The aim of this thesis was to examin how librarians arepresented in the Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter.My research questions were: How are librarians and thelibrarian profession presented in articles in DagensNyheter? and What discourses can be identified in thearticles?I have analysed 69 articles from between 2012-01-01 and2013-01-01 by using discourse analysis as both theory andmethod.Three discourses emerged through the analysis: discourseabout librarians and litterature, discourse about librariansand censorship and discourse about librarians and thelabour market.The conclusions drawn from this study are that librariansare strongly associated with litterture and reading and withthe labour market. There are also clear tendencies thatlibrarians whish to change the old, stereotypical images thatthey are associated with, and do so by using humor. / Program: Bibliotekarie

This bachelor's thesis is an investigation into the public libraries'actions following the debate of Stina Wirséns character LillaHjärtat, featured in picture books and films for young children.The character was accused of being racist, due to its similarity tostereotypes such as pickaninnies. Because of this, the books'existence in public libraries was questioned.The purpose of this study is to investigate how librarians havedealt with these books, and what they have based their decisionson. To explore the background of these decisions we have usedPatrick Wilson's theory of cognitive authority (1983). We haveexamined which cognitive authorities have been used in thedecision-making process of how to handle the books containingLilla Hjärtat, and why these cognitive authorities have beenchosen. The method used in the study is qualitative interviewswith seven librarians working in public libraries throughoutSweden.The results of the interviews show that the librarians’ mostprominent cognitive authorities have been authors and illustratorsof children's books. Journalists and bloggers engaged in thedebate have not been given particularly big authority, and neitherhave laws or guidelines in the library field. We believe the reasonfor this is that those working with children's culture are thoughtof to be more informed in this field than those who don't, whichfinds support in Wilson's description of the theory. The cognitiveauthorities found in the study are mainly persons that thelibrarians are familiar with and have trusted before in similarquestions. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of the study has been to find out children’s librarians’ views on and management of media that contains topics with a controversial nature and also to find out how this affects the public library as a democratic institution. We have conducted the study by interviewing six children’s librarians. By using Vestheim’s terms value rationality and instrumental rationality, we have been categorizing the answers from our informants and thus identified two different points of view. Our study shows that topics that the children’s librarians consider controversial among themselves and their users are: racism, discrimination of women, violence, sex, drugs, the use of language, stereotypical gender descriptions, pee and poo, Christmas and religion. Our informants also point out that it is the description of the topic in question that is most important. Our informants generally manage media with controversial topics by showing an open attitude towards the media and by not doing anything at all, but sometimes they replace it, remove it or choose not to purchase it at all. Controversies with the users are not common and if they do occur it is often adults who criticize media that they consider inappropriate for children and teenagers. Our informants mean that it is of most importance to listen to children’s and teenagers’ opinions, and they also point out that no topic is off limits on their public library. This shows that the public library can function as an important democratic arena for the children and teenagers in our society.

The focus of this master thesis is the library politics of the French Right wing party the National Front and the debate that followed the application of this politics. This qualitative study is divided into two parts where the critics to this politics represents one side and the adherents the other. The critics are composed by representatives from the French, Swedish and – to some extent – international library sector, while the adherent side is made up of politicians from the National Front and their adherents. The empiric material mostly consists of articles published in library, Right wing and daily press. The aim is to investigate to what extent the ideas proposed by opponents and adherents correspond to basic ideological elements of deliberative democracy respectively populism. The documents have been interpreted with an ideology analysis formulated by Herbert Tingsten and developed by Sven-Erik Liedman. In the analysis the results are also associated with the history and the role of the public library as well as the cultural politics of the National Front. The result of this study discloses that the ideas of the critics as well as those of the adherents correspond to a large extent to respective ideology, thou certain aspects contradict them. The opinions of the critic side are also shown to be closely related to those presented in documents concerning the role of the public library. Seen in a broader context, the library politics of the National Front could be considered as part of a cultural strategy. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The main purpose of this master thesis is to explore a selection of Swedish librarians view of professional ethics. The latest master thesis written on the subject was published in 1997, which concluded that the Swedish public librarians had a poor awareness concerning professional ethics. We wanted to investigate if something had changed. We interviewed six librarians from five public libraries, asking them questions concerning ethical guidelines, responsibility, censorship and selection, pressure from lobbyists, and ethical problems relating to Internet. The answers we got gave the impression of a divided profession, and the librarian’s awareness of professional ethics can hardly be said to have been improved since 1997. In our conclusion we promote the idea to include ethical theory into the Swedish School of library and information science, to increase the future-to-be librarians ethical awareness. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how city librariesmaintain the intellectual freedom in their Internet service. Thediscussion about Internet filters has been quiet in Sweden forseveral years, so I wanted to see if there had been an increased useof filters. I also wanted to see if the city libraries regulated theInternet service in another way. I sent a survey to 100 libraries andgot answer from 83. To explain what intellectual freedom is, I usedStuart Hamilton’s theory about intellectual freedom in the librarycontext. My result was that it had been an increased use of Internetfilters but still the use was rather small. Most of the libraries in thestudy used policies or rules to regulate Internet access on topicslike pornography or racism. Most of the libraries also had theircomputers in an open way, and that could lead to a self censoredinformation seeking for the user. A solution is to have thecomputers in a more hidden way, so the user could have a morefree access to the Internet. My conclusion is that the most librariesdid hamper the intellectual freedom with their use of filter, policiesand/or the placement of the computers. / Program: Bibliotekarie

