The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how librarians andteachers work together and with the help of other researchtry to understand what influences this cooperation. The studyis based on the following questions:1. These two professional groups have differentprofessional identities and work in two differentprofessional cultures. How does this affect theircooperation?2. Which of the two professional groups decide whatreading promotion work is to be done?3. What do these two occupations think of their own andeach other’s skills and how does it affect the cooperationconcerning reading promotion?The chosen method is interviews with two librarians and twoteachers who are all involved in reading promotion. Twotheories were used as a theoretical framework: LenaFolkesson's three professional dimensions and LouiseLimberg and Lena Folkesson's three categories ofperceptions regarding cooperation.The results are largely in line with previous research and animportant conclusion is that the cooperation is improved iflibrarians and teachers work towards a common goalregarding reading promotion in schools. Such a goal shouldclarify the roles and responsibilities for each participant.This clarification is an important step towards a schoollibrary which is well integrated into the school, and it willgive librarians real legitimacy in order to take on an activerole in the cooperation. These factors reduce the tensions thatcan arise when two different professional cultures meet, andalso prevent a situation where the two professional groupsare trapped in traditional roles. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this thesis is to examine how the identity of the public librarianwith regard to reading is manifested in the library field. The approaches thatare taken to reading and readers are examined as well as the consequencesdifferent approaches might have. The empirical material is based on 93articles published in Swedish library journals. The theoretical andmethodological starting point is discourse analysis. The application ofdiscourse analysis according to Michel Foucault’s hypotheses reveals threediscursive formations regarding the professional identity of public librarianswithin the framework of reading promotion: The public librarian asguarantor of democracy is related to the public library's original mission offostering, cultivating and educating citizens. The librarian is expected tomake “proper literature” available to the general public. The public librarianas personal trainer highlights a trend in the library field of equating readingwith sports where the librarians are expected to win non-readers by recruitingpotential readers through sporting activities. The librarian is described as apeppery and spirited coach with the task of making readers out of nonreaders.The public librarian as caregiver of the soul emphasizes the librarianas an empathetic and caring supervisor with therapeutic expertise. The twoformer formations emphasize masculine reading. The relation between thelibrarian and the reader can be considered in terms of power. The librarianrepresents an institutionalized controlling power. The reader emerges aspassive and becomes an object of the librarian's mission, good will andexpertise and whose job it is to labour for the well-being of both theindividual and society in general. Through discourse analysis according toErnesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe it is made visible that thereis a strong emphasis on a narrow understanding of “reading” and “literature”.The concept of “the book” has a wider significance, however, and includesnot just books in printed form, but also books in digital format. When itcomes to masculine reading the understanding of “reading” and “literature”tends to be broadened. The utilitarian aspect of reading is articulated. In orderto improve reading “quality literature” is required, “lower literature” shouldprimarily be seen as a stepping stone to “advanced” and “fine” literature. / Program: Bibliotekarie

This study conducts a qualitative examination based on five interviews with children’s librarians. The aim is to bring up and analyse the attitudes of the librarians towards reading promotion activities for children outside of school and investigate their experiences of participation in a summer reading challenge project.The first theory used to analyse is Jofrid Karner Smidt’s thesis of five different roles that a librarian can have on literary preferences. The second is her theory of how librarians view their promotion of literature.My interviews shows that the librarians in the study have a common opinion and enthusiasm regarding children's pleasure reading. They consider that their most important task is to show them the joy in reading. Promote reading work outside of school requires marketing in a different way than the same work at school. The libraries spend a lot of time and energy to present themselves in different ways. It is important to constantly seek new ways of working and try to reach out to the children.A concept like Sommarboken with a common purpose and materials and follow up meetings is well considered. The various libraries design themselves their summer meetings as they want. At the meetings, the children have the opportunity to the all-important conversation about their reading, both with each other and the librarian. The lustful and undemanding in the arrangement is something that all the interviewees represent in their profession. