Why do the big ones have to decide everything? : A study on children’s participation at the public library from the perspective of the child librarian

A vivid democracy requires participation from those who live in it, including children. Unlike adults, children have special laws and regulations to ensure them their democratic rights. Librarians’ decision on what to buy makes an impact to someone else, which puts the librarian in a hegemonic position. Therefore, the purpose of this bachelor thesis is to, out of the child librarian’s perspective, view children’s participation at the public library in the matter of purchasing literature. The research questions examine the process of purchasing, how the children’s participation is apparent in it and also in the librarian’s work. The aim for this study is not to problematize the purpose nationwide, but simply to look into it in a smaller selection. Therefore the interviews have been limited to two and have been conducted with children’s librarians who operate in similar contexts. The results have been analyzed out of the theories concerning the librarian profession, the aspects of hegemony and participation using sense interpretation as an analysis. The results have shown that children’s participation is seen as important by the librarians but not always easy to implement. Also, they acknowledge the fact that publishing houses do have the power to decide what to release and not. As a link between politicians, the society and the publishers, the librarian is placed in an intermediate position which demands a great deal of competence. Furthermore, working on this study has shown that research on children’s participation from the children’s own perspective is needed