Att få upp ögonen för faktaboksfrågan : En kartläggning av bibliotekariers förmedling av faktaböcker på bokprat
(2008)Division of ALM and Digital Cultures
- Abstract
- The purpose of this Master's thesis is to study how children's and youth librarians mediate non-fiction books in public libraries. Our overarching research question is as follows: to which extent, how, and for what reasons do children's and youth librarians mediate non-fiction? We have chosen to limit our study to the practice of booktalking.
In order to answer questions on extent we conducted a quantitative survey of booktalking children's and youth librarians in Skåne. To answer our other questions on behaviour and attitudes we conducted observations and interviews with six librarians who include non-fiction in booktalks for children in primary school. As a way to study behaviour we examined librarians' selection criteria and methods.... (More) - The purpose of this Master's thesis is to study how children's and youth librarians mediate non-fiction books in public libraries. Our overarching research question is as follows: to which extent, how, and for what reasons do children's and youth librarians mediate non-fiction? We have chosen to limit our study to the practice of booktalking.
In order to answer questions on extent we conducted a quantitative survey of booktalking children's and youth librarians in Skåne. To answer our other questions on behaviour and attitudes we conducted observations and interviews with six librarians who include non-fiction in booktalks for children in primary school. As a way to study behaviour we examined librarians' selection criteria and methods. In order to study attitudes we have examined the reasons librarians have for mediating non-fiction as well as their role as mediators. Our results show that Skånes children's and youth librarians discuss non-fiction during booktalks to a certain extent, but many (about half of the librarians that hold booktalks for children between six and twelve years of age) do not include non-fiction books at all. The survey also shows that the frequency of the use of non-fiction books during booktalks decreases the older the children are. Very often the librarians use non-fiction in connection with fiction, for example during selection when non-fiction books may be chosen based on the fiction themes that the librarian plans to talk about, but also during the booktalk itself when non-fiction is used as an introduction to, or a further examination of, the fiction books. The librarians also mediate the books by connecting them to current events. We have also found that illustrations are very significant, both when it comes to selection and mediation. The librarians' attitudes are first and foremost based on the fact that they connect children's love of reading with reading fiction. Most argue that non-fiction's justification for existence is to get more boys and reluctant readers to start reading. At the same time our observations revealed that the librarians mainly mediate non-fiction books as a source of knowledge. One interesting observation is that the mediation of non-fiction books, as compared to fiction, opens up a dialogue with the children. This may be due to a sense of insecurity, as the librarians have not thought out their strategies in mediating non-fiction books and are not as secure in their role as mediators as they are when they mediate fiction, and thus seek acknowledgement through a dialogue with the children. This insecurity thus leads to increased contact with the children. The study also shows that librarians are influenced in their selection of books and their role as mediators by the expectations they think the teachers have of the booktalk. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/1317869
- author
- Mauritzson, Sara and Wijk, Sara
- supervisor
- organization
- year
- 2008
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- children's librarian, booktalk, book talk, non-fiction, non-narrative, public library, mediation, literacy, reading literacy, love of reading, barn, barnbibliotek, barnbibliotekarier, bokprat, facklitteratur, faktaböcker, folkbibliotek, litteraturförmedling, läskompetens, läslust, läspedagogik, nöjesläsning, Documentation, information, library science, archivistics, Arkiv- och bibliotekskunskap, dokumentation
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 1317869
- date added to LUP
- 2008-06-18 00:00:00
- date last changed
- 2014-04-11 14:16:59
@misc{1317869,
abstract = {{The purpose of this Master's thesis is to study how children's and youth librarians mediate non-fiction books in public libraries. Our overarching research question is as follows: to which extent, how, and for what reasons do children's and youth librarians mediate non-fiction? We have chosen to limit our study to the practice of booktalking.
In order to answer questions on extent we conducted a quantitative survey of booktalking children's and youth librarians in Skåne. To answer our other questions on behaviour and attitudes we conducted observations and interviews with six librarians who include non-fiction in booktalks for children in primary school. As a way to study behaviour we examined librarians' selection criteria and methods. In order to study attitudes we have examined the reasons librarians have for mediating non-fiction as well as their role as mediators. Our results show that Skånes children's and youth librarians discuss non-fiction during booktalks to a certain extent, but many (about half of the librarians that hold booktalks for children between six and twelve years of age) do not include non-fiction books at all. The survey also shows that the frequency of the use of non-fiction books during booktalks decreases the older the children are. Very often the librarians use non-fiction in connection with fiction, for example during selection when non-fiction books may be chosen based on the fiction themes that the librarian plans to talk about, but also during the booktalk itself when non-fiction is used as an introduction to, or a further examination of, the fiction books. The librarians also mediate the books by connecting them to current events. We have also found that illustrations are very significant, both when it comes to selection and mediation. The librarians' attitudes are first and foremost based on the fact that they connect children's love of reading with reading fiction. Most argue that non-fiction's justification for existence is to get more boys and reluctant readers to start reading. At the same time our observations revealed that the librarians mainly mediate non-fiction books as a source of knowledge. One interesting observation is that the mediation of non-fiction books, as compared to fiction, opens up a dialogue with the children. This may be due to a sense of insecurity, as the librarians have not thought out their strategies in mediating non-fiction books and are not as secure in their role as mediators as they are when they mediate fiction, and thus seek acknowledgement through a dialogue with the children. This insecurity thus leads to increased contact with the children. The study also shows that librarians are influenced in their selection of books and their role as mediators by the expectations they think the teachers have of the booktalk.}},
author = {{Mauritzson, Sara and Wijk, Sara}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Att få upp ögonen för faktaboksfrågan : En kartläggning av bibliotekariers förmedling av faktaböcker på bokprat}},
year = {{2008}},
}