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Lundh, A., Hedemark, Å. & Lindsköld, L. (2022). Critical studies of reading: consolidating an emerging field of research. In: Information Research vol. 27 no. Special issue, October, 2022, Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Conceptions of Library and Information Science, Oslo Metropolitan University, May 29 - June 1, 2022: . Paper presented at the 11th International Conference on Conceptions of Library and Information Science. , 27
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Critical studies of reading: consolidating an emerging field of research
2022 (English)In: Information Research vol. 27 no. Special issue, October, 2022, Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Conceptions of Library and Information Science, Oslo Metropolitan University, May 29 - June 1, 2022, 2022, Vol. 27Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

Introduction. This paper introduces an emerging area of research, critical studies of reading, that has been identified and developed by the authors. 

Approach. Seven features of critical studies of reading research are introduced and the paper argues for how this type of research can shed new light on historical and current reading practices and reading activities. Examples of studies with such features within library and information science, as well as neighbouring disciplines are presented.

Conclusions. Future directions for critical studies of reading research are outlined, highlighting the possibilities, as well as the challenges for this emerging area of research. 

Keywords
reading, history of reading, politics of reading, reading research
National Category
Information Studies
Research subject
Library and Information Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-29176 (URN)10.47989/colis2232 (DOI)000890368900033 ()2-s2.0-85144869234 (Scopus ID)
Conference
the 11th International Conference on Conceptions of Library and Information Science
Projects
Att skapa den läsande medborgaren. Offentlig debatt och politik 1945-2017
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2017-01542
Available from: 2023-01-03 Created: 2023-01-03 Last updated: 2024-02-01Bibliographically approved
Lundh, A. (2022). “I can read, I just can't see”: A disability rights-based perspective on reading by listening. Journal of Documentation, 78(7), 176-191
Open this publication in new window or tab >>“I can read, I just can't see”: A disability rights-based perspective on reading by listening
2022 (English)In: Journal of Documentation, ISSN 0022-0418, E-ISSN 1758-7379, Vol. 78, no 7, p. 176-191Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Purpose The aim of the paper is to create a greater understanding of how people who are blind or vision impaired describe their use of audio-based reading technologies, with a particular focus on how they reason about whether the use of these technologies can be understood in terms of reading.

Design/methodology/approach The study is part of the emerging research area Critical Studies of Reading and draws theoretical inspiration from Document Theory, New Literacy Studies and Critical Disability Studies. The article presents a discourse analysis of how 16 university students in Australia who are blind or vision impaired and use audio-based reading technologies describe this use in semi-structured interviews.

Findings The participants relate to a division between ‘real' reading and reading by listening, where the latter is constructed as an exception and is connected to the subject position of being blind or vision impaired. However, resistance is also noticeable, where reading by listening is constructed as something that is normal, and as a right.

Originality/value The article is a theoretical and empirical contribution to the ongoing discussion on the use of audio-based reading technologies. It presents perspectives from the users of these technologies and argues why a specific understanding of this use is important.

Keywords
Critical Disability Studies; Critical Studies of Reading; Discourse Analysis; Document Theory; New Literacy Studies; Print Disabilities; Reading; Reading by Listening; Talking Books; Text-to-Speech; University Students; Vision Impairment
National Category
Information Studies
Research subject
Library and Information Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-27321 (URN)10.1108/jd-10-2020-0169 (DOI)000739367900010 ()2-s2.0-85122129461 (Scopus ID)
Note

This study has been funded by the Curtin Research Fellowship, Curtin University, Perth, Australia.

Available from: 2022-01-19 Created: 2022-01-19 Last updated: 2022-02-04Bibliographically approved
Lindsköld, L., Dolatkhah, M. & Lundh, A. (2020). Aesthetic reading as a problem in mid-20th century Swedish educational policy. Nordisk kulturpolitisk tidskrift, 23(1), 48-64
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Aesthetic reading as a problem in mid-20th century Swedish educational policy
2020 (English)In: Nordisk kulturpolitisk tidskrift, ISSN 1403-3216, E-ISSN 2000-8325, Vol. 23, no 1, p. 48-64Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This study aims to identify and analyse how aesthetic reading was problematised in Swedish educational policy 1940- 1962, in order to create a better understanding of the politics of reading in an era that has been of great importance for how reading is understood in contemporary Sweden. The empirical material consists of reports from three school commissions, laying the foundation for the new compulsory and comprehensive school that was introduced in 1962. The reports have been analysed using a discursive methodological framework, focussing on problematisations of aesthetic reading. The main problem that aesthetic reading was meant to solve, according to the analysis, was a lack of aesthetic taste. There is a shift in emphasis during the period from problematisations of what to read towards problematisations of how to read. Thus, the solution to the problem of aesthetic reading during the period transformed from a governing of taste to a governing of skills. Educational and cultural policy shares the problematisation of aesthetic upbringing, made possible by its roots in modernist ideas of general character formation and the ideals of free public education. We argue that research on the politics of reading in Sweden can be reinvigorated by exploring the governance of cultural practices emanating from policy fields other than explicit cultural policy

