Ungdomar om bibliotek
The aim of the thesis is to study young peoples, defined as boys and girls between 14 and 16 years old, attitudes to library in two municipalities. Notwithstanding the fact that young people, and children, often is given priority in library work, the reality often seems to be another. Attitudes are founded primarily in childhood and therefore it is of great importance to examine how young people regard libraries. Besides studying former research about young people and libraries that has been performed on library and information science, we also have been using concepts and theories from social science. We give a brief outline of youth research and its development and look at official records and legislation to see if and in what context young people are mentioned. Our empirical data consists of an opinion poll made by using a questionnaire which was carried out in two senior level schools in two municipalities. The result of our study is that most of the young people consider libraries important and their priorities are books and computers. A remarkable high percentage of them rarely or ever visit the library. The interior is vitally important for how the young people experience the library in its entirety. Furthermore, the stock of media is not fulfilling their desires and needs. Our conclusion is that attitudes to a great extent are acquired by the actual experience. This is formed by the structural relationship between youth culture and the established culture and the fact that young people and adults belong to different generations. To create a dialogue built on mutual understanding and respect between those who work in libraries and young people is considered a necessity to change the negative attitudes. Reference groups are seen as an effective tool to accomplish this.