The purpose of this study is to carry out a follow-up study of the reading stimulating project Arts in Reading. The project was in progress between the years 2007 to 2009 in Sweden and nearly 80 librarians from 57 public libraries participated. The aim of the project was to initiate new methods fot how to stimulate reading for children. The promoters of the project wanted to initiate the use of new art forms in the work for reading promotion, encourage more collaboration with new actors in the culture area, and co-operate more with the children.The aim of the present study is to investigate to which extent Arts in Reading really succeeded in establishing its goals, whether new methods were brought about, and how this work was done. Another aim is to find out how librarians in public libraries work to develop children's reading.The theoretical framework is based on Ragnhild Söderbergh's term inculturation, Elisabeth Björklund's research on how children acquire literacy, and Lev S.

The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate four children?s librarians? literature view and their collaboration with pre-schools. My main question at issue is ?What literature view do children?s librarians in this thesis have and how does this reflect their collaboration with pre-schools??. Another purpose is to study the canon process in relation to children?s libraries and pre-schools.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to investigate the factors of children?s voluntarily reading in their spare time. We also want to know if the children choose non-fiction books for their voluntarily reading. The method as well as the empirical basis of this study is qualitative, with interviews of twenty-eight children in ages between 9 and 12 years. We conducted nine interviews with 3?4 children in each group.

In this exam paper, a text analysis has been conducted in the context of ethnicity, examining the most popular library books borrowed by children between the ages of 9-12 years old. The bookshave been selected at two different libraries, located in two different socioeconomic areas. The aim is to examine whether ethnicity plays a role in the choice and content of literature in the two areas. The analysis takes into account class, sex and gender, all of which combine in the context of ethnicity. The framework within which I have based my questions are; In the context of ethnicity, is there a difference in the content of the most borrowed children's books at the two libraries located in areas of diverse socioeconomic background, is the choice of literature affected by the area in which library visitors live and is the content of the most borrowed books specific to what children is each particular area can identify with ? Having analysed the most popular books at both libraries, it has been concluded that there are differences in the two areas when it comes to children's choice of literature.

The aim of this masters thesis is to examine to what extent series books for children and youth are included in the acquisitions of public libraries. It also examines which needs series books fulfil among a group of 13-15 year old children. The main question of this thesis was: To what extent do libraries provide series books for children and youth? An inquiry investigation showed that a majority of the libraries in Sweden provide these books. The main reason to provide the books was that the demand is large.

The aim of this master?s thesis is to examine libraries which combine the functions of school- and public library and to evaluate the staff?s experience and attitude towards a library profile with the emphasis on children and youth. The purpose of the study is also to examine how the libraries work with several tasks and functions within different target groups with different needs.With new institutionalism and Scandinavian institutional theory the thesis examine the library as an organization and what influences the construction. With a model that describes how the library constitutes four different rooms in the society I investigate the different functions.The methodology is qualitative with interviews of five persons of the staff, four librarians and one library assistant. The study examines how the staff that works at two libraries under similar conditions experiences their tasks.

The aim of the paper is to examine how public libraries can develop their services for children with ethnic minority backgrounds as a user group. This is achieved through studying the conditions for library services provided for children aged 9-12 in this group by public libraries in suburbs densely populated with ethnic minorities. The paper uses both a literature review and empirical research on the community libraries in Rinkeby and Rosengård as well as the town library in Lund. Services potentially available to these groups are analysed and discussed in the later chapters. The overall conclusion is that those services provided for ethnic minority children are largely the same as those provided for in children library services in general.

The aim of this two years master's thesis is to examine public librarians? views of their pedagogical role towards school children, and to illustrate the relationship between public libraries and schools as a background for the role of the public librarians. The theoretical framework is Carol Cullier Kuhlthau?s theory of the roles of librarians as mediators in reference work (Levels of Mediation) and in education (Levels of Education). The main question of the study is: How do public librarians view their pedagogical role towards elementary school pupils and high school students? Related questions regarding the use of the public library for school purposes, the communication and cooperation between the public library and the schools, the difference between public libraries and school libraries and the librarians? view of pedagogical work are also made.The method used is qualitative interviews.