Keywords
Aesthetic reading, Discourse analysis, Educational policy, Reading, Sweden, The politics of reading
National Category
Information Studies
Research subject
Library and Information Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-23272 (URN)10.18261/issn.2000-8325/-2020-01-04 (DOI)
Projects
Reading, traditions and negotiations: Reading activities in Swedish classrooms 1967-1969The Making of the Reading Citizen. Public Debate and Policy 1945–2017
Funder
Swedish Research Council
Available from: 2020-06-11 Created: 2020-06-11 Last updated: 2020-06-15Bibliographically approved
Lindsköld, L., Hedemark, Å. & Lundh, A. (2020). Constructing the Desirable Reader in Swedish Contemporary Literature Policy. Culture Unbound. Journal of Current Cultural Research
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Constructing the Desirable Reader in Swedish Contemporary Literature Policy
2020 (English)In: Culture Unbound. Journal of Current Cultural Research, ISSN 2000-1525, E-ISSN 2000-1525Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]

This study contributes to a growing number of critical studies of reading that are seeking to understand how reading is constructed socially and politically. It addresses issues concerning why certain types of reading are deemed more appropriate than others in various contexts and historical eras. The aim of the study is to explore constructions of reading, reading promotion, and readers that can be identified in Swedish literature policy 2012-2013 in order to make explicit the implicit assumptions embedded in the politics of reading. This is achieved through a discourse analysis of the Swedish Government Commission report on Literature from 2012 and the subsequent Government Bill from 2013. The analysis focuses on the construction of the ‘problem’ that reading is supposed to solve, the subject-position of the reader, and the knowledge practices that underpin the construction of the ‘problem’. The analysis reveals that the main ‘problem’ is the changing reading habits of the Swedish population and the decline in the reading ability of Swedish children and youth. This is seen as a threat to several important societal values, such as children’s learning and development, democracy, “the culture of reading”, Sweden’s economic competitiveness, and the market for literature. Responsibility for the problem is placed on the school system, parents, and the use of computers and the Internet. The remedy is seen as the promotion of the right kind of literature. Furthermore, the analysis illustrates how the subject position of the appropriate reader is formed around the notion of the harmful non-reader. Similar dividing practices are constructed around youth/adult, pupil/teacher, child/parent, and son/father where the latter is expected to make the former a reader and thereby a desirable subject. The analysis also shows how two contradictory knowledge practices are joined together in the policy texts, where seemingly rational, objective, and empirical research is paired with humanistic Bildung values.

Keywords
critical studies of reading, literature policy, politics of reading, discourse, knowledge practices, Sweden
National Category
Information Studies
Research subject
Library and Information Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-23250 (URN)10.3384/cu.2000.1525.20200527c (DOI)2-s2.0-85104059353 (Scopus ID)
Projects
Att skapa den läsande medborgaren. Offentlig debatt och politik 1945-2017
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2017-01542
Available from: 2020-06-02 Created: 2020-06-02 Last updated: 2024-02-01Bibliographically approved
Lundh, A. H., O’Donnell, M. & Hedemark, Å. (2018). Att göra läsning möjlig för alla: Samarbete mellan bibliotekssektor och biblioteks- och informationsvetenskaplig forskning. In: Joacim Hansson & Per Wisselgren (Ed.), Bibliotekarier i teori och praktik: Utbildningsperspektiv på en unik profession (pp. 253-268). Lund: BTJ förlag
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Att göra läsning möjlig för alla: Samarbete mellan bibliotekssektor och biblioteks- och informationsvetenskaplig forskning
2018 (Swedish)In: Bibliotekarier i teori och praktik: Utbildningsperspektiv på en unik profession / [ed] Joacim Hansson & Per Wisselgren, Lund: BTJ förlag , 2018, p. 253-268Chapter in book (Other academic)
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Lund: BTJ förlag, 2018
Keywords
Tillgängliga medier, uppdragsforskning, talböcker
National Category
Information Studies
Research subject
Library and Information Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-15003 (URN)9789170188213 (ISBN)
Available from: 2018-08-20 Created: 2018-08-20 Last updated: 2018-08-20Bibliographically approved
Lundh, A. H., Dolatkhah, M. & Limberg, L. (2018). From informational reading to information literacy: Change and continuity in document work in Swedish schools. Journal of Documentation, 74(5), 1042-1052
Open this publication in new window or tab >>From informational reading to information literacy: Change and continuity in document work in Swedish schools
2018 (English)In: Journal of Documentation, ISSN 0022-0418, E-ISSN 1758-7379, Vol. 74, no 5, p. 1042-1052Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Purpose. The purpose of this paper is to historicise research conducted in the fields of Information Seeking and Learning and Information Literacy and thereby begin to outline a description of the history of information in the context of Swedish compulsory education.

