Urvalsproblematiken på folkbibliotek; en studie av etik och estetik kring urval av populärlitteratur och erotisk litteratur på sex svenska folkbibliotek

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to investigate issues concerning librarians’ view on three genres, (a) popular literature for women, (b) popular literature for men and (c) erotic literature, when choosing what to buy for their libraries. A qualitative method has been used and the empery consists of seven qualitative interviews with altogether eight librarians involved in choosing and buying literature. The theoretical framework is built on theories regarding concepts of hegemony and cultural hegemony; the male sex as norm; taste culture and quality. The results show that three of the libraries in the study have a written purchase policy and that the policies that exist are very general. Guiding elements when buying literature are quality, objectivity, diversity and availability. Many of the informants use the library service-lists when choosing what to buy, whilst others try to get away from this for economic reasons. The informants often get proposals from the library visitors. In the cases when they reject suggestions, it is often due to racist, offending, violent or narrow-minded content. All of the informants try to keep a quality perspective when choosing literature. Popular literature is bought as a consequence to high demand, but sometimes it is rejected on grounds of low quality. Earlier, several writers of the romance-genre have been rejected but are accepted nowadays. Popular literature for men is commonly bought and many of the informants confirm that they have been more liberal when buying this genre compared to love novels. Erotic literature was present in all libraries except one, and was bought on grounds of good reviews or for being classics. The study shows that erotic literature is not bought if it is regarded too violent, humiliating or of low quality. Humiliation and violence is accepted to a higher degree if it takes part in an erotic classic compared to a newer book of a less known author.