The purpose of this study is to find out, explore and see how children with neuropsychiatric problems like ADHD/DAMP are portrayed and treated in five fictional children?s books written by writers who all are related to ADHD issues, except for one writer.I have done a text analysis performed on five children?s books which can be found in libraries in most of the libraries in Sweden. The analysis shows varying results between the five books followed by a general conclusion about how children with concentration problems are being presented in these chosen children's literature. The main problematic of this study is to examine how these characters are being represented and treated within the scopes of school, family relations and how ADHD/DAMP symptoms are portrayed. This study focuses on analysing how the actual ADHD/DAMP behaviour is being reflected and better understanding for the reader to understand the symptoms of ADHD.Another fact is what kind of relations these children with neuropsychiatric dysfunctions are portrayed when facing with other persons, such as family and friends and how ADHD/DAMP is affecting them daily basis.

In an international perspective the Russian children s library is a unique institution, being solely committed to children up to 14 years of age. In Russia of today it is, however, being exposed to hard pressure as the economical and social conditions have changed dramatically since the collapse of the USSR. My interest lies in examining this change of living conditions for the children s libraries and how this in turn affect their work and role in the present state. In order to view this change in a longer perspective, I compare the situation for children s libraries during the time of communist regime with that of today using documents about and from children s libraries. I have studied its legal position and conditions, financial and political state, and how the modern society affects children and youth, especially their daily cultural life.

The objective of this thesis is to explore the prerequisites for children?s participation in the activities of the public library as expressed by six children?s librarians. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were carried out to investigate how the librarians interpreted the concept of participation and viewed power issues between children and adults. Further, difficulties and possibilities experienced in working with children?s participation and manifestations of children?s participation in everyday library work were also investigated.

The aim of this masters thesis is to examine how some childrens librarians in public libraries reason about Wahlströms series books. During the 1970s, there was a discussion about the series books, and the general meaning was, among other things, that the books should not be available at libraries. Therefore, we also want to study if the arguments for and against the series books presented today are any different than those presented in the 1970s. For this examination, two methods have been used. We have done qualitative interviews with nine childrens librarians, and in order to find the arguments presented in the 1970s, we have studied the literature regarding the mentioned discussion.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to investigate what kinds of writing activities that are offered to children and young people in Sweden and if, how and why libraries are involved with them. The issues illuminated in this thesis are how children and youth can be motivated and advance in their writing, what the purpose of writing activities can be, and if writing activities can be suitable as a part of the work in libraries. The theory is based on a study with writing youth made by Catharina Nyström. In order to study the issues six interviews have been completed with persons who all have played a part in writing activities for children and youth.

The aim of this study is to look at censorship and attempted censorship of books about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual (GLBT) people in public libraries in the USA. People from the public can submit formal challenges to a book at the library when they find the material offensive which can lead to those books being taken away from the library shelves. The questions asked are why GLBT- literature is being challenged, and sometimes banned, and how do the libraries deal with the challenges to the books.It is nowadays the people from the public, rather than the government or the librarians that are behind many cases of removal of books with homosexual themes. The study presents some of the fictional GLBT- literature that has been cause for much controversy in the USA. All the five examples mentioned are children?s books concerning GLBT- themes and are among the most challenged books in American libraries in the past twenty years.

The aim of this thesis is to analyze children?s picture books regarding whether and in what form gender stereotypes can be seen in these. The purpose is also to evaluate whether the findings correlate to the different regulatory documents libraries have to abide to.       The study comprises five books, who are part of a selection of books especially chosen by Uppsala City Library to be used by primary school children aged 6-9. The method used is the study of text as well as illustrations, as the theory of this thesis is that the two cannot be separated, but has to be seen a unit. Other theories used in the analysis include Nikolajeva?s schedule of male/female properties and theories on gender.      The result of the study shows that gender stereotypes are in majority regarding the characters in the books, but that the opposite also exists.