Does reading aloud requires librarian competence? : Opportunitiesand barriers to cooperation between libraries and daily activities.

The aim of this thesis is to find out whether there is anycollaboration between libraries and daily activity-centres inScania and how librarians and care staff use literature towardspersons with, for example, intellectual disabilities. Furthermorethe aim is to examine if there are any views on how cooperationbetween the organizations could be developed.The method used is web surveys with mainly open endedquestions sent to both librarians and care workers in dailyactivity-centres.The study shows that most collaboration today is concerned withthe participants in the daily activities performing tasks at thelibraries. Many of the librarians also states that they offer bookdeposits. A few libraries occasionally offers reading aloudactivitiesfor the user group. Most of the daily activity-centres inthe study have groups that visit the library regularly. There seemsto be an interest for closer cooperation but lack of resources isregarded by the librarians as the main obstacle.Regarding the purpose of reading aloud for the user group itseems as if both professional categories see it as dominantly apleasant experience for the participants in the daily activities. Thecare workers also stress aloud reading as pastime and reading as ameans to create community. Librarians too stresses the view ofpastime. An important difference is that reading as a way offinding out facts seems to be much more important to the careworkers while the librarians much stronger press the view ofreading as a form of therapy