Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur utanförskap och inkludering skildras i bilderböcker, representerade i Kulturrådets barnlitteraturlista från 2018, och vilka didaktiska möjligheter innehållet kunde bidra med. En kvalitativ innehållsanalys genomfördes i två delstudier för att undersöka hur böckernas handling och böckernas karaktärer skildras kopplat till utanförskap. Studiens teoretiska ansatser var barndomssociologi och kognitiv narratologi. Dessa möjliggjorde tillsammans en djup förståelse för hur utanförskap skildras i barnlitteraturen, kopplat till barns socialisering och förståelse genom litteraturen. Sju bilderböcker valdes ut för att analyseras, dessa var: Arnes stora läskiga tänder, Bosse & Bella och trumpna Donald, De fula fem, Dom som bestämmer, Fastrarna, Klappa snällt och Vilda grannar. Resultatet visade flera mönster, utanförskapets skildringar kunde kopplas samman med begreppet kamratkultur och att det alltid fanns en orsak till utanförskap. Ett tema som syntes i flera av böckerna var makt och status. I majoriteten av böckerna upplöstes utanförskapet, och dessa upplösningar kunde kopplas till handlande med eller utan agens. Resultatet av hur karaktärerna gestaltades visade karaktärerna som aktiva i att utföra handlingar som påverkade utanförskapet. Dessutom visade resultatet att karaktärernas egenskaper skildrades på ett förenklat och ytligt sätt, och att inkludering i gemenskapen var något som värderades högt. Vidare synliggjorde denna studie tre didaktiska möjligheter för användning av böckerna: 1) stötta utsatta individer att hantera och ta sig ur sitt utanförskap, 2) skapa kunskaper och förståelser om hur det känns att vara utanför 3) visa på att utanförskap är invecklat och inte alltid har en självklar lösning. Studien bidrar med kunskap om hur bilderboken kan användas i förskolan för att motverka och bearbeta utanförskap.

The purpose of this thesis was to, in a selected municipality, examine the position of bibliotherapy in reading groups in public libraries. To attain the purpose of the thesis the following questions were asked; What opinions does the librarians in the existing reading groups have on bibliotherapy? What kind of bibliotherapeutic elements exist in the investigated reading groups? Can the reading groups have bibliotherapeutic elements regardless if they were planned for such purposes? Could bibliotherapy be relevant to the public libraries work with the target group mental disabilities in accordance to library law? As a method seven semi-structured qualitative scientific interviews were conducted alongside one web survey. Six of the interviews were implemented with librarians in public libraries and one with two trained bibliotherapists at a hospital library. The theory used was Elizabeth Brewster’s development of Caroline Shrode’s three phases identification, catharsis and insight, where bibliotherapy is divided into four overlapping kinds of bibliotherapy: emotive bibliotherapy, informative bibliotherapy, social bibliotherapy and escapist bibliotherapy. The results show that there are distinct observations of Shrodes three phases in one of the reading groups that fit the description of Brewsters emotive bibliotherapy. In the librarians’ description of the rest of the reading groups, several elements of social, informative and escapist bibliotherapy can also be found. However, in those groups a clear identification of Shrodes theoretical phases are much more elusive, even if there are some similarities. The reading groups’ content of bibliotherapeutic elements appears to be, to some extent, independent of the librarians’ knowledge of bibliotherapeutic terms and denominations. Bibliotherapeutic work seems to be close to unknowingly performed by the librarians in the reading groups, which none the less does not seem to affect its efficiency. Further knowledge about bibliotherapy is assessed to be beneficial to the reading groups in public libraries, which in turn would contribute to the fulfilling of the goals in library law.

The aim of this Bachelor's thesis is to examine how hospital librarians, who work with children, perceive their working practices and occupational role. A method of semi-structured interviews was used to provide data for analysis. Six hospital librarians, employed in five different hospitals, were interviewed. The collected data was examined by using both a content analysis and a theory-based analysis. The theoretical analysis is based on Øroms (1993) definition of the diverse occupational identities of a librarian: facilitator of culture, subject specialist, documentarist and social worker, along with two bibliotherapeutic identities from Brewsters (2011) definition of creative and informal bibliotherapy. Typical for all of the hospital librarians interviewed was that they see their work and occupational role largely based on the concepts of literature and reading as well as upon a bibliotherapeutic aspect. These two directions are also distinctly apparent in their method of work. The first aspect is based on the librarians’ role as a facilitator of culture: providing access to literature through their knowledge of literature and the collection of books in the hospital library; providing discussion and guidance to patients, relatives and hospital personnel. The second aspect is the bibliotherapeutic role that systematically promotes the patient’s health and wellbeing by their engagement with literature. The librarians consider pro-active contact with patients and relatives a most important part of their work and, subsequently, it is a main contributing factor in their professional identity. On the other hand, systematic and practical aspects of their work play a less significant role in forming their identity. Hospital librarians have a close working relationship with play therapy departments and hospital schools. Similar cooperation with medical staff is, however, not as well developed.

