Inside the mind of the public librarian : A study of the public librarians perceptions of promoting reading

During the last ten years, PIRLS and PISA have evaluated the reading levels of children and youth around the world, sometimes with grim results. The Swedish evaluation show a constant decline in reading comprehension, and Sweden, which from the start produced one of the best results in the world, have plummeted to the bottom of the ranks. The librarians of the public library have extensive experience of working with different projects engaging children and youth in reading, and so they have a major part to play in this matter. Consequently, the aim of this study is to examine and describe the different perceptions the public librarians have of these projects. Four research questions were formulated, each focusing on the perceptions regarding different aspects of the reading promotion projects. To answer these questions, a phenomenographical approach was adopted and complemented with semi-structured interviews as a means of obtaining empirical data. The results gathered from interviews with six different librarians show that the perceptions of the reading promotion projects share many similarities regarding the motivation, target group and purpose of the projects, but that the librarians relate differently to them. The conclusions drawn from this is, aside from the actual perceptions presented in the study, that the reading promotion projects are very much influenced by the librarians perceptions of them, as the librarians all have different demographic conditions to keep in mind, as well as different experiences of success rates with specific methods.Program: Bibliotekari