This Master’s Thesis aims to examine the attitudes concerning gender issues among children’s librarians. The main purpose is to examine what their views on the subject are, and if they consider gender issues when acquiring and mediating books. We are also interested in their opinions about gender stereotyping in children’s books. We have chosen to interview eight children’s librarians. This is our primary method, which we will combine with theories on gender and reading. The interviews showed that the biggest gender issue in general is the predominance of female librarians. Other than that there were few discussions on the subject at the libraries. The role as mediator was more reflected upon. The general view was that there is a delicate balance between too much interference and too little. The librarians consider promoting the children’s interest in reading to be their greatest concern, and this means gender issues might be overlooked. Their greatest influence is achieved through their choice of which books to acquire, and how they promote these. There are differing opinions on gender stereotyping in books among the librarians. The stereotypes can facilitate reading comprehension, as the children easily recognise the characters and identify with them. They can also limitate the child’s frame of reference.

The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences and perceptions of children`s librarians regarding floating collections in public libraries in Gothenburg. In focus for the study are the experiences and perceptions that exist among children`s librarians when it comes to children as library users, the librarian`s working tasks and the professional role as a librarian. The empirical material has been collected through semistructured interviews with six children`s librarians. The material has been analyzed twice. The first analysis has been conducted through qualitative content analysis. The second analysis has been conducted by using a tool constructed with inspiration from Maj Klasson`s and Anders Ørom`s theories of the professional roles and identities of a librarian. One major finding is that the informants percept children as different from grown-ups in their role as library users. The way children are makes it difficult for them to get their needs satisfied in a library system that practices floating collections. On the other hand the perception that children can learn what it takes to be able to act functionally within floating collections also exists among the interviewed librarians. Another finding is that literature mediation and collection development are working tasks that are influenced by floating collections. The study also indicates that the librarian role as a literature mediator and the role as a librarian that puts the user first are threatened as the marketing role and the role as a mediator of technical knowledge dominate when floating collection is practiced as a media strategy. / Program: Bibliotekarie

Abstract: This Master’s thesis investigates seven public librarians’ approach to bibliotherapy in relation to their experiences of key components in their role and in relation to literature promotion, as well as how they consider bibliotherapy within the context of Swedish public libraries. Research questions used were: Which competences and characteristics do the librarians experience as key components in their role related to literature promotion? How do the librarians consider traditional forms of literature promotion in relation to bibliotherapy? How do the librarians consider bibliotherapy in the context of Swedish public libraries? Interviews were carried out with seven public librarians, two of them working with bibliotherapy. A thematic analysis was used to process the empirical material. Theoretical instruments applied in the analysis were Grøn’s three phases of literature promotion in public libraries and Brewster’s research on bibliotherapy. Six aspects of the librarians’ role in relation to literature promotion emerged from the informants’ experiences: digital tools, social competence, information seeking, literature knowledge, general knowledge and some personal characteristics. The librarians’ approach to traditional literature promotion can be found mainly in two of Grøn’s phases, the reformative and the affirmative. Bibliotherapy can, according to some informants, be related to traditional forms of literature promotion, in accordance with Brewster’s informal bibliotherapy. The study suggests that many of the librarians are positive to bibliotherapy but finds some aspects problematic when implemented within the public library. Amongst problems mentioned were: the term therapy associated with clinical environments, lack of education and general knowledge amongst librarians and users.

This paper aims to identify and bring light to librarians different educational practices in their work to fight digital inequality in society. The study uses methods such as observations and interviews to identify which practices the librarians most commonly use when providing digital aid and how these can be understood, how the librarians themselves reflect on these practices, and what differs in their reflections and their actions. After collecting our empirical data we conducted a qualitative content analysis using concepts from Säljös theory of sociocultural perspective on learning, where we identified concepts such as  awareness, tools, and communication as the most central aspects of these educational practices. By doing this we identified three different sub-practices which together make up what we define as an educational practice. These  were approaching practices, conveying practices and outreach practices. These practices were heavily influenced by the concepts of awareness and communication, and as such we could also see how the librarians showed a great deal of awareness concerning the different existing inequalities in society, and thus emphasised the democratic importance of their work. We also found that there were no greater differences in the way they reflected about their practices, and the way in which they actually conducted their work. However, we did find that the main differences instead were in regard to the amount of reflection that they did. Finally we could also see how the librarians mostly had to make do with what they had in terms of their own competencies due to this educational role being relatively new to the librarian. It is therefore our hope that this essay can help inspire future research and endeavours in this field to help develop these practices, and strengthen the role of librarians to better combat digital inequality.