This essay aims to examine how science fiction literature is supported and made available for readers at four public libraries. Each library has its own opinion of what a public library’s role in society is, and that affects how literature acquisition and media exposure is done at that particular library. To explore this, the author uses a modified version of Elzinga and Andersson’s theory of traditionalism, pragmatism and emancipationism. The research questions are: 1. What factors lie behind acquisition of science fiction literature? 2. How do the public libraries in question make science fiction literature available to its users? 3. Many public libraries use specific tools when classifying literature. How much are they used at the libraries in question? 4. What do the libraries in question do in order to promote science fiction literature? The methods used are interviews, text studies and observations. The author finds that the libraries are mostly driven by a pragmatic view of the role of the library, buying literature requested by the library users and relying on popularity and trends when displaying media. There is hardly any evidence of emancipationism to be found, but there are some traditionalist influences. Due to lack of popularity, science fiction books are not acquired as often as other, more popular, fiction. Science fiction and fantasy are often put on specific shelves, apart from other fiction. It is also common that those genres are placed in the part of the library where literature for young people is put. One of the libraries promotes these genres in a specific section of their web page, and another one have previously had exhibitions on science fiction. Apart from that, science fiction is rarely promoted as a genre, but is treated as a part of other literature when being promoted. All libraries use specific tools, such as BURK-sök, for classifying literature. They do, however, make their own classifications occasionally.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hb-19635 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Larsson, Jenna |
| Publisher | 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 ; 2009:63 |
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