"A librarian sooner or later finds the fairy tale" the status of fairy tales at four libraries

The object of this master thesis was to examine the significance of fairy tales for children and the extent which children today are able to share fairy tales through the activity of the libraries. The main question was: how current were fairy tales at the investigated libraries activity for children and how current were fairy tales in todays book publication? The qualitative methods used were in the form of interviews, statistics and source studies. The theoretical literature in this thesis described the folkloristic context of the fairy tales. There was also a psychological and a pedagogical view of the possibility of the fairy tales. The result of the study showed a consciousness among the interviewed librarians about fairy tales and its possibilities. The interviewed librarians mean that the universal in the fairy tales were one of its benefits. The fairy tales gave many opportunities for identification. Through the fairy tales the children developed empathy. A cultural heritage mediated through fairy tales. The fairy tales possessed a therapeutic function, which should bring about a carefulness with the use of them. Fairy tales were current at three of the four investigated libraries. The publication of fairy tales was, according to the author, relatively small. Although editions for the youngest children were more frequent.Uppsatsnivå: