Collection development for immigrants - what to purchase, and why? Findings in Gothenburg, Sweden

Abstract

The needs and preferences of public library services for individuals, who have another mother tongue than the majority population, in this case Swedish, have become more and more evident. In order to reflect on prevailing practices, the Gothenburg City Library initiated a study using 14 focus group discussions (Brunnström, 2006). The analysis of the opinions of 154 participating individuals with varied non-Swedish backgrounds, combined with the analysis of borrowing figures, has made it possible to continue to develop services in the multicultural, multilingual society that Gothenburg is today with 21 percent of the population born outside Sweden (2009 data). The Swedish study ‘More for useful purposes than pleasure’ shows that the most important factors behind the demand for reading materials are: 1) why a person has moved to Sweden; 2) for how long she/he has lived in Sweden; and, 3) what future plans the individual has. These factors result in different needs of fiction, non-fiction and digital access. Individuals new in the country are eager to learn the Swedish language and more about the society. They also demand books on how to manage their day-to-day lives, both in Swedish and their mother tongue. Individuals who have been in Sweden for many years search for reading material with which they can maintain their contact with their original culture and language. In this paper we share what we have learned about this complex matter; how we can best plan our media purchases and stock our libraries in order to meet the needs of our increasingly diversified societies.