This master thesis explores the librarian discourses in children’s literature published between the years of 2000-2020. The purpose of this essay is to explore however the technical development in the real-life libraries also can be found in the libraries described in children’s literature. I have also explored how these technical tools and work tasks are portrayed in the literature. The material consists of 18 children’s novels. The theory and method used are Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory combined with a model created by Hedemark and Hedman in 2002. My version of the model contains four fields: Names, traits and qualities, themes of which librarians are discussed and discourses. The major questions for this study are: - What discourses about librarians, their tasks and traits, can be found in children’s literature published between 2000-2020? - How do these librarian discourses differ from discourses found in previous research about librarian discourses in literature? - How is the technical development in libraries, compared to the real-life libraries, portrayed in children’s literature? How are the librarians’ technical tasks presented and what tools are used for these technical tasks? The findings of the essay are four different librarian discourses; The Buddy Librarian, The Structured Librarian, The Mythical Librarian and The Pedagogical Librarian. Some of the librarian discourses are similar to the ones in previous research, but most of them do not resonate with the earlier studies. In the novels, many of the librarians have technical tasks, such as checking out books on the computer, which resonates with the real-life libraries. The conclusion of the master thesis, is that many of the children’s novels do portray librarians who do technical task as a part of their daily work. This is a two years master's thesis in Library and information science.

This thesis focuses on fictious librarians in film. It uses three research questions: Firstly, how the movies make use of typical elements from movie genres and narrative modes in their portrayal of library work and librarians. Secondly, the way in which myths, stereotypes and ideas surrounding librarians and library work are used – typically or atypically – to build librarian characters and the narrative. Thirdly and lastly, it discusses the protagonists, focusing on their personalities and character arcs in relation to their role as librarians. The theoretical background departs partly in discourse surrounding librarian imagery in general, but also in film genre and mode theories. The thesis consists of two case studies, each focusing on one film, both with librarian protagonists. Even though this thesis focuses on them, the other librarian roles are also discussed, as well as the dynamics of the librarian teams. The two films discussed in this thesis are vastly different. One, Grabben i graven bredvid (2002), is a romantic relationship film with a female public librarian as protagonist, and the other, Bibliotekstjuven (2011), is a dark drama about a male research librarian turned book thief. Both films tie librarian myths to genre patterns: the single yet snotty female librarian is well fit as a romantic lead, and the male librarian as a pale, mysterious underdog makes a great villain protagonist. However, the films also present common themes and traits. Both librarian protagonists display elitism in relation to their professional identity, at the expense of their non-librarian partners. I argue that this is rooted in the historical idea of the librarian as a judgemental snob, but also that of librarians as ambiguous (and possibly false) “guardians” of the treasures of the library. Both librarian protagonists studied here lead double lives in one sense or another – most obvioulsy the book thief in Bibliotekstjuven, but also the confused female librarian in Grabben i graven bredvid who tries to hide her infatuation with a farmer from her colleagues. Some other results concern the use of the library as idea in relation to genre and mode elements. I argue, for example, that the Royal Library of Sweden in different stages of the narrative in Bibli- otekstjuven is not only a crime scene but also plays the part of a betrayed lover. This of course is connected to the societal role of libraries, in particular the relationship between “ordinary people” and libraries - a central theme in both films. One ends in a healing of a historic wound between a working man and an educated woman through love, while the other, in fact, ends in melodrama when the crime of stealing books is punished by death, yet also forgiven in an ideological sense given the protagonists humble beginnings and desperation. To conclude, both films thematise ideas surrounding personal morals, truth, social status and social justice, and do so through struggling librarian protagonists. Both films take place in worlds with a dual structure, where the fine world (represented by libraries) collides with the mundane, and the librarian protagonists try to navigate. Both films, finally, use librarian stereotypes to build the narratives – but they do not, apart from in a few scenes, reproduce them. This is a two years master’s thesis in library and information science.