Gender aspects in the work of children’s librarians : What are their attitudes concerning gender issues in mediation?

This Master’s Thesis aims to examine the attitudes concerning gender issues among children’s librarians. The main purpose is to examine what their views on the subject are, and if they consider gender issues when acquiring and mediating books. We are also interested in their opinions about gender stereotyping in children’s books. We have chosen to interview eight children’s librarians. This is our primary method, which we will combine with theories on gender and reading. The interviews showed that the biggest gender issue in general is the predominance of female librarians. Other than that there were few discussions on the subject at the libraries. The role as mediator was more reflected upon. The general view was that there is a delicate balance between too much interference and too little. The librarians consider promoting the children’s interest in reading to be their greatest concern, and this means gender issues might be overlooked. Their greatest influence is achieved through their choice of which books to acquire, and how they promote these. There are differing opinions on gender stereotyping in books among the librarians. The stereotypes can facilitate reading comprehension, as the children easily recognise the characters and identify with them. They can also limitate the child’s frame of reference