Drakar, demoner och bibliotekarier : En intervjustudie om bibliotekariers syn på rollspel som aktivitet för att främja litteraciteter bland barn och unga

Sammanfattning

The aim of this qualitative interview study is to examine how librarians view their work with activities including role-playing games for children and youth in the public library and, from a perspective of critical pedagogy, examine the interplay of role-playing games and literacies in the described activity. Role-playing activities and literature on role-playing is a widespread phenomenon in libraries today and linked to the libraries’ mission to promote literature and reading, and through that strengthen the literacies of children and young people. Although several researchers identify role-playing games as a possible arena for promoting and developing literacies, there is a lack of research within library- and information science on the subject The empirical data consists of semi structured interviews with librarians who have been, or are actively, hosting role-playing game activities for children and youth at their library. The material was then thematized and analyzed using a theoretical framework, which consists of critical pedagogy based on concepts from Paulo Freire, and Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis theory of multiliteracies. Results and analysis show that librarians see several purposes for organizing role-playing game activities and their descriptions of the activity shows multiple examples where role-playing and literacy interplay. The results show that playing role-playing games require conversation, collaboration and critical thinking, and the analysis shows that the activity can be seen as a critical pedagogy that promotes dialogue and ”conscientization” among the participants. The study concludes that role-playing games have several purposes in the public library and that the activity can be seen as a critical pedagogy which promotes literacy development for children and youth.