The public librarians role in relation to immigrants : The librarian’s perspective

This study is about the public librarians role in relation to immigrants from the librarian’s perspective. A lot of immigrants live in Sweden and use the public library frequently, however it is uncertain what the public librarians role is in relation to immigrant users. The purpose of this study is to clarify the public librarian’s relation to immigrants. Three questions are used to understand the purpose: What roles do public librarians think they have in relation to immigrants in municipalities with a high proportion of immigrants? What are the roles of public librarians in the integration process? What are the functions of the library for immigrants? Seven public librarians have been interviewed and two theories have been used to analyze the interviews. The four spaces by Jochumsen, Hvenegaard Rasmussen and Skot-Hansen and the integration model by Ager and Strang. The conclusion of this study is that the public librarians have a pedagogical role, a social role and a welcoming role. Functions of the library are as a learning space, meeting space, inspiration space and performative space. A new role and a new function have also been found, which are the broadened role and the library as a citizen's office