Denna kvalitativa studies syfte är att fördjupa kunskapen om hur bibliotekspersonal väljer böcker till sagostunder för barn i åldern 3-6 år, samt vilka idéer och värderingar som påverkar bokvalet. Bakgrunden till frågeställningarna tar avstamp i den litteraturdidaktiska diskussionen om kvalitetslitteratur samt FN:s barnkonvention. Det empiriska materialet utgörs av tre observationer av sagostunder samt fyra semistrukturerade intervjuer med bibliotekarier på fyra olika folkbibliotek i en kommun. Materialet har analyserats med tematisk analys, med Catarina Erikssons fyra idealtyper över olika synsätt på barnbiblioteket som teoretiskt ramverk. Studien tyder på att bibliotekarier främst hittar böcker till sagostunderna genom hantering av barnböcker i det dagliga arbetet, browsing i bibliotekets hyllor och genom tips från kollegor. Personlig smak, variation, representation samt barngruppens sammansättning visar sig vara viktiga överväganden som bibliotekarierna förhåller sig till i samband med bokvalet. De mest framträdande idealtyperna i vårt material är den musiska och den egaliserande. Barn är sällan direkt delaktiga i urvalsprocessen, men ofta indirekt delaktiga genom att deras reaktioner och preferenser tas tillvara.

Sveriges barnbibliotek tappar besökare. Allt runt omkring oss förändras, men barnbiblioteken ser likadana ut. Vi vill i detta examensarbete ändra hur barn och ungdomar ser på biblioteket, så att de känner sig mer hemma i biblioteksmiljön och som följd av detta möjligtvis ökar barnens läslust. I stort vill vi göra biblioteket mer attraktivt och tilltalande för barnen. Vi har i tidigare projekt uppmärksammat att många barn och unga har intresse för teknik och detta valde vi att dra nytta av i Bokdjungeln. Vi har med hjälp av barn i åldern nio till tolv utvecklat två prototyper som vi kallar Bokbläddraren och Sagoslottet. / The children libraries in Sweden are losing visitors. Everything around us is changing but the children’s library stays the same. Our aim with this master’s thesis was to make kids from nine to twelve to visit the library more often and hopefully develop a higher interest of borrowing and reading books. Our goal is to make the library more attractive and appealing for children. We have seen a common interest of electronics and high-tech stuff among children during our former projects and field studies and we decided to use this to make the environment for children more appealing. We will do this thru two prototypes that we have developed. We call them The Storytellingtent and The Bookbrowser.

We live in a digital age . This means that information technology affects our lives in all its forms. Information technology has become an important cultural, intellectual and physical tool in our society and now form the interaction between people. The use of information technology is an everyday activity in children and young people's lives today. Children in the Digital Age play , read, write , learn and communicate with others using information technology . Childhood has , thanks to information technology and new media habits, become different in both form and meaning. This applies for children’s libraries aswell. The children's library has in its mission to promote language development, encourage reading and provide literature based on children’s and young people's needs and circumstances. This paper examines how children's development is influenced by information technology. How information technology can help children in their development and learning. If information technology has the potential to influence children's development positively and how children's libraries can use information technology to inaugurate children and adolescents in the literature and culture with greater account of children's new media habits . What can children's libraries provide children and young people through information technology ? Can children's libraries reach children and young people through the children's own media habits in order to fulfill its mission?

<p>The aim of this master’s thesis is to examine libraries which combine the functions of school- and public library and to evaluate the staff’s experience and attitude towards a library profile with the emphasis on children and youth. The purpose of the study is also to examine how the libraries work with several tasks and functions within different target groups with different needs.</p><p>With new institutionalism and Scandinavian institutional theory the thesis examine the library as an organization and what influences the construction. With a model that describes how the library constitutes four different rooms in the society I investigate the different functions.</p><p>The methodology is qualitative with interviews of five persons of the staff, four librarians and one library assistant. The study examines how the staff that works at two libraries under similar conditions experiences their tasks. Both libraries have a library profile and are school- and public libraries.</p><p>The results show that it can be a problem to combine two working cultures, teachers and librarians, from a normative perspective and cause problems with roll definitions. A library profile can be defined as an adaption to the market and the local needs should be considered in order to succeed. The context of local circumstances within the district such as social conditions and working methods should also be considered. It’s important to analyze what the library can do to justify their activity. The survey also showed that the two libraries were very different from each other and that the staff thinks differently about the profile and is differently accepted by the staff.</p>

