The purpose of this Master´s thesis is to examine howchildren’s needs, based on the Convention on the Rights ofthe Child, are provided for by the librarians when they havethe opportunity to create new libraries. We also examine ifchildren have been involved in the process and in that case towhat extent.Our theoretical perspective is based on MarianneAndersson’s and Dorte Skot-Hansen’s model of the fourdifferent functions the library can have for their users. Inorder to illustrate the degree of children’s involvement weuse Roger Hart’s model of participation.The thesis is based on qualitative interviews with seveninformants working at six different libraries.As a result of the thesis we can see that priority have beengiven to the function concerning how to find your way in thelibrary as a user. The informants also wanted to have alibrary that appeals to the children by offering possibilities toplay and be creative. The thesis shows that the informantsare of the opinion that it is an important issue to let thechildren participate in the process. Despite this the childrenhas in practice not been particularly involved. / Program: Bibliotekarie

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The focus of this two year's master thesis is on participation of children at the TioTretton Library, a library strictly for 10-13 year olds. No adults, except the library staff are allowed in this library. To build on this aim the objectives of this thesis is centred on the questions: How does the library staff view their specific library's mission? What are the conditions for children's participation at TioTretton Library? Based on the relevant theory of participation, how participatory are the children in the library's activities? What significance has TioTretton Library's work with children participation for the children's ability to empowerment? The theoretical framework is mainly centred upon the Ladder of Participation designed by R. A. Hart, which involves levels from non-participation to various degrees of participation. The theoretical framework also involves aspects of power and empowerment. The methodology of this study is an interpretive hermeneutic feature, which was applied on the answers from the conducted interviews of all of the staff of the TioTretton Library. The results showed the interesting and conclusive outcome that children participates in this library's development and activities between the step five and six of Hart's Ladder of Participation. It also showed that the staff view themselves mainly as facililtators in this library's context. The results also showed that children are able to influence the activities in this library to a great extent. I argue that because of this library's strict age limit, children who visit this library gets a unique kind of room of their own. Through the library's focus on children's participation the children also get an opportunity to strengthen their empowerment. I also argue that more research needs to be made in this particular library context, involving interviewing and observing the children, since this study only focuses on the interviewes of the staff.

This two years master’s thesis takes interest in the concept of marketing related to the Children’s Library. The purposes have been to investigate the perception of marketing among a few librarians working at the Children’s Library in the Swedish region of Halland and further to analyse their perception of marketing in the daily work at the library. Eventually to analyse the consequences of these librarians approach to marketing related to their perception of the library’s mission. The Regional aspect of the survey is due to the 2011 celebrated report about marketing the library. The theoretical framework is twofold, the marketing mix is used to understand what at the library could be used in marketing. The work of the Danish scholars Henrik Jochumsen och Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen are used to understand the different functions of the library. Their theory present the library’s four different func-tions illustrated as "spaces". The spaces are the inspiration space, the learning space, the meeting space and the performative space. By those means the librarians perception of marketing in their everyday work have been analysed. The method used is qualitative, semi-structured interviews. Results show that the majority of the librarians preferred the vague word "visibility" to marketing. The con-cept of marketing was more seen as something communicated to users by posters and leaflets. When asked about interpersonal relations, accessibility and communication the librarians saw these concepts as important thought not obviously related to marketing. The spaces of inspiration and performance were more strongly connected to marketing than the learning space and meeting space. There is an urgent need to discuss the concept of market-ing in relation to the role of the library. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Studies.

The aim of this bachelor thesis is to examine how children's librarians work with younger children with language disorders. We want to explore how children's librarians can support and stimulate the language of the children's development and what difficulties they might find. Children with different types of disabilities is a prioritized group according to the Swedish library law but previous studies have shown that children's librarians express an uncertainty in the interactions with children with disabilities. We used qualitative interviews as a data collection method. Five children's librarians who participates in a project called Språklust have been interviewed. In that project the children's librarians work together with speech therapists. Säljö’s sociocultural theory has been used as a theoretical framework. According to Säljö’s concepts, this study shows that cooperation between the children's librarians and other professions helps the children's librarians to reach and work with the children. The children's librarians have an important role when it comes to inspire caregivers to read with their children and to encourage them to talk about the books. One of the difficulties is that the children's librarians are dependent on the speech therapists and it is of importance that the cooperation functions or else there is a risk the children with language disorders will not come to the libraries.