The aim of this bachelor thesis is to find out how a number ofhospital librarians look at child and youth patients' reading and itspossible role in a mental and physical healing process. We alsoinvestigate the knowledge, strategies and thoughts the librarianshave on bibliotherapy.Qualitative interviews have been used and seven librarians, at twodifferent hospital libraries with children's and youth activities, wereinterviewed during November and December 2011. The analysis isbased on one theory; we use Sten Furhammar’s model whichincludes four different categories of reading.We can see, according to the librarians’ answers, that the mostcommon function of the patients’ reading can be explained throughtwo of Furhammar’s categories. Our respondents believe that thepatients mostly read to relax from heavy thoughts and situationswhich can be connected to the category impersonal experiencereading. This type of reading has according to Furhammar not anenriching effect if it’s described as entertainment and relaxation.But in our study the librarians think that this type of reading can beenriching, and even have a therapeutical function. They alsobelieve that reading can have other therapeutical functions as selfreflection,comfort and relief from worrying which can beconnected to the category personal experience reading. We foundout that the librarians do not use the word bibliotherapy or workwith it with awareness. But they think bibliotherapeutical situationscan occur without their involvement or help. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The purpose of this thesis was to examine reading groups inpublic libraries from a bibliotherapeutic perspective. Inorder to reach this purpose following questions needed to beanswered: What does the discussion in reading groups looklike? What does the reading groups fulfill for theirparticipants? What is the circle leaders’ role? The study isbased on the observations of three reading groups and offive interviews of its participants. With the help of CarolineShrodes theory the study shows that there are few signs ofbibliotherapy in the reading groups. But on the other handthey show similarities with other bibliotherapeutic readinggroups, by being a social venue for its participants. They canalso contribute to the participants wellbeing and their self-esteem and self-understanding. The results also show thatthe circle leaders role can be important for the discussion inthe reading group. The reading groups are in many waysimportant to their participants and the results in this thesisshows that bibliotherapy could play an important role in thepublic libraries of Sweden. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this Master’s Thesis is to find out whether bibliotherapy, in an unspokenform, is practiced in already existing group formations to be able to determine how practicalbibliotherapy can be seen in a Swedish context and thereby open the possibility for development.To fulfil this purpose I decided to do a case study on a nearby book reading circle for adultchildren of drug addicts. I made three qualitative interviews; two of the mentioned book readingcircle’s leaders and one participant/help leader. I used the following set of questions: What isincluded in the concept Bibliotherapy and how does that relate to practice? How has the bookreading circle examined in this case study proceeded, which methods were used and what kind ofliterature has been used and also what kind of effects did this reading circle have on itsparticipants. Can the library/librarian interact in any way in this type of external book readingcircles? I also studied theoretical work on bibliotherapy, as well as various theories on supportgroups and book reading circles, of which I presented a selection of in this thesis. Thistheoretical framework was the basis for my analysis of the result, which showed that theintention of the book reading circle had been consistent with its implementation; the methodsused were in line with the ones of the support groups’ standards and the literature they used wasnonfiction with a content directed especially towards the group’s main problem; the effects thebook reading activities had on the group participants were in line with how developmentalbibliotherapy is described being performed in a Swedish context , and finally; the informants’attitudes towards collaborating with a library/librarian were mainly positive. Thereby, all myquestions were answered and my conclusion is that this case study represents a number of othersupport groups/book reading circles and there would be a mutual benefit if a future collaborationwith the library was established.

