”Jag är en av de få som blir lycklig...” - bibliotekariers attityder och förhållningssätt på fem folkbibliotek till statens distributionsstödda titlar.

Abstract

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to study attitudes and standpoints among a few librarians towards literature with state supported distribution provided by the Swedish Arts Council. By qualitative interviews with librarians at five different public libraries, the thesis examines which attitudes that flourish concerning the titles, how the circular of books is treated, where the titles belong on the literature map and if the system is producing a standardisation of this literature and if the conception of quality is relevant. We also study how the librarians relate to intentions of the Swedish Art Council with the distributed titles and how they regard their availability. Our theoretical framework is based on Hans Hertel’s model of five literary circulations and Theodor W. Adorno’s thesis about the cultural industry and the standardisation of culture. The theories were used to put the state supported titles and the system in a larger context. Our conclusion is that it is a complex question with mixed emotions among the involved librarians. The attitudes are both positive and negative, and the incorporation of the distributed titles in the libraries collection of literature depends on which attitude they take. The state supported distribution system is also losing some of its legitimacy because of a broader selection of literature. The interviewed librarians mean that the selection made by the Swedish Arts Council is taken both from popular and quality literature. The librarians ask for more guidance from the Swedish Arts Council, publishing houses and authors in their work with those titles.