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The main aim of this thesis is to study how and in which way the library personnel works with reading groups and their view of reading groups. I also want to study which role the governing- and policy documents have in the library personnel’s work. The following questions were asked.Which similarities and differences between the different library personals outlooks and acting can be interpreted from the following aspects:• Promoting reading, book selections and the leader's role?• To talk about personal subjects and to create possibilities for personal growth and increased empathy?• To promote language development and reading comprehension?The methods used in the study are a combination of interviews and observations. Aidan Chamber's “three ingredients in a talk" and “the teachers' four main tasks” during reading groups; recommendations of the promotion of reading and its obstacles that originates from Eriksson Barajas' studies over reading groups in school is used as a theoretical framework.The conclusions showed that the library personnel thought that it was important to make it possible for all the children to talk and that there are limitations for how many goals you could have for a reading group. The personnel of the school libraries let the children choose more books for themselves than the childrens' librarians. All the library personnel related the text to our reality, which gave the children preconditions for self-insight. Several of the library personnel gave the children possibility’s to exercise reading between the lines ore to predict the synopses. If the informants who held in reading groups during the children’s school time had summarized, they would've had a clearer connection to the requirements of knowledge in Swedish. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the view on reading and reading promotion in the Culture of Reading (SOU 2012:65), based on three different approaches to reading and reading promotion; the pragmatic, the emancipatory and the traditionalistic. The thesis is based on the following questions; which view on reading can be seen in the Culture of Reading and which view on librarians’ reading promotion can be seen in the Culture of Reading. To answer these questions, I am going to apply the aforementioned approaches on the Culture of Reading. The Culture of Reading is an official report from the Swedish government and parts of it will be subject to a qualitative content analysis. The results from the analysis shows that all of the approaches, to some extent, can be seen in the report. Reading is presented as something of great importance to the nation and the individual. The approach most prevalently seen regarding librarians’ reading promotion is the emancipatory. Librarians are also given a pedagogic role. The need for cooperation regarding reading promotion is also underlined in the report. The thesis also shows that libraries and the librarians can be very influential when it comes to creating readers and laying the foundation for a future interest in reading and literature. / Program: Bibliotekarie

In Sweden, many children in compulsory school attend after-school recreation centres. All children are offered local after-school recreation centre attendance in the age 6-12 during their parents’ work hours. Our aim with this Master thesis is to investigate how after-school recreation centres can use libraries to stimulate children’s own interest to read. The method employed is qualitative interviews with two recreation leaders and their collaborated librarian at an integrated school and public library. An additional interview was carried out with a librarian at a larger public library, who has created activities for after-school recreation centres. The theoretical background is a combination of Michael Buckland’s six aspects of access and Aidan Chambers theories about conditions for reading environment. Chambers theories about conditions for reading environment have proved to be the most applicable on the examined group. The study shows that there are several possibilities for after-school recreation centres to stimulate children’s interest in reading. Reading interest is stimulated through everyday situations, such as e.g. storytelling or play. It is also discussed that children’s interest in reading can be stimulated with different media, which libraries have possibilities to offer. A barrier is that after-school centres are interpreted as hidden by research and in practice. Like the after-school centre, the public library is also a place where children can develop their own interests. It is therefore important that the public library is made known and familiar to children as a part of the local cultural society.

