Beskrivning av ett projekt där fyra folkbibliotek arbetade med långsiktig marknadsföring och egen kompetensutveckling, med användning av ny forskning samt forskare som stöd och utvärderare

KUB var ett stort kompetensutvecklingsprojekt för biblioteken i Dalarna, Gävleborg, Uppsala och Värmland. Projektet pågick från februari 2012 till juni 2014. Projektet var medfinansierat av Europeiska Socialfonden (ESF). Syftet med projektet var att all bibliotekspersonalen i de fyra länen skulle utveckla och stärka relevanta kompetenser. Projektet ville säkerställa att biblioteken och dess personal utvecklas i takt med användarnas behov och att biblioteken utvecklas som lärande organisationer. Genom detta ville projektet stärka bibliotekens roll som lärandemiljöer, både internt och utåt till medborgarna. Utvärderingen har genomförts i form av följeforskning, vilket innebär att resultaten av utvärderingen har återkopplats, muntligt och skriftligt, till projektets styrgrupp under hela genomförandefasen och inte endast efter projektets avslutande. I rapporten beskrivs projektet och följande frågor diskuteras: Vad säger forskningen om lärande i organisationer? Hur har projektorganisationen fungerat utifrån olika aktörers perspektiv? Hur har projektetet uppnått sina mål? Vilka dilemman har projektet behövt hantera? Vilka framgångfaktorer är viktiga för att förvalta projektets resultat? Det teoretiska ramverk som använts för utvärderingen har hämtats från perspektiv som betonar samspel, deltagande, sammanhang och redskap och forskning om lärande organisationer samt lärande i arbetslivet ur ett skandinaviskt perspektiv. Därtill har teorier, empirisk forskning och praktiska exempel tolkats genom en biblioteks- och informationsvetenskapliga lins.

Forskningsanvändning lyfts ofta fram som en del av professionell utveckling och verksamhetsutveckling. I många så kallade lärande organisationer, såsom bibliotek, talas det om reflekterande praktiker som strävar efter att arbeta evidensbaserat och att tänka på sitt lärande som utvecklingsinriktat. Samverkan mellan forskare och praktiker framhålls som ett sätt att främja utveckling baserad på kunskap och en stark relation mellan forskning och bibliotekspraktik uppfattas som viktig av såväl forskare som bibliotekarier. Syftet med detta paper är att exemplifiera och konkretisera hur samarbete mellan forskare i biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap och bibliotekspraktiker kan se ut. Författarna lyfter fram viktiga erfarenheterna från att forska om och med bibliotekspraktiken och visar hur forskning kan bidra till biblioteksutveckling.

The study focuses on the implications of affordances identified in Google Apps for Education (GAFE), by strategic staff within a Swedish school organisation, with responsibility for schools in around 30 municipalities. A complex picture emerged, where GAFE was perceived both as a neutral, well-functioning tool and as a means of educating in partly new ways. Furthermore, the study shows that GAFE, despite its characteristic of being a non-generative appliance, still can be used in creative ways. The implementation of cloud technology, such as GAFE, endorses a tunnel-vision affordance that downgrades more nuanced perceptions of the different technological, economical, and ethical aspects of the technology. Studying GAFE, different tensions of power emerge: Google vs. the school, IT professionals vs. teachers, management vs. teachers, teachers vs. pupils, Google vs. pupils.

PLUS-projektets namn uttydde inledningsvis Projekt för Läsutveckling, Utvärdering och Samverkan. Projektet syftar framförallt till läsutveckling av barn och unga i Borås genom barn- och skolbibliotekarierna i Borås kommun. Projektet har huvudsakligen finansierats genom bidrag av Statens Kulturråd, med stöd av Borås stad och Högskolan i Borås. Institutionen Biblioteks- och Informationsvetenskap/Bibliotekshögskolan (BHS) vid Högskolan i Borås har haft en medarbetare, adjunkt Catarina Eriksson, som följt PLUS-projektet. Hon var även kursansvarig för den så kallade PLUS-kursen, som Borås kommun beställt som en uppdragsutbildning av högskolan. Catarina Eriksson har nedtecknat PLUS-projektets styrgrupps och deltagares synpunkter under projektets gång. Denna interna beskrivning av projektets process innehåller även en del reflektioner och redovisas i rapporten PLUS ger mer!