This case study examines three newly renovated children’s sections at the city libraries in Borås, Göteborg and Malmö. The aim is to investigate, from a spatial and socio-cultural perspective, what characterizes modern children’s sections at public libraries. The research questions look at the intentions behind the constructions of the spaces, how concepts like child participation and perspectives on childhood have been used, how the children interact with one another and the room itself, and finally how the librarians and other staff members’ work environments have been affected by the changes. I have conducted six qualitative interviews with librarians and other staff members at the libraries in question and combined the interviews with observations of the children’s sections. The material is analyzed with the theoretical frameworks from several research fields like human geography. The main theoretic tool is the four-space model. This is used to place the testimonies and observation findings in four abstract spaces; inspiration space, learning space, meeting space and the performative space. The result shows that all three libraries have based their projects heavily on children’s play and child participation. The library spaces have all been designed with a child perspective in mind and they are colourful and creative for the children to discover. The staffs have had to come to terms with the changes in their work environment and maybe we have to revalue what it means to work at a children’s library. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

Our aim with this study was to investigate children’s librarians' opinions and working methods, in regard to the children’s library section in public libraries, for children 0-6 years old. We did this through semistructured interviews with five children’s librarians. The results were analyzed using thematic analysis and a theoretical model. The results we gathered were largely related to the theoretical model we used and could also be related to earlier research in this field. We found that most of our participants wanted the children’s library section to be calm, cozy and exciting, which the librarians actively worked to contribute to. We also related our findings to participation and empowerment of children. Our conclusion in this study was that our sample of participants was too small to make generalizations, but we have contributed with more knowledge in this research field. Although more research is needed to make generalizations.

The aim of this study is to gain knowledge on the way library managers and librarians describe intentions and ways of working as well as their thoughts on what makes an attractive children’s interior design of public libraries. It is also an aim to acquire knowledge on the way they describe how the interior design works in practice. Two theoretical models are used in the study. One is Stephen Kaplan’s model of environmental psychology, which explains how visual aspects of an environment affects human preference. The other is that of Jochumsen, Hvenegaard Rasmussen & Skot-Hansen, which involve experiences and activities connected to the library context. The methods used are semi-structured interviews and qualitative content analysis. The results indicate the aim towards a safe, accessible interior, which fits children’s needs and requests, and also appeals to their parents. The respondents describe an interior that supports reading promotion, and being stimulating and varied, both in form and in content. A strive for a balance in the interior design is indentified. However, sometimes conflicts and other difficulties arise from its use. This can disrupt the balance, and why it results in priorities. The conclusion is that it is difficult to meet all of the guidelines and expectations that are available to children’s libraries today, to strike a balance with the interior design, and succeed in an interior that is ultimate in all respects.

The aim of my thesis has been to investigate and elucidate a new trend in the region Blekinge Kronoberg where new recruitments of pedagogues has been employed in several libraries. I wanted to know what kind of job tasks the pedagogues work with in the libraries and if there were any similarities between them. I also wanted to know how pedagogues who are used to work in preschool and school environments experience their new workplace. My third aim investigates how the pedagogues and their previous professional role relate to the professional role of the librarian. For my research I have interviewed four employed library pedagogues who works in the region Blekinge och Kronoberg. Their work tasks differed a lot even though they had similar missions. They all worked with children of different ages, with language and language development and most of their assignments involved social meetings there they reached out to users in environments outside the libraries.  All the pedagogues felt positive about their new workplace. Even though most of them started recently they felt well taken care of and both comfortable and excited about their mission. The theoretical part of the study showed a lot of discrepancy in what constitute the profession and role of the librarian. Despite this, the respondent pedagogue’s answers shows that they can adapt to the role and that they feel at ease with the transition.