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.

BAKGRUND:Mycket av den forskning som finns kring skönlitteraturens roll i skolan utgår frånlitteraturvetaren Louise M. Rosenblatts teorier där ett värdegrundsarbete är det yttersta måletmed läsningen. Detta stämmer ganska väl överens med dagens kursplan i ämnet svenska. Vifrågar oss hur ett sådant arbete kan se ut i praktiken.SYFTE:Vårt syfte är att undersöka varför och hur en grupp svensklärare på en skola i grundskolanssenare del arbetar med skönlitteratur.METOD:Vi har genomfört en kvalitativ studie inriktad på hur några lärare ser på läsning avskönlitteratur, och har därför använt oss av den öppna ostrukturerade intervjun som redskap.RESULTAT:Vi har funnit att lärarna framhåller färdighetsträning i allmänhet och analytisk förmåga isynnerhet som det främsta syftet med skönlitteraturen. Det finns här en motsättning mellanlärarnas fokus och vad kursplanen i svenska ger för direktiv. Vi har sett tendenser till attläsning av ett efferent slag för träning av praktiska färdigheter dominerar över en estetiskläsning där upplevelsen av det lästa står i centrum. En förklaring till detta skulle kunna varakrav på måluppfyllelse, traditionella arbetssätt och rådande skolkultur – saker som kanskemånga gånger påverkar i större utsträckning är läroplaner och kursplaner.

This study deals with the Swedish public library in our changeable time. New technology, an altered media situation with a growing digitalization, globalization and a society focusing on the individual and the market have put the public library in a new, indistinct position. It is described as facing an identity crisis. The aim of this thesis is to, by interviewing a group of young people ages 15-16, find out what the public library is for this user group and what it ought to be according to them. How do they value the services provided by the public library? Are there services they miss? The thesis also aims at relating the opinions of the young people to earlier research. By using different models discussing the mission of the public library and its function in local society, the opinions of the young people are analyzed. It is shown that the user group values social activism the highest, focusing on the public library´s social responsibility and the importance of including everyone in its activities. The democracy aspect is central for the young people interviewed. It is further shown that the market adaptation of the public library is not embraced by the young people. Neither is the public library in the role as a meeting place. The populist initiative is rejected by the user group and thus, the public library’s populism of our time could be described as misdirected. Instead, more of the public library’s traditional services are inquired for. / Uppsatsnivå: D

Library architecture today is a complicated history. Public libraries are no longer merely a place for book storage, but also a virtual library a social meeting place and a place for study. All these diverse tasks and roles emerge in the democratic designing process of a new library and also transform into the architecture. The underlying process is the evaluation and negotiation of the libraries overall tasks and ideas, ideals and values. Multiple ideologies are incorporated in library architecture. Of greatest importance is the ideology of the library itself. This candidate thesis is a case study of the public library in Arlov. My aim is to find out how ideas, ideals and values of democracy are expressed in the library building. I want to find out in what extent library staff have had impact in the designing process and also how these ideologies of library transforms into architecture as regarding to aesthetics, symbolism and function. The thesis is based on both empirical and theoretical material. The last part is a discussion which deals with issues like library architecture and democracy in Arlov as well as in a wider perspective. / Uppsatsnivå: C

This bachelor thesis examines the library as a public sphere in the notion of Jürgen Habermas’ theory from 1962. The questions asked concerns how the public sphere is discussed in relation to Swedish public libraries today in our late modern society. The analyzed material consists of the Swedish Cultural Bill of 2009 and five qualitative interviews with librarians. The material is analyzed with two of the four social actions presented by the sociologist Maw Weber: value-rational and instrumental. The Cultural Bill handles the importance of public spheres in society, but does not recognize the possibility of public libraries as functioning as such. The interviewed librarians stress this function, but points out the problems in using it as an economic legitimizer of the institution. The difference between the perceived role of the public libraries in the statements from the librarians and the cultural bill probably explains the ambiguity in the librarians’ statements. There is a problem when the more abstract values of the libraries are not recognized in the cultural policy of today. The solution presented in the thesis accede the ongoing LIS research in the emphasis on the need of a more extensive definition of the library as a public sphere. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The purpose of this thesis is to attain a deepened understanding concerning views on videogames at four Swedish public libraries, especially in relation to library practice and how videogames fit within this context. It also aims to provide insight as to why these libraries have included videogames in their collections and what thoughts were behind it. To fulfill this aim we conducted a qualitative hermeneutic study, using interviews as the main source of research material, but also written materials and a lecture on the city library of Malmö and how they work with videogames. The theoretical framework of the study is founded on Dorte Skot-Hansen’s and Douglas Raber’s theories on the values, roles and functions of public libraries. Based on this and on our own research material we define seven themes to use as analytical tools in structuring and interpreting our findings. Our findings show that the main reasons for introducing videogames relate to conceptions of videogames as a cultural medium, to democratic concerns to increase availability and to make the library relevant to more citizens, as well as to an aim to correspond to the interests of the community members. To do this, the libraries strive to make available a wide collection of games, but may also pay extra attention to more specific concerns. Important to the selection process are user’s requests and, to some extent, the contents of the games (e.g. that the most violent games are usually not acquired), but also the traditional method of review-based selection. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this thesis is to examine the term balanced collection in relation to Swedish laws and the democratic assignment. The Unesco Public Library Manifesto states that libraries are to formulate a policy defining objectives, priorities and services in relation to local community needs. The Swedish Libraries Act, paragraph 7, states that municipalities and counties shall adopt plans for library services. To fulfil our aim we will answer the following questions. By which terms is the democratic assignment visible in Swedish public libraries collection development policies? Is the term balanced collection used in Swedish public libraries collection development policies? If not, are there categories describing balanced collection? Do the terms in Swedish collection development policies differ to the six categories found by Farooq M. Ali in English-speaking literature? And if so, what does this difference suggest? The method used is a qualitative content analysis and we solely examine Swedish public libraries and their written collection development policies – we have not conducted any follow-up interviews. The six different categories found by Farooq M. Ali are analysed in correlation to our coding of the terms stated in the collection development policies of Swedish public libraries. Our survey shows that Ali’s six categories are not that common in Swedish public libraries collection development policies but that there are other categories and terms with the same significance. The most common categories are books, media, representation and the category not violence, pornography or racism. The two least common categories are weeding and demand. / Uppsatsnivå: D

