This study deals with the question of quality in literature, more specifically what Swedish librarians are supposed to make of the concept. There seems to exist a tension in everyday work for librarians: on the one hand you are supposed to provide the kind of books people ask for, on the other, it is your job, explicitly stated in the Swedish Library Act (SFS 2013:801, §6), to ensure ”quality” and ”versatility” in the library’s supply of books. The present study aims to shed light on how this problem is tackled by exploring articles in the journal Biblioteksbladet. By focusing on articles from the years 1979-1985 and 2009-2020 respectively, a historical comparison is being made. In examining the articles, theory concerning aesthetic value formulated by Hugo A. Meynell, as well as theory dealing with the benefits of reading by Magnus Persson, is put into work. The investigation of the articles in question shows fairly clear that in the 80s a sterner, almost patronizing attitude towards reading was common: some books are worth reading and some are not, period. The newer articles, by contrast, reflects an attitude among librarians best described as giving the customers what they want. These results are put into perspective by an overview of changes in Swedish cultural policy from the 70s and onwards. The main point derived from this overview is that the strong emphasis of the commercial forces as something purely negative, expressed in the cultural policy of the 70s, is somewhat loosened up in later years. This change is reflected in the examined articles.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-101646 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Ljungström, Gustaf |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper (KV) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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