The purpose of this master thesis is to investigate if and how upper secondary school librarians can work in a more deliberately pedagogical way with fiction from the perspective of upper secondary school students. In the essay inspiration is fetched from phenomenography in order to determine the different perspectives that may exist amongst the students. In addition to the phenomenography, theories on how learning occurs, individual and social constructivism, are also included in the essay. In the essay three upper secondary schools are included. Interviews were conducted with the librarian of each school and with three students at each school. The interviews were taped, transcribed and subsequently categorized, as inspired by phenomenography. The result shows that the students require more activity from the librarian, but they realize that the librarian’s work is limited by scarce resources. The result also shows that the students wish fiction to be used more frequently within the different subjects of the school. In order for this to work the librarian and the teachers need to develop a well-functioning collaboration. Internet was mentioned as a way for the librarian to reach a large number of people at the same time. However, the students were not wholly convinced about the approach of using the Internet as a medium, since they expressed a preference for the physical meeting over the virtual. The result has contributed to a deeper understanding about the upper secondary students’ thoughts about how a librarian can develop his/her work with fiction. Our hopes are that this can be used in a librarian’s practice. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this master thesis is to show how a chosen actor in form of the Swedish union organization IF Metall (the Swedish union for metal- and industrial workers) works with pro-reading activities. The project being scrutinized is the Read to me dad-project which aims at fathers who are not used to reading activities within the LO-group (the Swedish Trade Union Confederation). The methods used are interviews and literary studies. The theoretical background of my discussion is based on three education ideals. The neo-humanist ideal emphasizes the personal improvement through literature. This ideal has occasionally taken part in the struggle against what is considered to be poor literature. The second education ideal aimed at educating the citizens of a country in democracy and to safeguard the individual’s role as a member of society. The ideal of self-education stands for the free and voluntary. Here it is important that workers also educate themselves and literature is the foremost mean of education. I also look into the education ideal of conscientiousness which was often focused on sobriety and proper behaviour. It also emphasized the idea of educating oneself in order to strengthen and improve the working-class. In my analysis and final discussion I argue that these ideals can be found in a modern pro-reading project such as Read to me dad, but in a more modern way. I bring up the condition of reading ability and habits with emphasis on men within the LO-group. I discuss the statistics and how those alarming figures triggered new pro-reading projects. I also look into barriers standing in the way of reading and discuss what this project can lead to and what maybe will happen in a nearby future. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this thesis was to understand and illuminate how readingpromotion projects can be carried out, what sort of activities they mightcontain and what sort of lasting impressions they might make. We choseto examine reading promotion projects because we consider thepromotion of reading and literacy a vital and important part of thelibraries work. The study took place at the city library of Uddevalla andthe projects included in the study were all directed towards children andyouth.The theory used in the thesis was Aidan Chambers’s model of theReading Circle which consists of the four themes of selection,‘reading’, response and the enabling adult. Methods used were semistructuredinterview, document studies and observation.The results show that reading promotion projects benefit from cooperationbetween the adults involved and that education of the adultsin order to indirectly target the children is an effective way of spreadingthe love of reading. Involving children and youth in the work anddecision making process proved to be prosperous.The conclusions are that reading promotion projects give the librarieseconomic and creative resources to try out new ways of working andcooperating. With these tools and the aim to spread the love of readingthe librarians have an increased possibility to reach out and providesupport and inspiration to all becoming readers. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The purpose of this study is to examine the view of Swedish language teachers on the role of fiction and of school libraries within the compulsory school’s teaching of Swedish of form 6-9. The questions to be answered are:• What part do Swedish language teachers (hereafter called teachers) think fiction is playing regarding the pupils inclination to read and reading promotion?• What is the attitude of teachers regarding the function of fiction in the Swedish subject?• What do teachers consider being the role of the school library in education, and can this be related to the local school library resources?To answer the questions a questionnaire was sent out to thirty-five teachers. Four qualitative interviews were also carried out among the fourteen teachers that answered the questionnaire. The empirical material has been analyzed with the use of the following theoretical models: A. Chamber’s The Reading Circle; models of understanding the Swedish subject by L-G Malmgren and S. Thorson, and D. Loertscher’s taxonomy of school libraries, modified by L. Limberg. Within the study we have found that the teachers imply that reading promotion is important, in spite of this we found an instrumental view on the reading of fiction. The main views on the role of fiction were that fiction partly serves as a means for practice in Swedish, partly as a means for the pupil’s self-identification. We also found that only a few school libraries function as a pedagogical resource in a problem-based teaching, and that it was mostly teachers in schools where the library did have this function, that fully understood its meaning.