With the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in mind : A comparative study of the perspectives of Irish and Swedish children's librarians.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine how five childrens librarians in Ireland and five in Sweden interpret and implement the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in public libraries. This study is hermeneutic. Using a qualitative method consisting of ten interviews with childrens librarians and structural factors such as; library policies and laws; together with an insight into Irelands political, social and economical history and the historical development of childrens public libraries in Sweden and Ireland, has enabled us to create an understanding for the interviewees statements. Anthony Giddens structuration theory has been used for the analysis, helping us to determine how the duality between the structure, the actors and their action effect the interpretation and implementation of the Convention in librarian work. The result of the analysis clearly shows that in comparison to Irish librarians, the Swedish interviewees are more aware and have a better understanding of the Convention and how to put it into practice. The Convention has played quite an important role both on a national and local level in Sweden. Education for Swedish librarians has also been available. In Ireland the Convention has recently been brought to attention on a national level. Although most of the Irish interviewees would not consider themselves working with the Convention, their work is often in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.Uppsatsnivå: