This master’s thesis aims to study the practice of separating popular genres of fiction from the rest of the fiction stock, often seen at public libraries. The method being used is critical discourse analysis according to Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional conception of discourse. The textual dimension of this analysis is the book shelf itself and the sociocultural practice is the everyday practice at a public library of supplying and mediating books to the visitors. The main research question is: In what ways do the alternative shelf arrangements affect the sociocultural practice of mediating fiction to library visitors and to what degree has this practice, with its non-discoursive elements, cleared the path for shelf arrangements to become a natural part of the libraries? The question is answered by the analysis of the text and its different modalities, and the analysis of the discoursive practice where the interest has been the production and the consumption of the text. These two aspects of discourse are then contextualized in the sociocultural dimension. The result shows the picture of a public library undergoing major changes. Strained economy and a shift in the habits of reading fiction have forced the libraries to take influence by the commercial book stores, preferably the on-line ones. This thesis shows that the shelf arrangements of fiction are a part of the development for the public libraries in a more individualised, commercial direction.

The aim of this study is to find out whether gender affects some fifth-graders’ choice of books. The study builds on qualitative research interviews with questions about children’s choice of fiction. It is based on gender theories because we wanted to see whether the pupils’ choice of books follows gender stereotypes. By gender stereotypes we mean all the notions and ideals about femininity and masculinities with which we are surrounded in today’s society, for example, in popular culture. We have interviewed six pupils in grade five, in three pairs. One of the pairs consisted of a girl and a boy, one consisted of two girls and one of two boys. The result of the study shows that the boys preferred to read books that were exciting and entertaining, while the girls chose books about topics such as friendship and love. The pupils in the all-boy group gave relatively similar answers during the interviews, as did the pupils in the all-girl group. The boys liked the same type of books and agreed with each other. It was the same in the girls’ group. The group with one girl and one boy differed, however, in that the girl preferred to read exciting books which the all-girl group did not choose. The group composition may have affected the pupils’ choice of books and the choice of genre. It is difficult, however, to draw any general conclusions about this, as only six pupils were interviewed.