"That's what makes us children's librarians" : A study of children's librarians own reading as a tool for reading promotion in public libraries

This bachelor’s thesis is centered around children’s librarians’ own reading of children's literature and how they experience their reading as a work tool for reading promotion towards children in public libraries. The thesis also explores how the children’s librarians perceive the reading as a part of their professional competence. To put the study in a societal context I have examined parts of three public policy documents about reading and reading promotion. The methods used to answer the research questions are qualitative interviews with six children’s librarians and a content analysis of the chosen public policy documents. As a theoretical framework I have used Kann-Christensen and Ballings model (2012) for literature promotion which consists of the three aspects policy, profession and public management. The study shows that the interviewed children’s librarians perceive their own reading and knowledge about books as a very important part of their work and profession, but there are also other equally important aspects, as for example social skills and knowledge about the users. Another conclusion is that although reading is seen as important, both from a policy perspective and from the librarians’ point of view, the librarians find it challenging to prioritize reading as a work task. This could be explained partly from new public management’s call for efficiency and performance measurement but also in part from the difficulties with defining reading promotion as an area on its own. The study also shows that the childrens’s librarians emphasize the importance of sharing knowledge about books with colleagues.