The aim of this master’s thesis is to examine libraries which combine the functions of school- and public library and to evaluate the staff’s experience and attitude towards a library profile with the emphasis on children and youth. The purpose of the study is also to examine how the libraries work with several tasks and functions within different target groups with different needs. With new institutionalism and Scandinavian institutional theory the thesis examine the library as an organization and what influences the construction. With a model that describes how the library constitutes four different rooms in the society I investigate the different functions. The methodology is qualitative with interviews of five persons of the staff, four librarians and one library assistant. The study examines how the staff that works at two libraries under similar conditions experiences their tasks. Both libraries have a library profile and are school- and public libraries. The results show that it can be a problem to combine two working cultures, teachers and librarians, from a normative perspective and cause problems with roll definitions. A library profile can be defined as an adaption to the market and the local needs should be considered in order to succeed. The context of local circumstances within the district such as social conditions and working methods should also be considered. It’s important to analyze what the library can do to justify their activity. The survey also showed that the two libraries were very different from each other and that the staff thinks differently about the profile and is differently accepted by the staff.

This study examines the experiences of public library staff who works in an LGBTQ-profiled children’s library. The aim of the study is further to find out whether the library as an institution can challenge heteronormativity or if traditional gender identities are reproduced. I have conducted five qualitative interviews with librarians who all work in the same library, and who all work with children to some extent. The interview material is analyzed with queer theory and norm critical theories of pedagogy. These perspectives wish to critically examine heteronormativity and change what is defined as normal. The result of the study shows that the way the library works with separate rainbow shelves, where LGBTQ-themed material is gathered, is pointing out LGBTQ as something different. And although it may also shed a light on a group formerly made invisible, it is reproducing traditional gender identities and leaves heteronormativity unquestioned. By contrast, the way the librarians are working with always including LGBTQ-materials in programming as storytimes and book presentations, is challenging the dominant position of heterosexuality. It is also shown that the way the library staff has developed their written and oral communication with the patrons, including using the gender neutral pronomina ”hen” and alternatives to ”mom and dad”, is increasing the possibilities of an inclusive reception in the library. The oral communication is for various reasons not always used though. In conclusion the interviews show that the librarians are positive to working with LGBTQ-issues although they sometimes tend to forget. The study further concludes that the library’s way of working with LGBTQ-issues is both reproducing traditional gender identities, and challenging heteronormative structures. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

The purpose of this master's thesis is to examine children's communication and interaction during story time at the public library. The aim is also to examine how to develop the story time – in terms of participation and equality – at a specific library. Action research was used as a research strategy and participant observation, log, tutoring and interviews as methods to collect data. Since action research is done on the basis of practice, a significant collaboration with the librarian and the participant children is taking place within this study. Research from the fields of Library and Information Science, Education and Childhood Sociology form the interdisciplinary research area to which this study links. The theoretical framework consists of theory and concepts from the Socio-cultural Perspective, Poststrucuralist Feminism and Childhood Sociology. Furthermore, Inclusion, a child's perspective, as well as context and gender pedagogy are concepts thoroughly integrated in the analysis and discussion of the results. The main results define the communication and interaction during story time in this specific library. The communication between children and the librarian proved to be dynamic and the use of artefacts was an effective way to stimulate this. The analysis of the results of the developmental process of the story time, indicated that the pedagogical approaches and self-reflection were crucial elements for change. The study's main action was to use a standard challenging book during story time. This proved to be effective in enhancing such self-reflection and for the critical discussion about equality issues. The process itself was also thoroughly visualized in the material. In my conclusion I reflect upon the relationship between the appearance of the communication and the story time context, as well as the relationship between the pedagogical approaches and development. This is a two years master's thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.

The purpose of this study is to examine, through qualitative interviews, how children's librarians see the child's perspective as well as how this is reflected in the reference work of the children's librarian. To do this we have asked the following questions: How does the librarian see the perspective of children? How do they perceive the balance of power between themselves and the patron in question? And how do they feel that the Convention on the Rights of the Child influences their work? We have chosen this approach since the Convention on the Rights of the Child has become part of Sweden's legislation and also, due to the criticism that previously has been directed to the children's libraries ability to put the treaty into practice. Results show that children's librarians do not in fact use a distinctive children's perspective when carrying out their duties as a librarian and during reference talks but in turn use a widened individual perspective where the child is included. At the same time librarians experience that there are clear distinctions between children and adults that are important to bear in mind and be able to discern during a reference talk in order to meet the patrons' on their terms. The differences in power between children and adults at the libraries are however something that the interviewed took a negative stance towards, meaning that children should be respected as individuals and that it is the librarians duty to make sure that they feel heard and understood through their own behavior and also defending the interests of the child enabling them to feel a sense of empowerment in the confines of the library as well as in society. The Convention on the Rights of the Child was something the librarians were positive towards, but they saw it more as something that decision makers were more influenced by rather than something influencing the treatment of the patron and reference talks.

