This thesis aims to examine how youth librarians work and relate to gender and equality issues. The goal is to identify needs and analyse how these issues can be developed in the future. The method involved interviewing six youth librarians. The responses have been analysed based on a gender studies theory, which is combined with concepts and perspectives such as intersectionality, diversity and inclusion. The interviews showed that lack of time, resources and knowledge of the subject make it difficult to focus on gender and equality issues. However, there is great awareness and interest in the subject, and the librarians are in favour of training to better meet the needs and develop their workplace.

This thesis is based on a study conducted at the City Library Dynamo in Gothenburg where data have been collected through qualitative interviews with young people aged 15 - 25 years. Our intention was to examine what young people think about the City Library Dynamo as a venue, and how they perceive its activities and functions.In order to compare two different cultural venues for young people, where Dynamo is one, interviews were also conducted at a location other than the library, at Arena 29, a cultural activity house for young people in Gothenburg. Twelve qualitative and semi-structured interviews were conducted in order to collect data which was then transcribed and structured. As a theoretical framework we have used the new model for the public library, developed by Hvenegaard, Jochumsen and Skot-Hansen 2010.Our result shows a thoroughly positive image of the City Library Dynamo, particularly as a meeting and study place. Young people stated that they felt welcome and that the City Library Dynamo was designed and tailored to match their needs. Through our interviews, we understood that the need to feel recognized and welcomed is primary for this age group, regardless the type of institution. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to investigate the library needs of fourteen-to-fifteen-year-olds. We have limited the investigation to the significance of libraries for the teenagers in their leisure time. Our focus is the public library with a particular reference to the plans for a new local public library with a youth profile in Malmö. With a departure point in the idea that young people’s use and view of libraries is to a large extent depending on factors such as social and cultural background and lifestyle, we chose to do a qualitative interview study with eight teenagers. The theoretical framework is informed by the work of lifestyle researcher Pierre Bourdieu, youth culture researcher Thomas Ziehe and Library and Information Science researchers Henrik Jochumsen and Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen. In the analysis part of our thesis, we use concepts such as identity, lifestyle and everyday barriers to discern how the young people view and use libraries. We have come to the conclusion that these teenagers’ views on libraries are strongly connected with reading, books and schoolwork. Some of them felt at home in a library but some of them were not really aware of how a library can be used. Factors such as lack of time and lifestyle create barriers that prevent the teenagers from visiting the library. We found that some of the teenagers at issue still want books to be in focus in a library. A few of them do not seem to have an explicit need to participate in culturally creative activities in a library. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this paper is to examine the youth library PUNKTmedis' work methods to adapt itself to the youth. Improved communication with this user group is the starting point for the new work methods. We have chosen to view the increased cooperation between the library and the youth as an adjustment to market demands. We have noticed the possible existence of an antagonism between on the one hand the traditional role of the public library of adult education and on the other hand an adjustment to the market demands. Adult education and the adjustment to market demands is seen as contributing to the image of PUNKTmedis. Our theoretical starting points are New Institutionalism and Microculture. New Institutionalism illustrates how organizational ideas from the market affect the identity of PUNKTmedis. Microculture illustrates how the employees and the youth describe the enterprise based on their actual experiences. For analysis, we have used three models. Anderson and Skot-Hansen’s analytical model for the local profile of the public library is used to accentuate the conception of PUNKTmedis of the librarians and the youth. For comprehension of the communication as a work method, the analytical models of Vestheim and Klasson for librarian-user communication are used. We have performed a case study on PUNKTmedis. We have performed four interviews with focus groups of youth and librarians and a private interview with a librarian. We have also performed observations. We have found that what constitutes the unique in the identity of PUNKTmedis is a combination of market adjustment, adult education and direct communication with youth as a workmethod. As a result the youth and the employees think of PUNKTmedis as a meeting place. / Uppsatsnivå: D

In 1911 Valfrid Palmgren founded the Children's Library of Stockholm, the very first in Sweden.She was a well-educated woman, who believed in social and educational equality for all.During a journey to the USA in 1907, she was deeply impressed by the public libraries, andshe put many of the public library ideas to use in the Children's Library of Stockholm. Palmgrenstrongly opposed to the Swedish libraries not allowing admission to children, since shefirmly believed that educating the people had to start with the children.Other reasons for opening a children's library were to give children an alternative to roamingthe streets, to give children a quiet place to read, to give an alternative to the cheap trashliterature that flooded the market and to teach the young ones how to extract information frombooks. Of great importance was that the library should be equal to all classes in society.In 1927 the children's library was taken over by the new public library of Stockholm.

The object of this paper is to examine the marketing of PUNKTmedis, a youth library. In order to do so we have looked at two different perspectives; how the library has marketed itself towards its target group, and how young people perceive what PUNKTmedis has to offer. The thesis’ foundation is a case study. Since the question at hand concerns the library’s intentions with and execution of its marketing efforts, as well as the target group’s opinion of them, the empirical data is based partially on an interview with the head of marketing at PUNKTmedis, and partially on a target group questionnaire. Two marketing theories, transaction theory and theory of relations, serve as frame of reference to the empirical data.The thesis establishes that PUNKTmedis has succeeded well at marketing in some aspects, not so well in others. The library’s strong points have been; creating an environment for youth and working hard at having fruitful dialogues with them. PUNKTmedis’ weakest point has been marketing in order to get new users to the library and the poll establishes that the few efforts that have been made have had little impact. / Uppsatsnivå: D

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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.

This two-year master thesis aims to examine how the Swedish Library Act affects the youth library PUNKTmedis and its librarians. Through a case study and by using a socio-cultural and a norm critical perspective, the study discusses three main questions: 1. How do the librarians view the new law and how do they apply its new directives at PUNKTmedis? 2. Have they made any changes to the planning and execution of reading promotion activities since the law came into force? What activities are there currently in the library and how are they considered to promote reading? How does the library work with a broader literary concept and a broader view of what reading is? 3. How do the librarians at PUNKTmedis work with the assignment to give special attention to children and young people to promote their reading, with their specific focus on girls who already read, especially since research and reports all too often lifts boys' reading as waning? How deeply rooted is the librarians’ commitment? The study finds that the effect the Library Act has on PUNKTmedis is that it inspires the work of the librarians, due to formulations such as a “broader literacy concept” and the ability to work with different formats regarding the media in the library. The library offers many different reading promotional activities due to this. But the library has not really changed their way work since the new law was enforced, which might be because they are a youth library and don’t need to be as traditional as a regular public library. In addition to that, the librarians feel that the law is rather weak. Regarding to how the librarians at PUNKTmedis work with the assignment to promote reading, the study finds that the librarians try to work towards the individual, but by having a profile towards girls who already like to read, they make them visible in contrast to the boy norm.