Design/methodology/approach. Document work and documentary practices are used as alternatives to concepts such as information seeking or information behaviour. Four empirical examples of document work – more specifically informational reading – recorded in Swedish primary classrooms in the 1960s are presented.

Findings. In the recordings, the reading style students use is similar to informational reading in contemporary educational settings: it is fragmentary, facts-oriented, and procedure-oriented. The practice of finding correct answers, rather than analysing and discussing the contents of a text seems to continue from lessons organised around print textbooks in the 1960s to the inquiry-based and digital teaching of today.

Originality/value. The paper seeks to analyse document work and documentary practices by regarding “information” as a discursive construction in a particular era with material consequences in particular contexts, rather than as a theoretical and analytical concept. It also problematises the notion that new digital technologies for producing, organising, finding, using, and disseminating documents have drastically changed people’s behaviours and practices in educational and other contexts.

Keywords
Information literacy, Reading, Sweden, Literacy, Document theory, Information behaviour, Information practices, Primary education, History of information
National Category
Information Studies
Research subject
Library and Information Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-15001 (URN)10.1108/JD-11-2017-0156 (DOI)000440669900008 ()2-s2.0-85048058316 (Scopus ID)
Projects
Reading, traditions and negotiations: Reading activities in Swedish classrooms 1967-1969
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2012-4140
Available from: 2018-08-17 Created: 2018-08-17 Last updated: 2018-08-17Bibliographically approved
Lindsköld, L., Lundh, A. H. & Hedemark, Å. (2018). Knowledges of Reading: An Analysis of Swedish Literature Policy 2012-2013. In: : . Paper presented at The 10th International Conference on Cultural Policy Research (ICCPR2018), Tallinn, 21-24 August, 2018.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Knowledges of Reading: An Analysis of Swedish Literature Policy 2012-2013
2018 (English)Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

The paper explores problematisations of reading in current Swedish literature policy through a discourse analysis of the Swedish Government Commission report on Literature from 2012 and the following Government bill from 2013. The analysis focuses on problematisations of the reading citizen and the knowledge practices that have made these problematisations possible. A central problematisation is the declining reading literacy of children and youth, threatening children's learning and development; democracy; "the culture of reading"; Sweden's economic competitiveness; and the market for Swedish literature. This problematisation produce dividing practices around problematic non-readers and themore desirable readers. Other dividing practices can be identified around youth/adult, pupil/teacher, child/parent, and son/father where the latter should educate the former about the virtues of reading. Underpinning these problematisations are knowledge practices where instrumental policy actions, based on seemingly rational, objective, and empirical research is paired with humanistic building values.

Keywords
literature policy, politics of reading, discourse, knowledge practices
National Category
Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified General Literature Studies
Research subject
Library and Information Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-15058 (URN)
Conference
The 10th International Conference on Cultural Policy Research (ICCPR2018), Tallinn, 21-24 August, 2018
Projects
Att skapa den läsande medborgaren. Offentlig debatt och politik 1945-2017
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2017-01542
Available from: 2018-09-03 Created: 2018-09-03 Last updated: 2018-09-06Bibliographically approved
Lundh, A. H. (2018). Läsning, tradition och förhandling (LÄST): Läsaktiviteter i svenska klassrum 1967–1969. In: Resultatdialog 2018: (pp. 73-76). Stockholm: Vetenskapsrådet
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Läsning, tradition och förhandling (LÄST): Läsaktiviteter i svenska klassrum 1967–1969
2018 (Swedish)In: Resultatdialog 2018, Stockholm: Vetenskapsrådet , 2018, p. 73-76Chapter in book (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))
Abstract [sv]

