"If it's written then it's written" : A qualitative study about librarians viewpoint on children's literature that has been understood as racialist

In the autumn of 2012 a debate started in Swedish media about racial stereotypes and content in children's literature. Some voices wanted to weed out titles such as Tintin i Kongo (Tintin in the Congo) and the character Lilla hjärtat from Liten Skär och alla Brokiga (Little Pink & Brokiga), while others claimed that it was against our freedom of speech. In this essay I intend to interview librarians to find out if and how the debate has affected their work with purchase and weeding. I will also analyze their purchase policy to find out if it mentions racism and how the policies are applied in practice. As theory I'm using Strömbergs theory regarding three aspects of racism and Klassons theory about three different kinds of librarian roles. Do the librarians take the guardian role, the dialog role or the marketing model?Program: Bibliotekari