The starting point of this study is the crossover phenomenon and how the needs of adult readers of young adult fiction can be met in the library services. To investigate this, the main focus is on how public librarians perceive cross-reading adults, and in what ways literature promotion can facilitate or restrict adults' reading of young adult fiction. Six librarians were interviewed for this study, and the results were analyzed from a theoretical perspective that emphasizes literature promotion as an activity that can affect the perceptions, and actions of the recipients. The librarians express an open attitude to cross-reading in general, which creates favorable conditions for anyone who wishes to read across age boundaries. Furthermore, there are several situations where the librarians sometimes choose to recommend young adult literature to adults, or when fiction for adults and young adults is shelved together. However, the main part of the collection is still organized and shelved based on age categories. The study suggests that when literature is directed at a specific age group, there may be a restricting effect on those who do not fit into that age category, unlike in cases where literature is contextualized based on content. Literature may also be seen as more appropriate for certain age groups by its proximity or distance to other literature departments in the library. One conclusion drawn is that if the boundaries between different age groups are loosened, this may be advantageous for more than one group of library users.

Using a discourse analytical approach this thesis examines a selection of user reviews concerning Stephenie Meyer’s Young AdultNovel Twilight, published at LibraryThing 2009-07-01 – 2010-12-31. The aim of the study is to identify and shed light upon the conceptions relating to target audiences distinguishable in the reviews and todiscuss the possible consequences of categorizing fiction by age of theintended reader. In order to accomplish this, the study examines the conveyed images of Young Adult fiction and grown ups’ reading of Twilight.The thesis concludes that several discourses regarding Young Adult fiction are distinguishable in the material; some of which concern level, quality, and writing style, others thematic and contentbasedaspects, while one concerns fiction aimed specifically at girls. The thesis also concludes that grown ups’ reading of Twilight is sometimes portrayed as normal and sometimes as abnormal, and that some aspects of the book are made out to be problematic for an older audience while other aspects are made out to be less so.Furthermore the results suggest that discourses which associate a certain kind of content with a certain target group might have a restricting effect upon potential readers. / Program: Bibliotekarie

I approach the subject of adult readers of young adult fiction through an analytical framework influenced by Cultural Studies, implicating that young adult fiction is caught up in a system of distinction between popular literature and high literature. I contrast this with theories that suggest that there has been a loosening of this hierarchy and that they now coexist, even borrowing features from one another. I also examine questions of ideology, namely the ideology of mass culture, the ironical attitude and the ideology of populism. I also use Andreas Huyssen’s theory of mass culture as a woman, seeing as popular literature often tends to be categorized with feminine traits. The empirical data is gathered through interviews and blogs, and the result gives us a complex image, where we can see both a quite strict hierarchy between high and low, as well as a loosening of this hierarchy. The informants all use the ideology of mass culture and the ideology of populism, which shows that seemingly opposing ideologies can coexist within the same individual. The informants also impose the characterization of young adult fiction as a woman, and many of them try to raise its low status. The result also shows that a discourse of age is working, a discourse that limits what is appropriate for an adult to read, and within this discourse there is little room for young adult fiction. But the main conclusion however is that the hierarchical system at least is beginning to lose its firm hold, which gives the individual greater potential to combine high and low.

I den här uppsatsen undersöks den vuxna icke-läsarens plats i det kulturpolitiska arbetet rörande litteraturförmedling och läsfrämjande under åren 2011-2021. Läsforskningen och kulturpolitikens arbete med litteratur och läsning fokuserar idag till stora delar på gruppen barn och unga. För att bredda perspektiven på området riktas här därför fokus om mot en vuxen målgrupp, särskilt den grupp av vuxna som av olika skäl idag inte är aktiva läsare. För undersökningen har ett ramverk plockats ihop av verktyg från litteraturdidaktiken utanför skolforskningen, axiologin och litteratursociologin. Detta gör att uppsatsen angränsar till samtliga dessa forskningsområden. I uppsatsen undersöks dokument från de tidiga leden av de kulturpolitiska lagstiftningskedjorna. Dokumenten kommer ifrån Litteraturutredningen, arbetet med den nya bibliotekslagen samt Läsdelegationens arbete. Inledningsvis undersöks vilka värden man i dokumenten tillskriver litteratur och -läsning. Till exempel undersöks detta utifrån vilka argument för läsning som lyfts fram, samt hur man motiverar att kulturpolitiskt ägna sig åt befolkningens läsvanor med hänvisning till de värden litteraturen anses bidra med. Vidare undersöks vilka idéer och insatser för läsfrämjande arbete som beskrivs, med fokus på vuxna icke-läsare. Detta följs av en undersökning av vilka samhällsarenor och politiska områden som lyfts fram som relevanta för det litteraturförmedlande arbetet, vilket till delar hänger samman med det läsfärmjande arbetet. Sammanfattningsvis konstateras att den vuxna icke-läsaren till stor del saknas i det undersökta materialet. Huvudsakligen lyfts den vuxna fram som en viktig läsande förebild för barn och unga. Utifrån resultatet av undersökningen diskuteras i avslutningen avsaknaden av perspektiv på lässituationen och en tydligare bro mellan forskarsamhället och kulturpolitiken på detta område.