Should libraries first and foremost be a source of free informationwhere the citizens can find whatever information they want, or dothe librarians have a responsibility for what kind of works theypresent to people on their shelves? A wild debate broke out inSwedish media in September 2012, after the artistic leader ofKulturhuset in Stockholm; Behrang Miri decided to weed out allthe Tintin albums from the children´s library Tiotretton. Hewanted to start a debate on stereotypes in children´s fiction, andwhat damage they do to children who face them. The purpose ofthe thesis is to carry out a discourse analysis of this media debate,and to identify the different views that are expressed on thedemocratic mission of the libraries, what media they shouldpresent. The method and theory is based on the discourse theory ofErnesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe and their concepts are used toarrange the analysis around certain themes that build up twodifferent discourses; “Freedom of information discourse” and the“Weeding out discourse”.The two main questions are: What views of the public librariesselection of works are expressed in the Tintin debate in Tiotretton,and how do the views relate to each other? What concepts arespecific for the debate, and what meanings do they get in thesedifferent views?In the concluding chapter I discuss which consequences theseopposing opinions can have for the future selection processes ofthe library. / Program: Bibliotekarie

<p>The scope of this investigation is the conditions under which readings of Repulsion (1965), and its depicted mental illness, took place in Sweden during the censorship debates in 1965, and also how the reception was related to narration and subjectivity in the film. The reason for this is the strong reactions to the images of the main character’s inner state, and concerns about negative effects in the public, that were raised. One major concern is how the film articulates discourses through which meanings are produced; that is, how it works as social technology. My thesis is therefore structured around two levels; textual analysis and discourse analysis. In this way, I try to locate meaning and power relations both within and outside the film. My work draws mostly on Edward Branigan’s cognitive theory of narration and Michel Foucault’s thoughts on power and knowledge. I have partly deployed the approach presented by Annette Kuhn, to study the relations of power that are put into play in specific instances. To draw any conclusions I have studied Swedish newspaper articles from 1965 and a summary of the discussion within the Board of Censors. The major findings of the investigation show how the struggles to locate and regulate the meaning of Repulsion ended in the questioning of the very practice of censorship, which even seemed to suggest a moment of transition for the Swedish Board of Censors. Another important finding shows that concerns about Swedish mental care were raised; however, only regarding hospitalisation and treatment of patients and not about underlying, deeper social problems</p>

The scope of this investigation is the conditions under which readings of Repulsion (1965), and its depicted mental illness, took place in Sweden during the censorship debates in 1965, and also how the reception was related to narration and subjectivity in the film. The reason for this is the strong reactions to the images of the main character’s inner state, and concerns about negative effects in the public, that were raised. One major concern is how the film articulates discourses through which meanings are produced; that is, how it works as social technology. My thesis is therefore structured around two levels; textual analysis and discourse analysis. In this way, I try to locate meaning and power relations both within and outside the film. My work draws mostly on Edward Branigan’s cognitive theory of narration and Michel Foucault’s thoughts on power and knowledge. I have partly deployed the approach presented by Annette Kuhn, to study the relations of power that are put into play in specific instances. To draw any conclusions I have studied Swedish newspaper articles from 1965 and a summary of the discussion within the Board of Censors. The major findings of the investigation show how the struggles to locate and regulate the meaning of Repulsion ended in the questioning of the very practice of censorship, which even seemed to suggest a moment of transition for the Swedish Board of Censors. Another important finding shows that concerns about Swedish mental care were raised; however, only regarding hospitalisation and treatment of patients and not about underlying, deeper social problems

The study aims to examine how censorship and comics have been discussed in three debates. The aim is also to identify discourses and the orders and relations of power constructed in the debates, and to examine how librarians should handle debates about censorship and comics. Selected sources are articles from Swedish newspapers and tabloids about the debates on the Pox-trial, the manga case and the debate about Tintin in Kulturhuset. The results from the analysis indicates that the debates have been dominated by two main discourses: a discourse on freedom of speech and a discourse on social responsibility. Within the discourse of freedom of speech there is a range of perspectives that emphasize: artistic freedom, the need for open and free conversations, a discussion about how the comics are assessed in comparison with other media formats as well as a discussion about moral and moralism. The discourse of social responsibility results in a feminist and anti-porn discourse, a post-colonial and anti-racist discourse and a discourse on the protection of children and young people. Based on these results, the discourses can be analysed in relation to the laws, values and ethical guidelines for libraries. The analysis indicates that libraries and librarians should keep a balance between freeedom of speech and social responsibility. They could keep up to date with research about censorship, comics and various genres in order to make informed decisions about how to handle comics in the libraries. The librarian should also assess the comics on the same bases as literature, music, film and other cultural expressions.