Syftet med studien var att se huruvida traumaberbetning och barnlitteratur kan föras samman. För att göra detta valdes följande frågeställningar: hur kan trauma ta sig uttryck hos barn i förskolan? samt hur kan användandet av barnlitteratur utnyttjas vid traumabearbetning i förskolan? Studien genom-fördes i form av en webbaserad enkätundersökning där förskolepedagoger fick svara på relevanta frågor och beskriva sina erfarenheter och tankar kring att arbeta med barnlitteratur i sig och som stöd för barn utsatta för trauma. Analysen av enkätsvaren sammanfördes med tidigare forskning inom ämnet och utgjorde diskussionen. Resultatet visade att många förskolepedagoger har tankar och erfarenheter kring att använda barnlitteratur som ett verktyg i barns traumabearbetning. Även pedagogernas erfarenheter kring hur trauma hos förskolebarn kan ta sig uttryck samt hur pedagoger kan ge stöd i bearbetningen av detta togs upp. Slutsatsen av studien blev därför att barnlitteratur kan användas vid traumabearbetning i förskolan. Studien har baserats på det perspektiv som Reader Response-teorin ger.

The aim of this discourse study has been to analyse how the concept of bibliotherapy in connection with hospital librarians’ work is presented in theses written in the field of library and information science. The theory is based on the work of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. The main picture presented is that bibliotherapy is difficult to define. Most of the hospital librarians have heard about bibliotherapy, and they strongly believe in the concept. At the same time, the respondents are hesitant to label their work ‘bibliotherapy’. Biblio-therapy is presented in the research mainly as a practice. Among hospital librarians, bibliotherapy is associated with the reading of fiction. There is no consensus among them on how to define the term. A number of descriptions of how bibliotherapy can help patients with mental issues, bring joy and even save lives are mentioned, but no hard evidence is presented for this. Two central subject positions are discussed in this study. Hospital librarians are described as a group who need to claim their rights in the large hospital organisation. At the same time they are seen as a highly competent and reliable resource. The patient is scarcely represented in the empirical material.

Syftet med den här uppsatsen var att undersöka om biblioterapi som utbildning och kompetens skulle kunna fungera stärkande för bibliotekarieprofessionen. Detta undersöktes genom att besvara följande forskningsfrågor: Hur definieras och tolkas begreppet och praktiken biblioterapi? I vilket läge befinner sig biblioterapi i Sverige idag? Hur skulle biblioterapi kunna vara en professionsstärkande bibliotekariekompetens? Studien är baserad på ett empiriskt underlag i form av fyra semistrukturerade intervjuer med utvalda personer som har aktuell koppling till biblioterapi i Sverige. I ljuset av professionsteori och tidigare forskning om biblioterapi och bibliotekarieprofessionen visar studien att definitionen av biblioterapi inte är samstämmig i Sverige, som verkar befinna sig i sökandefasen gällande begreppet som kunskapsområde. Resultatet pekar på att biblioterapi fyller en viktig funktion som kompetensutveckling för bibliotekarier vilket i sig är stärkande i den professionella rollen, samt är uppskattat och starkt förankrat inom biblioteksväsendet. Slutsatsen av studien är att biblioterapi skulle kunna vara en professionsstärkande bibliotekariekompetens om begreppet tydligt definierades inom biblioteksvärlden och om fler uttalat professionsstärkande strategier genomfördes i enlighet med professionella projektet och nätverk samt målmedveten etablering inom utbildning, profession och praktik.

Mental health issues and depression is an everprevalent issue in our society today. Library science has taken a step towards creating a safe medium and addressing the issue by bibliotherapy, or therapy through reading. Though it is an establish method in other countries, bibliotherapy is not a common practise in Sweden and it is through recent years that reports about bibliotherapeutic projects has started appearing. The question that rises then is: how is bibliotherapy being written about by journalists and in the end, how is bibliotherapy, libraries and reading presented to the general public? This research aims to investigate in what way bibliotherapy is portrayed in newspaper articles, relationship between bibliotherapy and the library itself as well as what role reading has in the discourse about bibliotherapy in newspaper articles. To do this, a discourse method based on Laclau´s and Mouffes’s (Bergström & Boréus, 2012, Svensson 2019) linguistic approach to discourse analysis, will be utilized through the analysis of 18 newspaper articles. The result of this study shows a mostly positive view on bibliotherapy as a method and that reading is a key element in its utilization. Yet libraries’ roles in the bibliotherapeutic work is not as apparent and might affect readers’ views on the libraries’ involvement in societies work to prevent mental health issues.