<p>The purpose of this study has been to examine reading habits and the use of the library by pre­school teachers in a mainly multicultural community, and also explore to what extent activities in the local library are aimed at preschoolers.</p><p>The study used a sociocultural approach based on Vygotsky’s theories of learning and development and Söderbergh’s theory of early childhood language development, and was carried out during the summer 2009. The methodology used was both quantitative and qualitative, with a combination of questionnaires and interviews. Questionnaires were sent out to each section of the municipal pre­schools within the catchments area of the local public library in a multicultural suburb of Uppsala. Three short interviews were carried out with staff at the local and main library branches, as well as library staff at the County Council.</p><p>The results show that, although preschool teachers find reading important in their work, many teachers read spontaneously and/or sporadically. Many also find that visiting the library is difficult, seeing distance and the age of the children as factors preventing them from going. The library studied has little or no mutual activities with the preschools. General activities aimed at young children are story time in Swedish and several other languages as well as theatre and music events, book talks aimed towards parents visiting early year’s centres and, for preschools since 2008, theme bags involving popular topics such as nature, friends, and seasons. Conflicts exist between the control documents for the libraries and the present law of education in Sweden.</p>

The purpose of this study has been to examine reading habits and the use of the library by pre­school teachers in a mainly multicultural community, and also explore to what extent activities in the local library are aimed at preschoolers. The study used a sociocultural approach based on Vygotsky’s theories of learning and development and Söderbergh’s theory of early childhood language development, and was carried out during the summer 2009. The methodology used was both quantitative and qualitative, with a combination of questionnaires and interviews. Questionnaires were sent out to each section of the municipal pre­schools within the catchments area of the local public library in a multicultural suburb of Uppsala. Three short interviews were carried out with staff at the local and main library branches, as well as library staff at the County Council. The results show that, although preschool teachers find reading important in their work, many teachers read spontaneously and/or sporadically. Many also find that visiting the library is difficult, seeing distance and the age of the children as factors preventing them from going. The library studied has little or no mutual activities with the preschools. General activities aimed at young children are story time in Swedish and several other languages as well as theatre and music events, book talks aimed towards parents visiting early year’s centres and, for preschools since 2008, theme bags involving popular topics such as nature, friends, and seasons. Conflicts exist between the control documents for the libraries and the present law of education in Sweden.