This thesis analyses how friendship between children is described in four Swedish childrens books, published in 1995-2001 and recommended in Barnbokstipset, which is used in libraries for recommending books. Today there are many childrens books that describe various aspects of childrens everyday lives and these books can have an influence on the children who read them. But I found that there has not been much research about how friendship is described in childrens books, although much has been written about the importance of social relationships with peers for childrens lives and development. I analyze the books one by one with the help of a number of questions and categories that I have constructed beforehand. In the analysis I apply Zick Rubins theory of two different stages in childrens understanding of friendship and William Corsaros theory of interactive space which deals with who is allowed to join in games and friendships and who is not allowed to do so and how this is played out.

BarnOPAC is a Swedish library interface for children. It was launched in public libraries in Sweden in 2001 and has now become a part of library software equipment in several public libraries. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate the interface BarnOPAC on the basis of the childrens perspective. The questions raised consider: how children experience and handle this interface, how library staff experience it and what viewpoints librarians have on childrens use of it. For this purpose we implemented a user study including eight children using the interface in a school library.

The purpose of this master-thesis in library and information studies is to investigate how different views on children´s literature show up in pedagogical work in preschool. The aim is also to study methods used in the pedagogical work with literature. Are there any connections between views and methods? Is any view predominant or are they used in combination? The question at issue is: "Are there any connections between different views on Childrens literature and pedagogical methods in preschool, and if so, how do they show?" The framework of theory is based on epistemological concepts viewing children´s literature by John Hultberg. In "Om humaniora, litteratur och tradition" he sorts out three strategies: the pragmatic, the traditional, and the emancipating.

The aim of this master thesis was to find out about librarians opinions of childrens libraries on the Internet, if it is a resource to reach children. Qualitative interviews were conducted with three librarians who had participated in the construction and development of childrens libraries on the Internet. IT and the Internet play an important role in childrens lives and children are using it to a greater extent. Libraries have begun to integrate IT and Internet into their services and are offering service on the Internet. The public library websites are usually for grown-ups and very few are directed to children.

The purpose of this study is to the increase knowledge and understanding of the meeting between children with Arabian as native language and a Swedish school library. The study is made as a qualitative investigation built on interviews with eight-year-olds and eleven-year-olds. Only the childrens needs and views are considered. The study is centred on twelve key issues and aims to document the childrens thoughts and views of reading as well as their reading habits and their use of the school library. Through the childrens own words their evaluation of reading and literature, their abilities to assimilate the text and their de facto use of the books can be known.

The purpose of this thesis is to draw a picture of pedagogical work at the senior level with a critical perspective of information and media. As a method for gathering material for the analysis, a case study was made with qualitative interviews together with documents that describe the case. Relevant literature for the subject has been used as an introduction and as a theoretical basis. The literature concerns subjects such as a childrens relation to media, the schools intructions, the role of the school library and some theories regarding learning. The conclusion is that the respondents focus on conversations and reflection regarding the sources of information and its use, and that the childrens adaption of the material is an important factor in teaching.

The purpose of this Masters thesis is to accomplish an understanding for childrens librarians purchases of juvenile books. Two main questions are to be answered: - Which considerations do childrens librarians do when buying juvenile books and which goals and motives are behind their purchases? - What do childrens librarians think that their knowledge and competence consists of and how is that knowledge useful when buying juvenile books? To answer the questions qualitative interviews with five childrens librarians have been carried out. The material has been analyzed through a theoretical construction consisting of theories about collection development, book selection and quality judgments. The conception tacit knowledge silent knowledge from Michael Polanyi has also been used for interpretation.