Föreliggande uppsats är en studie om ämneslärarstudenters potentiella böjelse för auktoritarianism vid ämneslärarprogrammet på Mälardalens högskola i syfte att undersöka hur auktoritarianismen kan te sig i skol- och utbildningssammanhang. En böjelse för auktoritarianism kännetecknas av tre egenskaper: viljan att lyda en auktoritets order, aggressivitet mot de som inte underkastar sig auktoriteten och uppfattningen om att alla ska följa den auktoritära ordningens normer och lagar. För att undersöka detta har ett beprövat mätinstrument (Right-Wing Authoritarianism scale) ämnat att mäta förekomsten av sådan böjelse bland olika grupper via ett frågeformulär. Studiens resultat visade att ämneslärarstudenterna inte skiljde sig från en kontrollgrupp bestående av andra studenter vid Mälardalens högskola i böjelse för auktoritarianism. Varken ämneslärarstudenternas ämneskombinationer, avklarade verksamhetsförlagda utbildningar eller terminer vid programmet hade en effekt på deras böjelse för auktoritarianism. Däremot hade åldern en signifikant effekt på sagd böjelse: De som var i åldrarna 19-25 hade en högre grad av böjelse jämfört med de som var 30 år eller äldre. Dessutom korrelerade högre grad av böjelse för auktoritarianism med en negativ attityd till genuspedagogik, positiv attityd till användandet av disciplinära åtgärder i skolan och en positiv attityd till betyg i ordning och uppförande. Resultatet diskuteras i relation till forskning och litteratur om skolans utveckling under 2000talet.

Bakgrund: Kunskap i matematik är idag en nödvändighet för alla individer. Förståelsen och upplevelsen av matematik har stor betydelse för hur barn upprätthåller sociala regler, beskriver sin omvärld och löser problem. Som vuxen är matematiken grundläggande för ett demokratiskt tänkande, underlättar vardagsbeslut och yrkesliv. Därför ska varje barn tidigt utveckla sin förståelse för grundläggande egenskaper i begreppen tal, mätning och form samt sin förmåga att orientera sig i tid och rum.Syfte: Syftet med undersökningen är att ta reda på hur stor betydelse matematiken har ipedagogernas arbetssätt på förskolan samt hur matematikarbetet ser ut och kan användas i förskolans verksamhet.Metod: I denna studie har jag valt att använda den kvalitativa forskningsmetoden för att undersöka hur pedagoger beskriver lärande samt den praktiska användningen av matematik hos förskolebarn. Jag har utfört kvalitativa intervjuer med fyra pedagoger angående vardagsmatematiken i förskolan. Intervjuerna dokumenterades via noteringar under intervjun samt genom inspelning på diktafon.Resultat: Pedagogerna använder sig medvetet av vardagliga situationer för att synliggöramatematiken och väcka barnens intresse på ett lustfyllt sätt. Det gäller att ta på sig sina ”matematikglasögon” och försöka se matematikens roll och dess användning i alla vardagliga situationer tillsammans med barnen. / Program: Lärarutbildningen

In this paper we describe UX and design thinking as a method for library development, and we describe the library as a democratic arena and its democratic mission. These ideas and methods are becoming more of common use among libraries. Since public libraries have a democratic mission we find it relevant to examine what view is presented within these new methods of libraries, users and democracy. Design thinking and UX have developed within the private sector, and since libraries in Sweden are financed by the public sector conflicts may arise between the two. The purpose of this paper is to perform an ideology analysis of the document Design thinking for libraries – Toolkit (the Swedish version). This with the purpose to shed light on these aspects, and to find out how they relate to Paulo Freire’s and Henry Giroux’s theories of critical pedagogy and radical democracy with the concepts empowerment and marginalisation. From the analysis, an ideological view emerges that promotes neoliberal values, instead of a more radical democratic view that we would expect to find since the Toolkit is created as a method for library development. Users appear as providers of information, which is then used as a design-tool for this development. Compared to Freire and Giroux, this is not equal to empowerment since focus is not on strengthening users. In addition to this, we have found that problems are not allowed to exist in the Toolkit since they are invariably supposed to be seen as opportunities instead, which gives the impression that marginalisation is a person’s own fault. Furthermore, the Toolkit emphasises the librarian instead of the user, and also requires that the practitioner is open minded, positive and trusts the process. In other words, there is not much room for reflection or critical thinking, either among staff or users, hence, democracy is not promoted.