A study of the reference service to children in the children's department of a large public library and in an integrated public and school library. A Danish investigation by Birgit Wanting has been used as a model for the study. Children's questions have been collected by the staff of the libraries and subjects, expressions and behaviour have been analyzed. The answers and the respons from the librarians are discussed. The results show that there are great differences between school-questions and children's own questions. The  schoolquestions are connected to the curnculum and the library must cooperate with the schools. Children's own questions concern all sorts of subjects and all sorts of material are needed. The children express themselves according to their development and the questions are often vague and undecided. The children's librarians devote a lot of work and time to find out what the children really are asking for. The investigated libraries play a very important role for children's own search for knowledge.

The objective of this Bachelor’s thesis is to investigate how the public library in Luleå has set about implementing an alternative classification system for its children's books section and to explore why this was done. We wanted to investigate both how they have adapted the new system to the children's own way of seeking information and the library personnel's experience of using the new shelving system. We have done seven interviews to answer these questions and our choice of literature is intended to put the process of change into a wider context. The answers show that the library was dissatisfied with the former system and have instead expressed a desire to shift the focus of their classification system to their users. A significant factor behind the change was that they wanted to make children the basis of the new system. Here, they have instigated a change to the whole children's section and this new system is founded upon children's behaviour with regard to searching for information. The broad subject groupings have been given names that the children themselves use when they ask for books and, in order to facilitate the actual finding of the books on the shelves, the books have easily-recognisable symbols on the spine. According to our research, the staff in Luleå has found that both the users and they themselves are pleased with the new system, although an official evaluation has yet to be undertaken. We conclude that the advantages of the alternative systems outweigh the disadvantages. / Uppsatsnivå: C

The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to seek knowledge about how children and their parents use the children’s section in a newly built library, and what function it has for its users. We also want to seek knowledge about how the children’s section is seen as a meeting place by the parents.Our research questions are: How is the children’s section at the public library of Lidköping being used as a meeting space, performative space, inspiration space and learning space? What are the functions of the children's section at the public library of Lidköping for families with children? Do the parents see the children’s section as a meeting place, then in which way?The theoretical approach is based on The Four Space Model by Henrik Jochumsen, Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen and Dorte Skot-Hansen. We used qualitative interviews and non-participant observations to answer our questions. The results show that the library is mostly being used for reading, playing and to consort within the family. The children’s section functions as an entrance to books and reading, and it also has a function as a place where you spend time with your family. We discovered that half of the parents in our study did see the children’s section as a meeting place because they thought it is a good place to meet and consort.

The aim of this study was to examine how children in ages 3 to 4 use the public library with the research questions: What does children’s, in ages between 3 and 4, information behavior look like when they visit a public library in leisure time with a parent? What is the nature of interaction between child and parent, child and the staff of the library, and between child and other visitors? What is the function of the cultural tools in relation to the children’s information behavior? The theoretical frame of reference consisted of Lev Vygotsky’s “the zone of proximal development” and Roger Säljö’s theory about using cultural tools. To answer the questions I have observed 4 children together with their mothers and siblings at a public library. From the result of the observations I found that every child had their own information behavior. Two of the children only used one kind of cultural tool – books. The two others used different kinds of cultural tools. They used the computer, the drawing table, read comics and books. They were on different levels in using those cultural tools, depending on earlier experience at the library. The ones who influenced the children’s information behavior most, were the mothers. The children did use the library like their parents did. All the children got some kind of help in their zone of proximal development from their mothers. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this bachelor’s thesis is to examine parents’ and librarians’ views on censorship in children’s library. Similarities and differences between the opinion of librarians, and parents with children in the age of 0 to 12 years, have been examined. To analyse the result Jürgen Habermas’ theory of lifeworld and system has been used, together with research, mostly from USA, about censorship of children’s library. There is not much research available on censorship at children's libraries in Sweden, instead newspaper articles on controversial children's literature have been used in this paper to shed light upon the current Swedish views on censorship in children's libraries. Qualitative interviews with two librarians, working in the children’s library, and two parents, with children who visit the children's library regularly, were made. In summary, the research shows that there are actually not many differences in opinion of censorship in children’s library between the parents and librarians. A new question arises: why do we have a discussion in media about censorship of children’s library, when the respondents of this research think the controversial books should not be moved. And is it coincidental that all our respondents shared the same view on censorship of children's literature, or is it the common opinion among children's librarians and parents of younger children in Sweden?