Teenagers in the library: participatory mediation practices

Abstract

In their efforts to reach out to teenagers, libraries facilitate different literary activities where youth come together, socialize and interact. In what ways do these practices contribute to the building of literary and social communities among the participating teenagers and to a broadened understanding of the concepts of libraries? This paper examines three different cases of participatory mediation activities in Norwegian libraries: a podcast, a voluntary reading group and a shared reading activity. The method used is qualitative interviews, and the findings are discussed in relation to theories on the social and participatory dimensions of cultural institutions and to a model from library and information theory. In the cases presented, the libraries facilitated the activities as part of their strategies. The study sheds light on how the mediation practices in question contribute to fostering literary and social communities among the participating teenagers. The present study demonstrates possible ways of expanding the understanding of what a library means to young people in a contemporary context.