This essay seeks to explore how five public libraries in Stockholm have chosen to organize the LGBTQ classified literature in the physical library. The questions discussed in this essay are the following: - What factors affected the librarian’s decisions when deciding how to place the LGBTQ literature? - What response have the librarians received from library users regarding the physical organization? - What changes would the librarians like to see in the future in regards to the LGBTQ literature and the overall work toward the LGBTQ community? Semi-structured interviews with seven librarians were conducted and analyzed from a queer theory perspective on knowledge-organization. The results showed that the libraries that used dedicated shelves for the LGBTQ classified literature did so in order to make it easier for its users to find the literature on their own. They were also used to send out a signal regarding the libraries positive attitudes towards the LGBTQ community. Libraries who did not use dedicated shelves argued that the shelves could create an uncomfortable situation for library users and create a symbolic separation between the LGBTQ community and the rest of society. The shelves could also send out the wrong signal that LGBTQ classified literature only targets LGBTQ individuals. Concluding analysis showed that the shelves may have an including as well as an excluding effect. As for the future some librarians expressed a desire to fight heteronormativity and make the LGBTQ community and literature a more natural part of the library work and the library collections.

Two subjects which have grown constantly larger due to globalization are diversity and LGBTQ. This can be seen since people with different sexualities, religions, ethnicities and much more have become more visible in Sweden. Therefore, one can ask oneself how diverse the literature is at public libraries, especially if a certain genre such as LGBTQ is placed at a special section called rainbow shelves. This issue will be examined in this study. To show how important it is to include and acknowledge everyone and not only some groups, social recognition by Axel Honneth has been chosen as the theory of this paper. In order to see how diverse the literature in rainbow shelves are, a qualitative content analysis, based on four different semi-structured interviews with four different individuals, has been made. Only librarians from libraries which have rainbow shelves has been interviewed, but they were spread all over Sweden, from north to south. The interviews took place during April 2018. The result shows that the libraries have diverse LGBTQ-literature to a certain degree. They can only purchase as much diverse LGBTQ-literature as exists and unfortunately, there is not much diverse LGBTQ-literature available. Due to this, the four public libraries cannot acknowledge individuals who are not included in the white normativity or western standards. The discussion revealed that the rainbow shelves of the participating libraries do not represent a greater diversity. However, there are rainbow shelves where diversity is more represented than in other rainbow shelves. It was also found that there is a limited amount of multilingual LGBTQ-literature and that it is complicated to find. Not enough multilingual LGBTQ-literature is published to enable public libraries to find and make this available to a wider extent. All participating libraries work in some way to support the diversity of the rainbow shelves and make them more representative. This work is mainly done by getting inspiration from other libraries’ rainbow shelves or by searching for diverse LGBTQ-literature.

The purpose of this thesis is to provide increased knowledge about the phenomenon of "rainbowshelf" and how the user group LGBT+ experiences it. The purpose has been answered with the help of the questions: How does the target group LGBTQ+ experience the rainbow shelf? And how can their experiences be understood from queer theory? The empirical material has been collected through a websurvey that addressed the user group LGBT+. It has spread with the help of the snowball method on social media and resulted in 124 answers that were then analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The theoretical framework used in this thesis is queer theory. The result shows that most respondents are positive to a rainbow shelf, although most respondents have never used a rainbow shelf themselves. Among those who have used a rainbow shelf, they find that they are made visible through it and feel more included in the library. It also appears that among those who are negative to the rainbow shelf, the main reason for this is the feeling that “we and them” is reinforced and that it feels very indicatory to go to a special shelf to find their books.

The aim of this paper is to answer the questions ”What opinions do LGBT-youth have about libraries?” and ”What are LGBT-youths thoughts on the treatment they get at libraries?”. The theories that are used are the queer theory and norm criticism. The method that is used is interviews with LGBT-youth. The study shows that there is very little LGBT-themed media in libraries, especially media about less wellknown identities. It also shows that the treatment LGBT-youth gets at libraries generally is neutral. The concept of a seperate place in the library to keep the LGBT-themed media is debated between the people that were interviewed. Some think it is a good idea, this way the media would be easier to be found. Some think it is a bad idea because that puts younger LGBT-kids in a spotlight that they may not be ready for. Something that can help with this, and is also discussed, is a LGBTqualification libraries can get from RSFL, even if this also has both good and bad qualities.