The Librarian : an overstrung bibliophile? A comparative qualitative content analysis of the librarian in Swedish fiction, 1945-2009

The study is based on three Swedish novels published in 1945,1956 and 1964, and three Swedish novels published in 1998, 2008and 2009. The aim has been to investigate how librarians are portrayed in Swedish literature, as well as a comparison between the older and the newer literature. What librarian images are portrayed in the analyzed literature? Is the portrayal mostly positive, negative or neutral? Are there any clear differences in how librarians portrayed in newer and older Swedish fiction? If so, what are they? The method used has been qualitative content analysis where relevant paragraphs have been coded and divided them into categories of appearance, personality, and professional identity. The conclusion is that the librarian is often portrayed as an intellectual and somewhat high-strung bibliophile. There has been examples of librarian as colorless, middle-aged, old fashioned, nervous, sensitive, high-strung, neurotic and condescending to library visitors. Overall, the picture is quite negative. However, there are exceptions; two of the portrayed librarians have been portrayed as attractive and, for its time, modern. The fictional librarian is often portrayed as a person who feels a great need to try to get other people to read. There is no clear difference in how the librarians are portrayed in the new or old literature.Program: Bibliotekari