This Masters thesis concerns how library and preschool can cooperate in supporting childrens language development and especially that of bilingual children. We have investigated how librarians and preschool teachers different competences can complement each other to gain the best result in work with childrens language development. This study is based on qualitative interviews with four librarians and three preschool teachers. The answers from them have been analysed according to different categories. Our results show that both librarians and preschool teachers think that bilingual children need extra support and that it takes longer to learn two languages.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to investigate the factors that contribute to childrens feelings of enjoyment and wellbeing while reading pleasure reading. The research is founded on qualitative interviews with eight children aged between 9 and 12 years. In the review of the literature different theories of reading experiences are examined and the theory of flow is used to analyse and interpret childrens statements of reading experiences. The theory of flow has not been developed to investigate reading but aims to describe and explain when and how people experience happiness and joy. The results of this study reveal that many different factors influence childrens reading.

AbstractReading books to children is often an integral part in preschool activities. The purpose of thisstudy is to investigate how educators think about the educational function of literature inpreschool activities. I have in my study used qualitative interviews with active educators andobservations to answer my questions about why the educator reads to the children, how theeducator thinks about the choice of literature and if the literature can contribute to thechildrens development and if so, how. The knowledge- and research background presentsliterature and previous research done on the subject. The results of my study shows that theeducators have many thoughts about the importance of literature in preschool.

The aim of this masters thesis is to investigate how childrens librarians deal with gender issues in their work when acquiring and mediating books to children, and how reviews in Bibliotekstjänsts Sambindning can be of help in this aspect. The thesis focuses on children between 6 and 12 years of age and their reading of fiction. Four interviews with childrens librarians and an examination of reviews in Sambindningen have been carried out. The reviews were examined both by finding out with what frequency gender issues are dealt with and by studying 20 childrens books from a gender perspective, comparing my judgement with the one they got in the reviews. The examination of Sambindningen showed that the reviews therein only sporadically bring up gender issues.

According to the Läroplan för förskolan, Lpfö 98, are pre-schools suppose to introduce the written language and embrace childrens curiosity about the ability to communicate with the written language. The purpose with this research is therefor to study the attitudes of pre-school teachers towards three- to five years olds writing and also to shred some light over which role teachers and other adults have when children learn to write. The earlier research contains different theories about how children in pre-schools conquer the written language and the teachers role in this process. Teachers attitudes towards and thoughts about childrens early writing could be made visible through interviews with teachers who all currently work at pre-schools. The results indicate that pre-school teachers have different attitudes towards childrens early attempts to write.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to analyse school librarians and teachers perspective of childrens reading and reading progress, the impact of informational texts on childrens reading and how school librarians and teachers work/teach to improve their students understanding of informational texts. We also intend to study what consequences school librarians and teachers believe that childrens reduced understanding of informational texts can have in the long run and how this could be improved. The theories applied encompass different literature-pedagogical strategies, theories about reading purpose and direction of the reading process together with a theory that shows the school librarys function in the education. The empirical material has been collected through interviews with one school librarian and one teacher at three different schools. The material has then been analysed and interpreted from theories and earlier research.

The purpose of this study is to examine how four educators in two different departments at two different preschools in Stockholm, selects children's literature in preschool and how literature is used in the activities and how much influence children have in the choice of literature. Based on qualitative interviews as a method we have interviewed pedagogues to get answers to our questions. We will also interview some children to find out how involved they are in the purchase of literature on the departments we examined. We consider the social cultural perspective to be a well rounded starting point for our survey, because the theory gives us the opportunity to study how the interaction and meetings between educators and children develop for each reading encounter. And through the analysis a thorough display between educators and children towards literature will be shown.

The aim of this master thesis is to obtain a greater understanding of childrens choice of favourite books, insight in their reading experiences and their thoughts about the reading of these books. We also want to investigate if, and if so, how childrens librarians obtain knowledge of the childrens reading preferences and reading experiences and how they use this knowledge in their work to stimulate childrens reading. To reach our aim we have been carrying out quantitative interviews with six children aged nine to ten years and three childrens librarians working in public libraries. As a theoretical starting point we use the reader-oriented theory and Chambers Reading circle, which states that support from adults is the most important factor in the childs reading process. The empirical results are linked to theories and earlier research and are analysed under four different themes.