Att bygga representativa bestånd : En undersökning kring folkbibliotek, medieplanering och representation i bibliotekets samlingar

Sammanfattning: This bachelor's thesis purpose is to investigate how librarians think about the acquisitions of material to the library and to investigate the routines they follow in their work with the libraries collections. We also aim to investigate whether or not they think about building broad and balanced collections that represents all members of society. The questions asked are: do the librarians consciously work toward building a collection that offers something for everybody? Which groups of people do the librarians prioritize in their work with the library’s collection? Do librarians actively reflect about the content of the material they acquire? Our theoretical framework consists of a cultural science theory by Stuart Hall that claims that the discourse about objects construct how we think about the object and how we behave towards the object. The method used in this study to collect empirical data is qualitative interviews where six librarians who worked with acquisition in the library answered questions about their work regarding how they build the library’s collection. The study shows that the librarians actively work to build broad and balanced collections, however, they do not think about representation in the context of Stuart Hall. They think more practically about giving their patrons the tools to use the library and to integrate into society, rather than thinking about including them in the contents of the literature in the library’s collection. The librarians all believe that reading fiction affects the one reading it, but they are hesitant to govern the content in the literature they acquire to the library, because they feel this would violate the democratic purpose of libraries.