Without the library, its boring Interaction between a group of multilingual children and three libraries

The aim of this study is to examine the interaction between a group of multilingual, twelve-year-old children, and three libraries. The children live in a suburb of a larger city. The three libraries are their school-library, the library in their suburb and the main library in the city. We have examined if and how the children use the libraries, what the libraries mean to them in their daily life and what their possibilities are when it comes to participate in and influence activities and collections at the libraries. We have pursued qualitative interviews with sixteen children in grade six and three librarians, working with multilingual children at the three libraries. In order to illustrate how the children use the libraries, we have utilized Marianne Andersons and Dorte Skot-Hansens model of four different functions, which libraries can have for their users Det lokale bibliotek, 1994. We have taken into consideration the childrens experiences of and possibilities to participate at the libraries, and how the librarians work with multilingual children within the age group of 10 -13. We have also studied the interaction between the children and the libraries, from an intersectional point of view, focusing on power-aspects of gender, multilingualness and age. The children find libraries important, and their needs and interests can be found in all areas of Andersons and Skot-Hansens model. The children express an interest in being able to participate in decision-making at the libraries. The childrens gender, multilingualness and age influence their needs as well as their possibilities to fulfil these.Uppsatsnivå: