Exhibitions and silent pedagogy in the public library

The purpose of this master thesis is to investigate whether exhibitions and silent pedagogy can be used to develop more inspiring environments in the public library. Silent pedagogy is a term from the field of museum education describing the silent communication with visitors that takes place in exhibitions through introduction and orientation, layout and installation, as well as signage. In the 1980s, articles in a Swedish library magazine discussed the pedagogical importance of library exhibits and how they make the patrons aware of the library’s resources. This led us to museum education and a desire to investigate whether its theories were transferrable to the library context. Interviews were conducted with librarians and museum educators. The results were analyzed in relation to “the contextual model of learning” and the constructivist museum, which are two models concerning learning at the museum. We were able to apply the models and the language of museum education to the library context. The librarians had pedagogical intentions, but they were not pronounced since they did not have a language that provided a means to adequately express it. Our investigation shows that the term silent pedagogy can be useful also in the library, in exhibitions as well as in the library as a whole.Uppsatsnivå: