Being treated as an individual : A qualitative study from a user's perspective on the library for children and young people at Sahlgrenska university hospital

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the library for children and young people at Sahlgrenska university hospital in Sweden from a salutogenic perspective. The sociologist Aaron Antonovsky states that human health is benefited by the salutogenic perspective, since it stimulates our sense ofcoherence.The theoretical departure point is sense-making theory. The theory states that in order to move through life, humans are dependent on a sensemaking process. To make sense of our current situation, we need information. What kind of information depends on the individual and its context. Therefore Dervin proposes a users perspective for studies focusing on users interaction with information-systems – libraries included. Accordingly my methods are inspired by sense-making methodology.The investigation is a user study based on five qualitative interviews with parents whose children were being treated at the hospital. The interviews are analyzed using the sense-making process metaphor. The result indicates that the library might help users to make sense of their situation. Given that there is a point of contact between sense-making and the salutogenic perspective, the result might also indicate that the library helps stimulate the users sense of coherence. The library is used by children as well as parents. They usethe library in a way similar to how libraries are normally used by families withchildren. This seems to be what the users appreciate; a normal everyday activityto counter the stress and worries of going through treatments.Program: Bibliotekari