The purpose of this study is to examine what happened to library storytime sessions during the COVID-19-pandemic. Qualitative interviews were conducted with children's librarians from Sweden and Germany. In total eleven librarians working with children were interviewed. Five librarians from five libraries in Sweden and six librarians from five libraries in Germany took part. A model of three approaches to reading was used to analyze the empirical data collected from the interviews. Several aspects of what the librarians view as important in the storytime session were identified; the theoretic model used was not sufficient to reflect all aspects. Hence a fourth approach was created, putting emphasis on relationships within the reading situation and also the reading experience itself. The way the librarians describe how they adapted their storytime sessions during the COVID-19-pandemic shows that not all aspects could be transferred to the substitutes for storytime used, such as online storytime and outdoor storytime. Especially difficult to sustain was the aspect of building a relationship within the reading situation when resorting to online storytime. In Germany, a less favourable digital infrastructure further hindered transfer. There was also a pattern of viewing children as ”becomings” more often in Germany than in Sweden. The German librarians emphasize the role libraries can play in reducing socio-economic disadvantages for children in need of it and also link storytime ”fun” to possible positive consequences such as intellectual freedom. The Swedish librarians tend to view the reading experience during storytime as important in itself, which essentially is a children as ”beings”-perspective. In both countries, the librarians had to try new ways to reach young children during the pandemic. The study however suggests that in-person meetings is an intrinsic part of both Swedish and German children's librarianship. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

<p>The purpose of this essay is to examine how public libraries work with children's books, in other languages thanSwedish, regarding acquisitions. The purpose is also to describe what the libraries assignments are in regard tochildren with non-Swedish backgrounds. This is then put in a relation to the libraries democratic assignment.The main questions are: What are the libraries' assignments, as described in the libraries regulations? How do thelibraries work to fulfil their assignments?</p><p>To answer these questions a survey in two parts has been carried out. The first is a study of the libraries'regulations, and various handbooks that serve as an inspiration for librarians. The other is a qualitative interviewsurvey which took place at three libraries in Uppsala and one in Märsta.</p><p>The survey of the documents shows that the libraries are expected to give special attention to the needs ofchildren with non-Swedish backgrounds. Among other things, this means keeping a varied book stock of goodquality, on all the different languages represented in the area. In Sweden, the leading supplier of media servicesserving libraries, are BTJ. The libraries in the survey turn to BTJ's selection when acquiring books. The librarians however find BTJ's selection of books limited and non-satisfactory when it comes to children's booksin other languages than Swedish. On account of this, the librarians are forced to turn to alternative solutions. The alternative channels for acquisitions they mention are the children's bookshop <em>Bokspindeln</em> in Stockholm,retailers who visit the libraries, and acquisitions during their own travels abroad. The International Library in Stockholm is a valuable resource, in administering book deposits to the local libraries and aiding them withadvice regarding acqusitions.</p><p>The essay's theoretical frames are built upon three main concepts: identity, ethnicity and language. The theories discussed, suggest that a person's language and ethnicity is of great importance when it comes to theperson's process of forming an identity. The identity is continuously constructed in the interaction and dialoguewith others. The libraries can play an important role for this process, as a source of language and culture.</p><p>Furthermore, the survey notices the libraries' role as a democratic force in society. The libraries areexpected to act in order to maintain the human rights. The libraries can serve as an open room for democraticdiscussions. The libraries should offer everyone free and unlimited access to knowledge, thoughts, culture andinformation. They can also contribute to increasing the status of minority languages and stress the value ofmultilingualism. The libraries are also seen as a place where cultural exchange is possible, which is meant tohelp create a base for greater understanding and openness towards different cultures in the minds of the people.</p><p>The main conclusion in this essay regards whether the libraries can or cannot do enough to fulfill theirassignments. The main source for acquisitions mentioned, BTJ, being the leading supplier of media services tolibraries, does not seem to have enough resources to serve the libraries in a satisfying way, when it comes tochildren's books on other languages than Swedish. Whether the libraries can meet the special needs ofmultilingual children, is therefore a question of the librarians own resourcefulness and networking.</p>