Skolbibliotekscentraler ? en undersökning av verksamhet och funktion
The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine and present the programmes and activities of school library centres in order to see what functions (purposes) they can fulfil in a municipality and also if and how they can contribute to school library development. In order to fulfil my purpose I have made qualitative interviews with five librarians from school library centres. The theoretical framework is primarily based on David Loertscher?s. I have designed six functions on the basis of Loertscher?s theories and investigated which functions school library centres have got and how they are performed. The result of the study shows that main activity of school library centres consists of the media complimentary function and the service function usually performed as a bookpool or a media reserve. The supportive and coordinative functions are becoming more and more important in helping school libraries to develop. The pedagogical function and the evolutionary function varies a lot between different school library centres, in size and direction.I have also made a SWOT-analysis to find factors that works as opportunities or hindrances for development. The major finding is that political ruling is the most decisive factor.Finally theories in Louise Limberg?s research overview The pedagogical role of school libraries are used when I analyse if school library centres contribute to school library development. The main conclusions are that school library centres can contribute to school library development in many ways both directly through education for librarians/teachers/school-leaders but also indirectly through for example lobbying.