I detta projekt har vi analyserat inspelade svensklektioner från slutet av 1960-talet med fokus på hur läsundervisningen organiserades. Resultaten visar att faktaorienterad informationsläsning gavs stort utrymme vid denna tid. Möjligheterna att försjunka i skönlitteratur var däremot få. Idag ses faktaorienterad läsning ofta som problematisk och som en ny företeelse som hänger samman med teknikutvecklingen. Vårt projekt visar att denna typ av läsning är en del av en längre tradition.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: Vetenskapsrådet, 2018
Keywords
läsning, läsandets historia, utbildningshistoria, svensk grundskola
National Category
Information Studies
Research subject
Library and Information Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-15554 (URN)978-91-7307-374-5 (ISBN)
Projects
Läsning, tradition och förhandling (LÄST): Läsaktiviteter i svenska klassrum 1967–1969
Funder
Swedish Research Council
Available from: 2018-12-21 Created: 2018-12-21 Last updated: 2019-01-14Bibliographically approved
Dolatkhah, M. & Lundh, A. H. (2016). Information and experience: audio-visual observations of reading activities in Swedish comprehensive school classrooms 1967–1969. History of Education, 45(6), 831-850
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Information and experience: audio-visual observations of reading activities in Swedish comprehensive school classrooms 1967–1969
2016 (English)In: History of Education, ISSN 0046-760X, E-ISSN 1464-5130, Vol. 45, no 6, p. 831-850Article in journal (Refereed) Published
National Category
Information Studies
Research subject
Library and Information Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-11496 (URN)10.1080/0046760X.2016.1166268 (DOI)000384672900008 ()2-s2.0-84964355515 (Scopus ID)
Projects
Reading, traditions and negotiations: Reading activities in Swedish classrooms 1967–1969
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2012-4140
Available from: 2016-12-20 Created: 2016-12-20 Last updated: 2024-02-01Bibliographically approved
Lundh, A. H. & Dolatkhah, M. (2016). Reading as dialogical document work: Possibilities for Library and Information Science. Journal of Documentation, 72(1), 127-139
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Reading as dialogical document work: Possibilities for Library and Information Science
2016 (English)In: Journal of Documentation, ISSN 0022-0418, E-ISSN 1758-7379, Vol. 72, no 1, p. 127-139Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce a dialogically based theory of documentary practices and document work as a promising framework for studying activities that are often conceptualised as information behaviour or information practices within Library and Information Science (LIS).

Design/methodology/approach An empirical example – a lesson on how to read railway timetables – is presented. The lesson stems from a research project including 223 Swedish lessons recorded in Swedish primary schools 1967-1969. It is argued that this lesson, as many empirical situations within LIS research, can fruitfully be regarded as documentary practices which include document work such as reading, rather than instances of information behaviour.

Findings It is found that the theoretical perspective of dialogism could contribute to the theory development within LIS, and function as a bridge between different subfields such as reading studies and documentary practices.

Research limitations/implications The framework is yet to be applied on a larger scale. This would require a willingness to go beyond the entrenched idea of information as the core theoretical concept and empirical object of study within LIS.

Social implications The theoretical framework offers a view of the relations between individuals, documents, and social contexts, through which it is possible to explore the social significance of core LIS concerns such as reading, literacy, and document work.

Originality/value The theoretical framework offers an alternative to the monologist, information-based theories and models of people’s behaviours and practices prevalent in LIS.

Keywords
Reading, Dialogism, Document theory, Document work, Information behaviour, Information practices
National Category
Information Studies
Research subject
Library and Information Science; Library and Information Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-8301 (URN)10.1108/JD-01-2015-0019 (DOI)000370003000008 ()2-s2.0-84949908174 (Scopus ID)
Projects
Reading, traditions and negotiations: reading activities in Swedish classrooms 1967-1969
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2012-4140
Available from: 2015-12-30 Created: 2015-12-30 Last updated: 2024-02-01Bibliographically approved
Organisations
Identifiers
ORCID iD: ORCID iD iconorcid.org/0000-0002-4178-0563

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