Litteratur på många språk : utbud, urval och delaktighet på folkbiblioteken i tre kommuner i Skåne

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this master’s thesis is to examine how multilingual literature is acquired by public libraries in three municipalities of varying sizes in Skåne: what channels are used for purchase, what the selection process is based on and whether the target population is involved in the process. It also looks to explore the extent to which the professional librarians are representative of the population at large. To find this out a qualitative study was conducted consisting of interviews with six librarians working in four public libraries in the above mentioned municipalities. What the localities have in common is that they all have a relatively high population with foreign heritage. The theoretical framework used has its roots in critical theory, leading on to deconstructionism and postcolonialism through the work of Gayatri Chakavorty Spivak and Edward Said. Other relevant concepts that are explored include multiculturalism and transnationality. The results of the study reveal a number of areas in which there is scope for improvement. Having access to a greater number of suppliers would allow the libraries to build more varied collections. The majority of the examined libraries analyze quantitative statistics, but the information that can be extracted from these is limited and can be misleading. It also leads to the librarians having to make assumptions about people based purely on their country of origin, which is problematic. There is a lack of diversity within the groups of librarians who work with this type of literature and insufficient language skills have proven to be an issue, both in acquiring literature and in evaluating its content. By working towards greater inclusion of the target population in developing the collections, as well as diversifying the workforce, the libraries could do away with some of the issues mentioned. This could also lead to the collections being more relevant and responsive to the needs of the people that the libraries are trying to serve. Furthermore, it would allow the individuals who belong to the target population to be given agency to impact the collections, rather than the libraries working in ways in which the librarians take on the role of experts on a population that they, in reality, know little about.