"Bibliotekarier är flockdjur." : en studie av nya skolbibliotekariers informationspraktiker och förutsättningar på arbetsplatsen / "Librarians are herd animals." : a study of new school librarians' information practices and workplace conditions
- Authors
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2024
- Source
- DiVA - Academic Archive On-line
- Keywords
- Language
- Swedish
- License
- Green
- External links
Abstract
My research illustrates new school librarians’ information practices by studying their critical examination of information and information seeking and how their workplace conditions impact their work situation in terms of the prerequisites for information and knowledge sharing. Interviews with ten new school librarians were conducted and recorded. The transcriptions were analyzed through qualitative thematic analysis where models of information seeking, organizational culture and information culture were used in order to concretize the social interplay of the information practices. The new school librarians used everyday life information seeking more than traditional search strategies. All of the participants expressed that their school did not prioritize media and literacy (MIL) work or that they did not prioritize it enough. All of the participants cooperated with other librarians both in person and through digital networks, hence the epithet herd animals. They conveyed that they too make source criticism mistakes and that transparency is part of source confidence. Eight participants described information seeking problems, such as pay walls and information overload. The professors’ information packed work is an interaction barrier for the new school librarians. The introductions at the schools pave the ground for information sharing. Schools are naturally hierarchical and market oriented. A relation based information culture benefits the school library’s inclusion. Reading is prioritized over MIL at the schools. This relates to the perception that a librarian only work with books, which can be changed through a well-developed cooperation between professors and librarians, active work from the librarians and the right resources for MIL work. Therefore the participants who worked at smaller schools and/or schools with a clan culture had a better chance to work with MIL. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.
