Children’s librarian’s perspectives on children’s reading : A comparative study between Sweden and Lithuania

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to investigate children’s librarian’s perspectives on children’s literature and reading of fiction books. This is a comparative study of Swedish and Lithuanian librarians. The main questions to be answered are how children’s librararians at public libraries motivate their selection and purchase of fiction for children and what kind of considerations there are behind the purchases. The thesis is based on four qualitative interwiews with children’s librarians in Sweden and Lithuania. The theoretical perspective of the thesis is based on a model of the three different approaches to children’s literature and reading - the pragmatic, the traditional and the emancipated. As a result we can see that all informants to a greater or less extent apply all of the pragmatic, the traditional or the emancipated views on children’s reading in selection and purchase of books, depending on several circumstances. Still, we can see that priority has been given to the emancipated and the pragmatic approach by the Swedish librarians, while the Lithuanian librarians give priority to the traditional approach.Program: Bibliotekari