The thesis aims to contribute to the research on the management and use of information in organisations by providing a holistic understanding of the various information practices and needs as well as attitudes towards information at different levels in the broader socio-historical context of a specific organisation. To this end, findings and approaches from research traditions in library and information science, management studies and organisational theory are combined in an activity-theoretical approach with some neo-institutional aspects. An empirical study using this theoretical framework investigates information activities in a Swedish youth organisation with the aim of contributing to peace and democracy. This study aims to answer research questions concerning how the individual and collective information practices of its Board members and the development of organisational strategies and routines for information activities are related to each other and to the socio-historical context of such organisations. The empirical data was gathered, firstly, through a qualitative case study of one youth/peace organisation, in which 14 members from two Boards were interviewed, 6 meetings were observed and e-mail communication and organisational documents were studied. The results were used in two questionnaires to Board members in a total sample of 9 similar youth/peace organisations to explore the assumption that a common socio-historical context would result in similar activities and constraints. Environmental scanning, seeking information, storing and retrieving information, creating information products, disseminating information to the environment and sharing information within the organisation are identified as distinct information activity systems in the case organisation that could be combined in a broader information management activity system. The outcome of Board members' individual, collective and organisational actions within these activities is mediated by a combination of how they perceive the objects, the available tools and resources, the chosen or emerging division of labour, organisational and collective aims and individual goals, and the explicit rules and implicit values that could be applied to the action in an organisational context. Most strategies are emergent in nature and start in a bottom-up process. A basic contradiction stemming from the socio-historical context of youth/peace organisations underlies the tensions in information activities. Board members have to make sense of contrasting identities in which empowerment is contrasted with professionalism as a basis for the organisations' legitimacy. The theoretical contribution of this study is the creation of two activity theoretical models for the analysis of information activities in organisations. The models provide a way to discuss the links between individual and collective information behaviour and organisational information management in a holistic perspective. They raise questions about the nature of these relationships and encompass the contextual aspects of information practices thus leading to a greater understanding of the ways in which information management develops in specific organisational contexts.

Introduction. A study of the information behaviour of members of the Boards of the Swedish voluntary organization, Youth for Peace, is reported. The focus is on the tensions and contradictions arising out of organizational values and other factors. Method. Observation, interviews and the analysis of organizational documents were employed within the conceptual framework of activity theory. Predominantly qualitative data were gathered. Analysis. Qualitative analysis, using Atlas. ti, was carried out on the interview transcripts and other materials. Results. The study revealed a range of contradictions and tensions arising out of organizational values, the voluntary character of the organization and the life characteristics of Board members. Conclusion. The contradictions that arise in voluntary organizations affect their ability to effectively manage and exchange information between Board members and between Boards and the ordinary members. However, the values of 'doing their own thing', 'flexibility' and 'equality' helped to achieve one of the main goals of a voluntary youth organization: practical acquisition of basic information skills related to participation in a democratic body. The efficiency of information seeking and production was sacrificed, but every member of the Board had a possibility to learn a variety of jobs by hands-on practice.

Regionpolitik tycks oftast vara osynlig och regionens politiska organisation ogenomtränglig. Kommunikationsvägarna mellan regionens politiker och tjänstemän och regionens medborgare är otydliga och skapar distans mellan regionpolitiker och medborgare. Då det upplevs som alltför svårt att utkräva ansvar från regionens politiker försvagas medborgares tilltro till den politiska organiseringen. Olika former av medborgardialoger i regionen utgör försök att öka transparensen, skapa tillit och bidra till inflytande för medborgarna. För att lyckas bör syftet med dialogen tydligt kommuniceras både externt och internt, fler grupper bör nås och resultaten bör återkopplas systematiskt.

Introduction. Between 2018- 2020, Swedish public library staff were involved in the national project Digital First to strengthen their capability to support citizens in developing digital competencies. In this paper we focus on the challenges that staff and management in public and regional libraries experienced while striving to support people’s development of digital competencies.

Method. In 2019 we met with staff and managers of five public libraries in different parts of Sweden for interviews and focus groups. In 2020, 19 online interviews and 18 email questionnaires were carried out with 20 regional coordinators of the Digital First project. The two datasets were combined for a comprehensive analysis, supplemented with data from quarterly reports collected by the national coordinator of Digital First.

Analysis. We conducted a qualitative content analysis guided by the theoretical concepts of institutional logic and legitimacy.

Results. On the municipal and the regional level, library staff offered education and support to users in the development of digital skills. The respondents referred to the Swedish Library Act and to their experience of citizens’ information needs to justify the library’s involvement in these activities. However, prospective users seldom experienced a need for competency development, nor did they regard libraries as sources for help with digital skill-building. Other bodies within the municipal organization (e.g. IT departments) were also often ignorant of the library’s remit and area of expertise in digital skills.

Conclusion. Tensions were identified among the expectations laid out at a national level in policy documents, the needs that library professionals strived to meet in their local work environments, and the expectations of the public. These tensions have complicated the ongoing efforts to justify the relevance of public and regional library work in Sweden.

This article studies the field of information management research in the light of the differences between approaches building on a ”rational choice” epistemology and (new) institutional approaches.

I broaden the definition of what may be included in information management research somewhat so that parts of the research field of Information Seeking and Use (INSU) are included and use literature from organisational theory as well as from political science to explain the differences in epistemology.

The first part is devoted to defining the research field, the second part to studying underlying epistemological assumptions. The broader project from which this article is derived is my dissertation on how, and why, voluntary peace organisations in Sweden manage information, where some of the ideas discussed here will be used in a chapter on earlier research.