Folkbibliotekens arbete med det nationella minoritetsspråket meänkieli : En kvalitativ intervjustudie

Sammanfattning

The aim of this study is to show how librarians in the north of Sweden perceive their work with the national minority language Meänkieli, and how that work contributes to the preservation of the language. The research questions are: 1) How do librarians interpret the role of public libraries in promoting Meänkieli? 2) How do librarians feel that public libraries contribute to promoting Meänkieli? What difficulties and opportunities do they encounter in their work? 3) What opportunities are there to develop Meänkieli activities in the future from the perspective of librarians? The study is based on semistructured video interviews with four librarians from the administrative area for Meänkieli. The transcripts from the interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis and by applying theoretical concepts concerning language preservation and revitalization. The results of the study show that public libraries have an important role in society to promote meänkieli, despite the issues they might face when it comes to budgeting, time, and a lack of Meänkieli-speaking staff. The libraries promote Meänkieli mainly via visibility, but also via activities, and co-operation with local organizations and the municipalities that the libraries belong to. The future evolution of this work is generally harder to define, however, an improved workflow with the co-operation, as well as building the knowledge of the language amongst a majority of the librarians are seen as important.