The aim of this bachelor thesis is to try to make the experiences and perceptions of librarians concerning their own expertise visible and through that visualise possible competences related to writing activities taking place in public libraries today. The research questions of this thesis are: How do public librarians experience working with writing activities in relation to their expertise as librarians? Which competencies do public librarians perceive as important regarding their labour with writing activities taking place at the library today? Which work related challenges do public librarians experience in relation to writing activities? To answer these questions I have chosen a qualitative perspective. My method consists of six semi-structured interviews with public librarians, who have diverse experiences related to writing activities. The theoretical basis of this study consist of Herlings operational definition of expertise as a concept and it's related cornerstones such as foremost competences. Herlings definition is set in an organizational research tradition and focuses mainly on human resources within that. The findings of this study suggests that public librarians experience a connection between their area of expertise and writing activities. And that their related competences are useful concerning how you talk about texts in a group context.The librarians also suggest that challenges might be to find functioning forms for the activity.

The aim of this Master’s thesis is to investigate what kinds of writing activities that are offered to children and young people in Sweden and if, how and why libraries are involved with them. The issues illuminated in this thesis are how children and youth can be motivated and advance in their writing, what the purpose of writing activities can be, and if writing activities can be suitable as a part of the work in libraries. The theory is based on a study with writing youth made by Catharina Nyström. In order to study the issues six interviews have been completed with persons who all have played a part in writing activities for children and youth. The answers from the interviews were compared with the theory, former research and other literature relevant for the subject. The conclusions are that the informants along with opinions in parts of the literature apprehend that the participating children feel motivated to write with a free kind of creative writing where the children get to make their own choices in their writing work without demands and grading from adults. A different point of view among the literature and the theory state the importance of process writing as a teaching method, and that young people identify themselves with writers in order to develop and motivate their writing. The ambitions of writing activities emphasised by the informants are that the children and youth will improve linguistic abilities and feel a greater interest in reading. As a result of these activities the informants have noticed that their aspirations have been fulfilled. Since these positive effects correspond to the library’s aim to offer children and youth cultural activities, the means to develop their linguistic usage and to encourage them to read, it suggests that writing very well can be encompassed within the libraries children and youth activities. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this master thesis’s is to examine what functions writing activities can have in the public library. Some public libraries offer their visitors writing activities, for example courses and camps. The public library is an institution with a particular identity, with special norms and properties which participants within the institution construct and reproduce. The main question of this thesis is to investigate how writing activities can be a part of the public library’s institutional identity and what functions writing activities in the public library can have. The sub-questions are: How do individuals, like librarians, writing-leaders and participants, describe the writing activity? In which way do the individuals justify writing activities in the public library? In what way does the writing activity reproduce the public library’s institutional identity? To answer these questions a qualitative perspective has been added which mean that the primary information consist of interviews with individuals that have diverse experiences of writing activities in the public library. The theoretical basis of this study is a cultural policy model designed by Dorte Skot-Hansen, consisting of three rationalities: humanistic, sociological and instrumental. The rationalities explain what functions culture can have within the society. In the study the instrumental rationality has been modified into a market-orientated one, because the other two rationalities also can have instrumental properties. The findings of the study show that writing activities within the library can have different kinds of functions. Writing activities can have a self-developing popular-adult-education function, it can function as a cultural-agent, as a social-agent, it works like recognition for amateur-culture, it can be a meeting-place and a cultural experience. These functions show also how the writing activities reproduce the public library’s institutional identity. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how young people participating in writing courses describe their experiences, how leaders of writing courses discuss their intentions with hosting the activity, and their experiences from working with young people in creative writing programs. The study discusses the view of participators, librarians, authors and professional writing coaches. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews in which two participants and three leaders were interviewed. The four-space model was used as a theoretic framework, trying to make better understanding of how creative writing activities can work as an instrument for meetings, inspiration, performance and learning in the public library context. The results of the study are discussed through thematic analysis, presenting what could be considered as important findings about the participation and implementations of creative writing in the public library. Findings show that the most important part of participating in writing activities, according to both the participants and the leaders, were “having fun” and community.

Swedish public libraries have offered writing courses and activities for decades. Despite that, writing doesn’t necessarily seem to have an obvious place at all public libraries. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the status of writing promotion at Swedish public libraries. The study is conducted using several methods. Firstly, official library statistics are used to map creative writing activities at public libraries. Secondly, library plans from Swedish regions are used to study how they define writing promotion related to public library. Thirdly, three interviews are conducted with people who have worked with writing promotion. The four-space model from 2012 is used to analyze the motives for writing promotion related to public libraries. The statistic results show that writing activities has a low priority in comparison with other activities at the public library. Moreover, the statistics show that public libraries vary in offering writing activities, both at a national and a regional level. The results based on the library plans show that public libraries in many regions work, or want to work, with writing promotion. In most of the regions the writing promotion can be connected to all four spaces and goals according to The four-space model. Through writing promotion public libraries can offer an inspiration space, a learning space, a meeting space and a performative space, consequently supporting experience, empowerment, involvement and innovation. The status of writing promotion seems, however, to vary among the regions. The interviews reveal, in accordance with the library plans, that writing promotion belongs in public libraries.  In conclusion, the thesis shows that writing promotion is overshadowed by reading promotion at Swedish public libraries. In addition, the thesis shows that the status of writing promotion has potential to increase at Swedish public libraries. This is a two years master ́s thesis in Library and Information Science.