibility for development.To fulfil this purpose I decided to do a case study on a nearby book reading circle for adultchildren of drug addicts. I made three qualitative interviews; two of the mentioned book readingcircle’s leaders and one participant/help leader. I used the following set of questions: What isincluded in the concept Bibliotherapy and how does that relate to practice? How has the bookreading circle examined in this case study proceeded, which methods were used and what kind ofliterature has been used and also what kind of effects did this reading circle have on itsparticipants. Can the library/librarian interact in any way in this type of external book readingcircles? I also studied theoretical work on bibliotherapy, as well as various theories on supportgroups and book reading circles, of which I presented a selection of in this thesis. Thistheoretical framework was the basis for my analysis of the result, which showed that theintention of the book reading circle had been consistent with its implementation; the methodsused were in line with the ones of the support groups’ standards and the literature they used wasnonfiction with a content directed especially towards the group’s main problem; the effects thebook reading activities had on the group participants were in line with how developmentalbibliotherapy is described being performed in a Swedish context , and finally; the informants’attitudes towards collaborating with a library/librarian were mainly positive. Thereby, all myquestions were answered and my conclusion is that this case study represents a number of othersupport groups/book reading circles and there would be a mutual benefit if a future collaborationwith the library was established.

The aim of this Master’s thesis is to investigate the meaning the reading group of the public library has to a number of users. To fulfill the aim the following three questions have been formulated: 1) What do a number of users expect from the reading group of the public library? 2) Which approach/attitude or approaches/attitudes do a number of users have to reading and to talking about reading? 3) How do a number of users experience the ongoing reading group?The research is founded on qualitative interviews with five users that take part in three different reading groups in public libraries. The theories that are used is the theory of three so called strategies - the pragmatic, the traditionalistic, the emancipatory – and the theory of flow. The theories have been used to analyze the results and as a way to describe the meaning of the reading group to a number of users. In the review of the literature existing studies of reading groups and relevant literature about reading and reading promotion activities have been examined.Several meanings of the reading group of the public library to a number of users have been discovered and described. The part of the emancipatory strategy that concern personal development is an important meaning. The reading group also turned out to have, outside the theories, a clear social meaning. The meaning can also be described with flow and with the pragmatic strategy. The traditionalistic meaning is limited. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to examine similarities and differences in qualitative experiences between formal and informal reading groups from the participants’ point of view. The empirical data was acquired from interviews with nine reading group participants, of whom four of them participated in formal reading groups and five in informal reading groups. To analyze the empirical data, Louise M. Rosenblatt’s theory concerning reading and a method concerning reading groups by Immi Lundin were used. Björn Nilsson’s and Anna-Karin Waldemarson’s theory concerning the group has also been used. The results of the interviews show that the motive to participate in a reading group is the joy to discuss the novels and to find out the other participants opinion about the same novel, this motive is the same for both formal and informal reading groups. The meeting form of the reading groups differ between the formal and informal reading groups, the formal reading groups have their meeting in the library and the librarian participates as a leader. The informal reading groups have their meeting in the home of the participants and had no leader. Both the formal and informal reading groups find the discussion of the novel to be the most important thing about the reading group but the informal reading groups also finds the social aspects as equally important. / Uppsatsnivå: D

Syftet med denna studie är undersöka en lesbisk bokcirkels identitetsstärkande potential. Vi undersöker vad deltagarna får ut av läsningen av lesbisk litteratur och vad de önskar se i litteraturen. Vidare diskuteras vilka sociala funktioner en lesbisk bokcirkel kan fylla för deltagarna och vilken roll läsningen har i detta. Studien visar att bokcirkeln fyller en viktig roll för deltagarna i stärkandet av den lesbiska identiteten men också att de efterfrågar mer nyanserad litteratur. Utifrån detta lägger vi fram förslag för hur bibliotekarier kan jobba med lesbiska läsare som biblioteksanvändare.

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to examine reading groups participants’ motivations for and expectations on participating in reading groups. The focus is on why the respondents read and take part in reading groups in a time of decreased reading. The theoretic framework in the thesis is Furhammar’s analysis model of why one is reading. Semistructured interviews have been held with four respondents from free-standing reading groups and four respondents from library reading groups, to see how and if their view on literature and motivations differ, and also if this differs between the two different kind of reading groups. The empirical data have been analysed through qualitative content analysis. The empirical data shows that there are some differences between how the two different types of reading groups work and therefore also in the participants view of reading and motivations, which is based on the participants’ personal lives.