The gate to understanding : Swedish libraries and immigrants

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the special services for immigrants which are offered by Swedish libraries on their different levels regional, local and school as well as immigrants experiences of the library services and how these services and experiences conduct themselves to the development of the harmonic multicultural society. The methods used were interpreting reflexive interviews with immigrants and librarians. The guiding theory in this study was a three-phase model by Gillis Herlitz according to which a newcomer goes through three stages in an adaptation period. Phase 1 is a positive honeymoon phase, that later is replaced by phase 2, a critical disappointment period, which then ideally should be resolved in phase 3, where the individual reaches a balancing stage of cultural adaptation. The results of my observations indicate that the performances of the different libraries seem to operate in a way that corresponds to the different phases in this model. The approach of the local library is more individual and helpful for those immigrants, who find themselves in the disappointment phase, whereas the activities of the regional library, with its wider possibilities, are suitable for the balancing phase when the immigrants need for information is of more general nature. The school library has educational features and can direct its attention at helping the immigrants who stay too long in the disappointment phase to find the way out. As is argued in this paper, it can, in many ways, be a task for libraries, to help immigrants overcome the difficult adaptation period.Uppsatsnivå: