Bilder av bibliotekarier i dagspressen
The aim of this essay was to investigate what images are conveyed through Swedish daily press and to discuss the possible consequences of these images for librarians and users of the library. What discourses can be identified in the material; how are librarians and their profession described in the press; what attitude can be detected towards librarians and in what contexts are librarians discussed, are questions that were asked. Discourse analysis was used as theory and method. A discourse can be understood as a certain way of talking about and understanding the world. 55 articles from the period of January 1^st 2002 to March 7^th 2003 were analysed with the help of a model. The investigated articles revealed a varied result. Different descriptions of the librarian as a person and his or her occupation were given. For instance, librarians are said to be terrifically good, whispering and pedantic; the work is said to be stressful and low-paid. Various assignments were presented, such as handling books and information, reference work and storytelling. Both negative and positive portrayals were made of librarians. Only four of the analysed articles can be said to have librarians as their main topic. Therefore, the articles focus on other subjects, which for instance are libraries, radio- and TV programmes and music artists. Five discourses have been identified from the material, which respectively include the idea that librarians are closely linked to books or information, that they are indispensable and modest and that they are women. Possible consequences of the identified images, for users of the library, could be that negative descriptions are transferred to the users; that men do not find it attractive to work as a librarian, since the work is said to be a profession for women. One of the discourses about books and information could supersede the other, since in relation to each other, they are placed antagonistically. In my opinion it will probably be the discourse about information that supersedes the other.