This master’s thesis aims to study the practice of separating popular genres of fiction from the rest of the fiction stock, often seen at public libraries. The method being used is critical discourse analysis according to Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional conception of discourse. The textual dimension of this analysis is the book shelf itself and the sociocultural practice is the everyday practice at a public library of supplying and mediating books to the visitors. The main research question is: In what ways do the alternative shelf arrangements affect the sociocultural practice of mediating fiction to library visitors and to what degree has this practice, with its non-discoursive elements, cleared the path for shelf arrangements to become a natural part of the libraries? The question is answered by the analysis of the text and its different modalities, and the analysis of the discoursive practice where the interest has been the production and the consumption of the text. These two aspects of discourse are then contextualized in the sociocultural dimension. The result shows the picture of a public library undergoing major changes. Strained economy and a shift in the habits of reading fiction have forced the libraries to take influence by the commercial book stores, preferably the on-line ones. This thesis shows that the shelf arrangements of fiction are a part of the development for the public libraries in a more individualised, commercial direction.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hb-20259 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Nilsson, Mattias, Sandell, Marie |
| Publisher | Högskolan i Borås, Institutionen Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap / Bibliotekshögskolan, Högskolan i Borås, Institutionen Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap / Bibliotekshögskolan, University of Borås/Swedish School of Library and Information Science (SSLIS) |
| 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 |
| Relation | Magisteruppsats i biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap vid institutionen Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap, 1654-0247 ; 2010:53 |
Page generated in 0.0029 seconds